Nivada Grenchen Launch Antarctic Erotic 38mm Supporting Penguin Non-Profit

Hey Siri, how horny are penguins? The answer, if you’re curious, according to a 1910 report from Dr Levick in Captain Scott’s polar expedition is that they are “depraved”. Not a question I ever thought I would need to ask as a wristwatch journalist, but one that Nivada Grenchen has forced me to consider. That’s because they have launched the Nivada Grenchen Antarctic Erotic 38mm, a watch that features an animation of two penguins getting frisky on the caseback. I am aware it is April 1^st, but no, this is not an April Fools’ release – I verified that directly with the brand.

The reason for this watch featuring some penguins ‘in flagrante delicto’ is to raise awareness for a new partnership between Nivada Grenchen and Oceanites, one of the leading penguin monitoring organisations. They’re a non-profit that studies and researches the birds in order to understand the health of the Antarctic ecosystem and promote conservation and climate change awareness. As part of the partnership, Nivada Grenchen has adopted a colony of 21,000 penguins.

There are six versions of the Nivada Grenchen Antarctic Erotic 38mm being produced. As the name suggests, they are all based on the Antarctic 38mm with a steel case measuring 38mm x 12.45mm with 100m water resistance rating. Where they differ are the dials, with salmon, eggshell beige, black, brown, white and tuxedo options.

Between those six colour options there are also three types of display. The salmon and beige are a pair with 12/3/6/9 Arabic numerals in metal with dauphine style hands. The black, brown and white are a trio with 3/6/9 numerals and a sword minute hand with circular hour hand. Lastly the tuxedo is on its own with a sector style display and an additional date window that’s not present on the other versions.

Turn the watch over and look at the caseback and you’ll see the animated mechanism depicting the erotic scene of two penguins. To make the animation move you simply wind the watch. So, as you interface with the watch, the penguins interface with each other. The animation was reportedly designed by a well-respected independent watchmaker who wished to remain anonymous for this project, so Nivada Grenchen have created the fictional watchmaker (who is also a penguin) Dr Coldwater and conducted a series of interviews with them to explain the watch.

The movement that drives the animation is the Soprod P054. The ratchet wheel of the winding mechanism has been redesigned into a cam profile to convert the motion of winding into a vertical force to move the penguins. As the animation is driven by the winding of the watch, it has no bearing at all on the actual functioning of the movement on a chronometric level. It maintains a 42-hour power reserve and 4 Hz frequency.

But wait, there’s one more element of this watch release that pertains to eroticism. The pre-order window for the salmon and beige editions are each 69-hours while the window for the other four is 6.9 days. Nice. Pre-orders begin on April 30^th, and the watches will not be available to purchase once the order windows close. For pricing, on leather strap they are £1,400 and on bracelet they are £1,575. Hey Siri, delete my search history.

More details at Nivada Grenchen.