Certina
Swiss robustness at the entry point, without the entry-level compromises.
Founded in 1888 in Grenchen, Switzerland, Certina built its name on the DS concept — Double Security — an engineering approach introduced in 1959 to make a watch survive genuine abuse. It remains one of the most affordable routes into real Swiss mechanical watchmaking.
Certina occupies a specific and useful place in the Swatch Group hierarchy: less design-led than Tissot, less heritage-focused than Hamilton, and built instead around a single idea it has pursued since 1959 — case protection. The DS system, which combines a reinforced case, doubled gaskets and a shock-mounted movement, is the reason Certina divers have historically over-delivered on water resistance for their price. The DS Action Diver and the 1000-metre DS Super PH1000M are the clearest expressions of that, while the DS PH200M reissues the brand's 1960s dive design for buyers who want vintage proportions without vintage fragility. Because Certina shares Swatch Group manufacturing, its automatics use the same Powermatic 80 movement found several tiers up the group's price ladder, which is what makes the value case difficult to argue with.
Country
Switzerland
Founder
Adolf and Alfred Kurth
Positioning
entry-level, affordable, tool-watch
Main collections
DS Action Diver
$1,102
Certina's core dive line and the clearest expression of the DS concept: 300 metres of water resistance, a ceramic bezel insert, and a choice of 38mm or 43mm cases including titanium.
DS PH200M
$1,150
A reissue of Certina's 1960s dive watch, keeping the domed-crystal silhouette and box-case proportions while running a modern Powermatic 80 movement behind 200 metres of water resistance.
DS-1
$1,021
The line that carries the DS name most directly — a 40mm dress-sport watch with 100 metres of water resistance, sitting between the divers and the slimmer DS-8.
DS-8
$491
Certina's cleanest dress proposition, with slim 40mm and sub-36mm cases, restrained dials and both quartz and automatic options at the accessible end of the range.
Prices by collection
As of August 2026 — retail, before any market premium or discount
Automatic dive line; widely discounted through Swatch Group's authorized network.
Vintage-reissue diver; typically discounted, no secondary-market premium.
Certina's core dress-sport line, cased in steel.
Certina's most accessible dress reference, in quartz and automatic versions.
The brand
About Certina
Certina was founded in 1888 in Grenchen, Switzerland, by the brothers Adolf and Alfred Kurth, originally trading as Kurth Frères. The Certina name — from the Latin certus, meaning sure or certain — was adopted as the company's principal brand in 1938, and the choice turned out to describe the firm's eventual engineering priorities fairly precisely.
The defining moment came in 1959 with the DS concept, short for Double Security. Rather than a single innovation, DS was a package: a reinforced case, additional gaskets at the crown and case back, and a movement mounted on a shock-absorbing system. Certina joined the Swatch Group in 1983 and has since operated as the group's protection-and-durability specialist at the accessible end of its portfolio.
Why Certina matters
Certina's value argument is unusually concrete. Its dive watches tend to carry water resistance ratings well above what their price would suggest — 300 metres on the DS Action Diver, 1000 metres on the DS Super PH1000M — and those figures come from the DS construction rather than from marketing. For a buyer who actually swims, sails or works outdoors, that specification gap matters more than finishing detail.
The second argument is movement access. Certina automatics run the Powermatic 80, the same 80-hour Swatch Group calibre used by brands positioned above it. Buyers therefore get a long power reserve — a watch left off the wrist over a weekend is still running on Monday — at a price where competitors often fall back on shorter-reserve movements or quartz alone.
Style, fit & buyer profile
Certina's catalog splits cleanly. The DS Action and PH-series divers are the sporting core, with the DS Action Diver offered in both a 38mm case that suits smaller wrists and a larger 43mm version. The DS-1, DS-7 and DS-8 lines cover dress-sport territory around 40mm, and a substantial number of compact and lady models sit at or below 36mm, which makes Certina a more practical option than most Swiss brands for genuinely small wrists.
The typical Certina buyer is pragmatic rather than collector-minded: someone who wants a Swiss automatic that can be worn without care, often as a first mechanical watch or as a robust second watch alongside something dressier. Anyone whose priority is finishing refinement, in-house movements or resale value will be better served further up the ladder.
Price positioning
In our catalog Certina spans roughly €370 to €2,360, with the median around €890. Quartz models and the compact DS-8 line occupy the lower half, while Powermatic 80 automatics and the dive collections cluster between about €850 and €1,300. The upper end is reserved for chronographs and special editions.
That places Certina at or slightly below Tissot for comparable specification, and clearly beneath Longines. The practical consequence is that a Certina diver with a ceramic bezel, sapphire crystal and an 80-hour automatic movement frequently costs less than a quartz watch from a fashion-adjacent label — which is the whole reason the brand is worth knowing about.
What sets Certina apart
Introduced in 1959, Double Security is a package rather than a single part: a reinforced case, doubled gaskets at the crown and case back, and a movement held in a shock-absorbing mount. It is the reason Certina's water resistance figures tend to sit above its price class, and the turtle emblem marks watches built to the standard.
The Swatch Group automatic calibre used across Certina's mechanical range, offering an 80-hour power reserve. In practice that means a watch set down on Friday evening is still running accurately on Monday morning — a convenience usually associated with more expensive movements.
Certina's PH designations trace back to its 1960s dive watches. The modern DS PH200M reissues that design at 200 metres, while the DS Super PH1000M pushes the same construction principles to a 1000-metre rating — depth ratings that remain unusual at Certina's price point.
Browse all 77 references
- DS-8 — C0450101603100
- DS-8 Gent — C0454101604100
- DS Caimano — C0172105611700
- DS-8 Moonphase Lady — C0452231613100
- DS-8 Moonphase Gent — C0454231605100
- DS Podium Lady — C0342101103700
- DS-7 — C0434101604100
- DS Action — C0484101705100
- DS-2 Lady — C0492101112601
- DS PH100M Gent — C0444101804000
- DS PH100M Lady — C0442101805100
- DS Action — C0482101112100
- DS-8 Lady — C0330511111801
- DS-6 Lady — C0392511701701
- DS-2 Lady — C0492102211600
- DS Caimano — C0354103336700
- DS-8 Chrono — C0454171604100
- DS Cascadeur — C0464102705110
- DS-2 Lady — C0492103302600
- DS-2 Lady — C0492103311600
- DS Action — C0482104413100
- DS Action Lady Diamonds — C0320511105600
- DS-X GMT — C0474521708100
- DS-X GMT — C0474521701100
- DS-X GMT — C0474521708101
- DS Podium Chronograph 1/10 sec — C0344171105700
- DS Action Lady — C0329512203100
- DS Podium GMT — C0344551104000
- DS-7 Chronograph — C0434173808100
- DS-7 Chronograph Padel Edition by Marta Ortega — C0434173820110
- DS Action — C0324511109700
- DS Action Chrono — C0484171105100
- DS-1 — C0292071609100
- DS-1 — C0298071603101
- DS Action Day Date — C0324301604100
- DS Action Day Date Powermatic 80 — C0324301804101
- DS Action Chrono — C0484173320100
- DS Action Day Date — C0324301108101
- DS Action Chronograph — C0324341105700
- DS Pilot — C0246171604200
- DS-1 — C0294301601100
- DS-1 Powermatic 80 — C0298071103102
- DS Action Diver — C0488073805100
- DS PH200M Powermatic 80 — C0364071105000
- DS Action Diver — C0484071805101
- DS Action Lady Powermatic 80 — C0322071105600
- DS-1 Big Date Powermatic 80 — C0294263604100
- DS-8 Chronograph Moon Phase — C0334601604700
- DS-1 — C0298073305100
- DS-8 Chronograph Moon Phase — C0334601105700
- DS Powermatic 80 — C0384071609700
- DS Super PH500M — C0374071805000
- DS-2 — C0244071803100
- DS-2 — C0244071742100
- DS Action Diver — C0326073805100
- DS-2 Lady — C0242073611100
- DS Super PH500M — C0374071728010
- DS PH200M — C0362071812600
- DS-2 — C0244073736100
- DS-1 Skeleton — C0299071608100
- DS Super PH1000M — C0249071805100
- DS SUPER PH1000M — C0249071704110
- DS PH200M — C0362071811600
- DS-2 (Turning Bezel) — C0246074805110
- DS-2 (Turning Bezel) — C0246071104102
- DS Action GMT Powermatic 80 — C0329292605100
- DS SUPER PH2000M — C0506074401102
- DS SUPER PH2000M STC — C0506074404110
- DS Jubile Lady — C9022514601600
- DS-7 Chrono Auto — C0434271104100
- DS Action Diver Chrono — C0328271827100
- DS-1 Chrono Auto — C0294621601100
- DS Jubile — C9024514601100
- DS Skeleton — C0424075608110
- DS-2 Chronograph — C0244621804100
- DS Chronograph Automatic 1968 — C0404621805100
- DS-7 Big Date — C0434261104100