An Ice Diver’s Story Results in Watches
“It took a very long time for her to stroll once more,” stated Ms. Nordblad’s sister, Elina Manninen, an expert photographer who has documented Ms. Nordblad’s diving profession. “The nerve ache was actually dangerous however the chilly water helped with the ache and nonetheless does.”
Ms. Nordblad, who lives in Helsinki on the island of Lauttasaari, examined the watches by diving a number of occasions below the ice, symbolized in each fashions by blue Tremendous-LumiNova accents on the dials, arms and bezels. She additionally suggested the label on the way it may higher optimize crowns, clasps and bezels for diving.
The primary mannequin, the Goutte d’Eau Nordblad, a compressor-style watch with double crowns and a steel bracelet, featured a Sellita Caliber SW200 motion. Its stainless-steel case included a mermaid-like engraving that Ms. Nordblad, who runs a graphic design enterprise, rendered of herself swimming below ice. (The watch offered out inside weeks of its launch in 2019, Mr. Miranda stated.)
The second sequence, the Hydrium Professional Nordblad Restricted Version, got here in 2023 (1,077 euros, or $1,165). It featured a Swiss Landeron motion housed in a micro-blasted stainless-steel case — this time with an open again, so the works are seen, one other choice of Ms. Nordblad’s. “I’ve all the time been fascinated with mechanical issues, how issues work, how the world works,” she stated.
Mr. Miranda, a local of Portugal, stated the Nordblad fashions have turn into a fixture of the model, which he and his spouse, Joana, based in 2016 with headquarters in Henfield, England. “Our prospects now affiliate black and light-weight blue with a Nordblad version,” he wrote.
Niko, the host of “Past Horology Podcast,” who’s recognized solely by his first title, owns a Hydrium Professional Nordblad. He interviewed Mr. Miranda for an episode final yr.
