NIVREL - Timezone Article

Small German Watch Brands, Part 1

by Marcus Hanke

May 2001

NIVREL

Saarbruecken, Germany

In 1993 the German merchant and learned goldsmith Gerd Hofer decided to start his own watch brand. As the distributor of Revue Thommen (since 1989) and Kelek (since 1992) he had important experience in the watch business. For his own line of watches he wanted to revive an old Swiss brand and therefore he called the Fédération de l’Industrie Horlogère Suisse (the federation of the Swiss watch industries). This organisation has archived the names of all watch brands which have been registered there at some time and which either went bankrupt or have simply disappeared from the market. These names – or better: the right to use them - can be purchased from the federation, which was the same way how the now famous brand “Blancpain” was reanimated.

Gerd Hofer bought the name NIVREL, and all he got was this name; no logo, no information about the company which originally had this name. Only later he found out that the original company had been founded in 1936, produced good chronographs and watches with unconventional date displays until it disappeared somewhen in the Seventies. It was pure coincidence that the type logo he designed for his brand was nearly identical to the one adorning the original dials.

From the beginning Gerd Hofer was convinced that he could not be successful by simply copying the designs made by others so he worked out a design for his watches which should make them distinctive among the huge mass of watches thrown on the market. Therefore the typical Nivrel watch can be easily recognized by its external features: the decently sized cases are circular with brushed bezels, the crown is screwed down, as is the displayback wearing a mineral crystal, while the front crystal always is sapphire. The dials are silver coloured and structured with polished markers which are always applied and not simply stamped. The hands are blued by heat and normally there is no luminous mass on them. However, the most distinctive sign that you see a Nivrel is the strap; it is a bright blue ostrich leg strap. The bright colour was the idea of Hofer’s wife, it is her favourite colour and she suggested that he should consequently use it. Therefore the watch box, the presentation stands, the earlier catalogues, all these items wore the same blue colour and signalized that the watch thereby presented was a Nivrel.

The elegant case design was the same for all watches, even the chronographs’ cases differed only by their diameter and the two additional pushers. But not only the outside design made Nivrel’s success possible; crucial was also the use of unconventional time and date displays which could only hardly be found anywhere else. Here Hofer’s connections with Kelek, one of the best-known developers of complication modules were a huge advantage. So he could follow the path of the original Nivrel company, offering interesting chronograph variants and date complications delivered not only by Kelek but also from other important specialists like Dupraz and Jacquet-Baume. The quality of the German-made cases and dials always are first rate and the movements are finely decorated.

And finally all this was offered at extremely competitive prices; for example does Nivrel offer the cheapest perpetual calendar on the market (German list price about 5,500.00 Euro).

Since 1993 the new Nivrel brand proved successful, so Hofer could afford to offer a greater variety in case styles, dial colours and even straps besides the elegant Nivrel classics. Now you can get rectangular watches as well as those with black pilot-style dials, cases made of 18k gold, watches with rare and old movements, black straps and bracelets. Some bezels now are polished or feature diamonds, but one thing is still common for all Nivrel watches: Every penny you pay for them has been invested into the quality of their watches and not into fancy advertising or expensive boxes.

Nivrel’s website: