“It took a long time for her to walk again,” said Ms. Nordblad’s sister, Elina Manninen, a professional photographer who has documented Ms. Nordblad’s diving career. “The nerve pain was really bad but the cold water helped with the pain and still does.”
Ms. Nordblad, who lives in Helsinki on the island of Lauttasaari, tested the watches by diving multiple times under the ice, symbolized in both models by blue Super-LumiNova accents on the dials, hands and bezels. She also advised the label on how it might better optimize crowns, clasps and bezels for diving.
The first model, the Goutte d’Eau Nordblad, a compressor-style watch with double crowns and a metal bracelet, featured a Sellita Caliber SW200 movement. Its stainless steel case included a mermaid-like engraving that Ms. Nordblad, who runs a graphic design business, rendered of herself swimming under ice. (The watch sold out within weeks of its release in 2019, Mr. Miranda said.)
The second series, the Hydrium Pro Nordblad Limited Edition, came in 2023 (1,077 euros, or $1,165). It featured a Swiss Landeron movement housed in a micro-blasted stainless steel case — this time with an open back, so the works are visible, another decision of Ms. Nordblad’s. “I’ve always been fascinated with mechanical things, how things work, how the world works,” she said.
Mr. Miranda, a native of Portugal, said the Nordblad models have become a fixture of the brand, which he and his wife, Joana, founded in 2016 with headquarters in Henfield, England. “Our customers now associate black and light blue with a Nordblad edition,” he wrote.
Niko, the host of “Beyond Horology Podcast,” who is identified only by his first name, owns a Hydrium Pro Nordblad. He interviewed Mr. Miranda for an episode last year.
