Why We Love It

When a watch has a nickname, you know it’s special. Such is the case with the “Nina Rindt,” or Universal Genève Compax Reference 885103/03 to give it its full name. Without exaggerating, the “Nina” is without a doubt the most asked-about and lusted-after chronograph we’ve ever had the pleasure of offering.

What makes it so special we can’t say. Whatever wow factor there is that makes collectors go, “I need to have this,” it definitely has—in spades. But we’ll try to put into words what makes this one, in particular, so special: that 36mm stainless steel case with twisted lugs, those luminous lines on the hands, the black-on-white panda color way…

… and the fact that this particular Nina is in dead stock condition. We mean, everything that should be sharp, is sharp, everything that should pop, pops—and there’s even a factory sticker on the case back, a presentation box, AND a signed buckle on the strap. With a watch as fine as this one is, there’s no question why the Nina Rindt has become a classic.

The Story

Universal Genève has been producing chronographs for decades. In fact, one can almost say that it was the first to produce a wrist-worn chronograph, back in 1917. The company’s chronographs from the 1930s and 1940s, with their clean lines and legible dials, attracted the attention of no less than the Dutch royal family and U.S. President Harry S. Truman. 

However, it's Universal Genève’s chronographs from the 1960s that collectors simply go wild for—and one, in particular, that elicits a Pavlovian response from collectors at the mere mention of it. 

We mean, of course, the Compax known as the “Nina Rindt” after its most famous owner, the model and wife of F1 driver Jochen Rindt. This triple-register "Nina Rindt" Chronograph by Universal Genève is the single most in-demand timepiece that has ever come through our shop. These spectacular chronographs are exceptionally rare—one for every 100 Paul Newman Daytonas is probably a reasonable guess—making them #1 on many collectors' hit lists.