Tags: Review | Certina | Women's | Classic | Diving | Traditional
18.1.2022 | 5 MIN
What do women desire? This question troubles the men kind from the beggining of time. But Certina did the best thing possible: they asked! And so we have it – women's watch assebled by women themselves. Introducing Certina DS PH200M.
The retro diving watch Certina DS PH200M from 2018 were not missed by any watch enthusiast. the well-done watch comes from a model produced by Certina in the '60s, which received an unprecedented success around the world, and were awarded by the presigious Watch of the year by the CH24.pl magazine. The men's DS PH200M were simply a number one, so Certina said that it would not be a bad idea to give a similar piece to women as well. In March of this year (2021) they set the task of creating a women's version.
Men's Certina DS PH200M.
But instead of Certina asuming what women want (or to go with the typical formula "to shrink and decorate") they asked their supporters, mainly lady supporters, for advice. They prepared several polls on the Instagram and Facebook platforms, where you could vote abou the key aspects of the design. In the end, all participants were entered into a lottery for the watch, which will be created in this way.
Over the course of several weeks, every Monday and Thursday, fans could vote on what the bezel, dial, hands, strap, and even the box, in which the watch would be sold, would look like.
Some results may come as a surprise. Three-quarters of voters have decided that the bezel will be black (the pictures are only from Facebook, and are therefore only illustrative, a certain percentage is missing). As for the dial, as many as 68 percent of voters preferred dark mother-of-pearl to bubble design, which was considered "more feminine". The sportier sword hands won by 74 percent of the vote, beating the more elegant breguet hands with a round cut. Similar result occurred with the dark gray versus brown strap question. And the outcome?
Dark diving watch with a touch or feminine elegance, and with an amazing sporty soul at the same time... To combine men's and women's elements and give it a touch of retro, elegance, and a robust sportiness needs a courage and craft. And certina handled the balancing perfectly.
The convex glass and gently arched bezel give the watch depth and the desired touch of the retro..
In the sence of present times, the sustainable material of the strap and the box is less than surprising. It is a Tide Ocean Material made by a Swiss company recycling plastic waste, which pollutess oceans and shores, and makes it into a safe and useful products such as textile, clothes, furniture, watches, and more.
The winner pattern for the box are waves..
As a polymer material, the molecules of plastic are big and have a similarity to long chains made out of seemingly neverending series of linked articles. Unlike natural polymers (eg rubber and silk), which do not pollute the environment, artificial ones (mostly from oil) are not biodegradable as they have been developed to suppress natural decomposition processes. And since many plastic products for one use only, they end up not recycled and not improperly disposed of, resulting in landscapes of plastic packaging in many parts of the world.
Fans were guaranteed to appreciate the challenge, and enthusiastic comments such as "I have to have this !!!", or "Amazing watch" appeared on the sites. And this praise was sent by female and male audience. The gentlemen would especially wanted the diameter of 39 mm... Just without the mother of pearl and diamonds.
Certina CEO Marc Aellen said tens of thousands of people had taken part in the competition, and although he admitted that the commercial success of the watch was yet to be seen, the response was positive and attracted great interest. "It is important for a brand like us to get involved in our community, and I think we'll do it again. "He, too, eventually admitted he was surprised by the final result. "I thought it would have a lighter color like white – and that overall look will be more in that direction."
In the end, the white version has been created as well.
So far we do not have any information about the price of the white version, or when it will be available on the Czech market.
As it was mentioned before, it is a larger, sporty-elegant watch with a case diameter of 39 mm – exactly in the spirit of modern women's watch.
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And I'm happy to point out that 4 millimeters was the only thing the watch lost compared to the men's version. It is a perfectly durable and functional diving watch, both in terms of design and practicality. The unidirectional bezel is made of ceramics, therefore is color stable, resistant to scratches, and shiny.
You won't even be able to scratch the sapphire crystal with a one-sided anti-reflective coating that prevents unwanted reflections.
The screw-down case back helps with the high water-resistance (up to 200 m), as well as the Certina famous DS concept, which is used on all Certina watches with no exceptions.
DS, or Double Security system – increases the durability, impact resistance, and reliability of the water resistance of the watch. It includes 1. reinforced sapphire crystal, 2. seal on the crown shaft, 3. double seal on the crown, 4. special seal on the case back, 5. reinforced case back.
Reliable divers must be perfectly legible, which the watch certainly fulfills, however, I can not "diss" a little the choice of diamonds at the expense of classic luminescent indices, which I would appreciate more (but since I'm not a big lover of diamonds, my opinion is pretty biased).
DS PH200M next to the second new watch, the Certina DS Action Lady.
However, the hands and the zero point on the lunette received their portion of luminescence. It is a Swiss Super-Luminova, which has excellent light properties, and it can last for several hours after being "charged" with light.
Short video where you can see the watch in detail:
The transparent case back protects the sapphire crystal. Through it we can see the oscillation of the automatic Powermatic 80 movement, which boasts a high power reserve, and in this case also a Nivachron fiber with antimagnetic characteristics (magnetism can cause deviations in the accuracy of the watch).
Many ladies will certainly appreciate the Quick Release strap fastening system, thanks to which they can easily exchange the strap themselves at home if they just want to change the look of thei watch.
In my opinion, it is a well-done and remarkable piece that stands on a foundation of a very good thought. And what do you think? Did Certina hit the bull's eye?
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