WHO loves Certinas ?

Eve · Oct 17, 2023

As far as my research goes, there are two major variants between the diver dial, and then there are minor variations in those two variants.
I put an excel and called them "MKI" for the early variant and "MKII" for the later.
please feel free to correct me if something is completely off.

The Upper variant is the "MKI" and the lower variant is the "MKII", these are the major differences of the two.

There are some further variations, for example the the lume application and the shape of the (3)-6-9-12 Markers, interrupted red hair-cross and so on.

Eve · Oct 17, 2023

__ryan__
Another 5601-113, which looks to be fully gilt with golden text and numerals. I'm not sure if the base dial is actually golden, or if it's silver that has aged. With lume on the applied indices and the "T" painted over the red cross, similar to the example of @Eve. This one also has a count-up bezel, as opposed to the count-down bezels of the others.

Actually interesting that you mentioned this exact watch, as it is for sale on chrono24 for a while, and i have been trying to understand why the Numerals have kind of a "frame" in colour between the middle part and the edge of the numeral.
But now that we know that the numerals are gilt it makes perfect sence that the patina behaves in such a way.
The question is only have this dial been baked and the silver part turned brown or is it a natural patina.
It would be very intersesting to see this watch in person.

__ryan__ · Oct 17, 2023

Do we know what the "T" stands for on these DS dials?

minutenrohr · Oct 17, 2023

Tritium

minutenrohr · Oct 30, 2023

My new Ref 5827 012, Case 4104948, Gold capped

osterman · Nov 4, 2023

Hi everybody.
Here's my newly arrived Blue Ribbon ref. 5801 100 with movement 25-651.

All Military · Nov 4, 2023

Early 50's 28003.1 - Yet to figure out the exact year

Eve · Nov 6, 2023

The red colour really pops on this Amagnetic🥰

bubba48 · Nov 22, 2023

Arrived today:

Waterking with a clamshell ss case

Poppyboy · Nov 22, 2023

bubba48
Arrived today:

Waterking with a clamshell ss case

Beautiful. Enjoy.

__ryan__ · Dec 10, 2023

Earlier in the year, I was hunting for a Gay Freres bracelet for a Certina DS. As I understand, purchasing a watch with the bracelet attached tends to be a better proposition than finding a good stand-alone bracelet at a reasonable price. This one came up for auction a few months ago. From the seller's photos, the bracelet looked to be in pretty good shape. Reasonably sharp links, original finish (brushed flats and polished beads), and there didn't seem to be excessive stretch.

As for the watch, the dial looked a bit rough and my expectations were not high. There's no turtle on the case back, so I suspect it's a patent-pending case. I was in it mostly for the bracelet, so I decided to take a swing.

Here is what showed up:

All I did here was polish the crystal and put the watch in half decent lighting. Really nice vertical texture and golden hue, which I thought some might find interesting.

With special thanks to @philby, who was very kind to point out the auction.

Biezmez · Dec 11, 2023

That's a lovely result. Many congrats.

Eve · Dec 11, 2023

__ryan__
Earlier in the year, I was hunting for a Gay Freres bracelet for a Certina DS. As I understand, purchasing a watch with the bracelet attached tends to be a better proposition than finding a good stand-alone bracelet at a reasonable price. This one came up for auction a few months ago. From the seller's photos, the bracelet looked to be in pretty good shape. Reasonably sharp links, contrast between the brushing on the links and the polished beads, and there didn't seem to be excessive stretch.

The dial looked a bit rough, but the lume pips were rather neat -- so I thought it might be half-way decent. Also, no turtle on the case back, so I suspect it's a patent-pending case. I was in it mostly for the bracelet, so I decided to take a swing at it.

Here is what showed up:

All I did here was polish the crystal and put the watch in half decent lighting. Really nice vertical texture and golden hue, which I thought some might find interesting.

With special thanks to @philby, who was very kind to point out the auction.

Very nice watch, congrats! 👍

philby · Dec 15, 2023

__ryan__
Earlier in the year, I was hunting for a Gay Freres bracelet for a Certina DS. (…)

All I did here was polish the crystal and put the watch in half decent lighting. Really nice vertical texture and golden hue, which I thought some might find interesting.

Wow, that's a *really* nice DS - glad this worked out so well, congrats!

BTW, if I may be so bold as to post a general recommendation re: Certina DSs - do not forget to check the yellow suspension ring from time to time, and if necessary replace it. I'm speaking from experience, this DS fell about 1m to a not-too-hard surface (plastic floor on a bus) which not only broke the glass, but also the supposedly very robust cal 25-651 inside. My watchmaker gave me back this 😲 after exchanging the movement - no wonder it was of little protective use.

Drew1994 · Jan 25, 2024

Nice Chronometre on eBay has come up, feel like I don't see these too often. Lovely condition

COYI · Jan 26, 2024

dandog · Jan 26, 2024

My 3 Certinas. All manual winding. All found on eBay in the past couple of years. Total cost less than $350. It’s a greatly undervalued brand, imo. Now looking for a DS turtleback.