Certina has brought a trimmer 40.5mm case size into its popular DS Action Diver collection; which remains one of the best bang for your buck divers on the market.
For an entry price of just CHF 785 (around $950), you get a watch with Certina’s ground-breaking Double Security (DS) system that protects it from shocks and resists water at up to 300 meters.
Certina has been active in dive watches since the 1960s, when it provided life-critical timekeepers for extreme underwater missions including Sealab II and Tektite I & II.
Sealab II was an ill-fated experimental project in the early 1960s by the US Navy to see if permanent communities could be built under the ocean off the coast of California.
Tektite was a similar mission in 1969-70 built by General Electric and part-funded by NASA, which built another habitable undersea station off the coast of US Virgin Island St John.
Certina has built on this legacy with the DS Action Diver collection, which meets the highest shock- and water-resistance standards for professional dive watches.
Of course, most Certina watches endure water no deeper than a bath, so they must be desirable as everyday timekeepers on land as well.
Offering the reduced case size of 40.5mm is a good fit for today’s tastes, while the option of steel or lightweight titanium models gives the collection broad appeal.
In steel, there is a piece with a black dial and unidirectional ceramic bezel featuring beige details and white Super-LumiNova. It can be worn on a black and beige fabric strap or a three-row steel bracelet.
For a brighter look, Certina offers another steel-on-steel piece with a white dial and matching white ceramic bezel and lume.
Topping the new range is a piece with titanium case and bracelet, which is distinguished with a dark blue dial and bezel. The slightly greyer tone of the case is matched in the metal colour of hands and applied hour markers.
All straps and watches can be swapped without tools.
Debate continues over whether ETA movements, made by Certina’s Swatch Group stablemate, qualify for in-house manufacture status.
What is unarguable is the quality of the Swiss-made ETA Powermatic automatic movement, which has an anti-magnetic Nivachron balance spring, 80 hour power reserve and is accurate to +/-15 seconds per day.
Prices start at CHF 785 (around $950) for the steel watches on a textile strap or CHF 835 ($1,015) on the steel bracelet. The titanium piece is CHF 895 ($1,090).