Our Super Antarctic is the not-so-distant cousin of the original Nivada Antarctic collection launched in 1950. The original rose to fame when it was used by members of the American Navy’s Deep Freeze 1 Task Force during their expeditions in the South Pole (1955-56). It was noted as being reliable and robust enough to perform in the most extreme conditions. Today’s Super Antarctic is an evolution from the original Antarctic keeping close to the 50s’ lines & design. Just like the original Antarctics, we’ve added the 1957 International Geophysical Medallion directly on the case-back of all our modern Super Antarctics.

Operation Deep Freeze is a codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955-56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", etc. The name was proposed by Admiral Richard Bryde. . The main incentive behind Deep Freeze 1 was the International Geophysical Year (IGY), 1957-58. IYG was a collective effort among 40 nations to carry out various scientific studies from the North Pole to the South Pole and at points in between. The United States along with New Zealand, France, UK, Japan, Norway, Chile, Argentina, and the U.S.S.R. agreed to go to the south pole, which was the least explored and remote area on Earth. Their main goal was to gain and study the knowledge of Antarctic hydrography and weather systems, glacial movements, and marine life. U.S. Navy was charged with supporting the U.S. scientists for their portion of the IGY studies. Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, a veteran of four previous Antarctic Expeditions, was appointed as officer in charge of the expedition. In 1955, Task Force 43, commanded by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, was formed, which provided logistical support for the expedition. Operation Deep Freeze I, that transpired from November 1955 to April 1956, set up a permanent research station and paved the way for more extensive research in later operations.

In November 2021 Nivada Grenchen launched a modern re-issue of the Super Antarctic. Here's an interesting story about it. When one of the fans posted a vintage Super Antarctic on Instagram, Guillaume shared the post as a story on Nivada Grenchen's official Instagram account and the fans went wild. Requests started pouring in to re-issue the model. Nivada adhered to the demand of the fans and soon the Super Antarctic was launched.
It's black dial is simple but striking. Beneath the Nivada name is the word Aquamatic, (waterproof + automatic) . Above 6 is the signature Super Antarctic font with 25 RUBIS printed below. It's most striking aesthetic feature is the sword and lolly-pop, minute and hour hands. It's case back is decorated with their signature golden medallion. The 38mm case with a screw-down crown wears comfortably on the wrist.