Certina Watches: Swiss Dependability Under the Sign of the Turtle

Certina's history starts in 1888 in Grenchen, in the Swiss canton of Solothurn, where the brothers Adolf and Alfred Kurth set up a small factory making watch parts and movements, with three employees in a workshop beside the family home. Their first brand name was Grana, short for Granacus, the Latin name for Grenchen. The name Certina comes from the Latin certus, meaning sure or certain, and was officially registered in 1939. In the 1920s Alfred's sons, Erwin and Hans, joined the family firm. Certina later belonged to ASUAG and, following the merger with SSIH, became a founding member of the group renamed The Swatch Group in 1998. It is now one of the group's makers of mid-range Swiss watches.

At the heart of the brand lies the Certina DS concept. Launched in 1959, "Double Security" brings together a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, a reinforced case back and an improved sealing system for greater shock and water resistance; the very first DS model was water-resistant to 200 m. Its emblem is the turtle, which has symbolised robustness and longevity since the 1960s and joined the logo in 2013. In 1960 every member of the Swiss-led expedition that first climbed Dhaulagiri wore a Certina, and the watches went on to serve in the Sealab II and Tektite underwater projects. On the technical side, the ETA-made Powermatic 80 automatic movement delivers up to 80 hours of power reserve, in current models with an anti-magnetic Nivachron balance spring, while thermocompensated Precidrive quartz is rated at ±10 seconds a year. Selected references are COSC-certified chronometers.

The current range is headed by DS Action, a sports and diving collection whose Diver models are ISO 6425-certified and water-resistant to as much as 300 m, and by DS-8, which marries technical performance with style in chronometer, chronograph and moon-phase versions. Lines such as DS Podium with 1/10-second quartz chronographs, the classic DS Caimano and the ladies' lines DS Stella, DS Queen and DS Dream round out the collection. Divers will value a tough Swiss dive watch, motorsport enthusiasts a precise quartz chronograph and lovers of mechanics a Powermatic 80 automatic watch. True to its motto "Count on me", Certina suits anyone after a dependable everyday watch.