1. Where can I obtain a Certina catalogue?
Every official Certina representative will be glad to hand you a catalogue if you ask for one at a point of sale, otherwise please request it by email and it will be sent to you.
2. Where can I obtain an instruction manual?
You can download it on this site from "Contact & Support / Manuals” or directly under watch collection. As well you can contact any of our official representatives in your country.
3. Where can I get my Certina watch repaired?
Please refer to the list of Contact & Support / Search retailers. You should contact directly the Service Centre in your country.
4. Are Certina watches sold over the Internet?
Certina does not sell any watches on the Internet. Certina merchandises its watches exclusively through our worldwide network of authorized wholesale and retail distributors. Therefore, any purported Certina watches offered for sale, particularly on the Internet, by a seller who is not authorized by Certina, could be counterfeits or of dubious origin and thus not guaranteed by Certina.
5. How can I be sure I am buying a genuine Certina watch?
You can be sure you are buying a genuine Certina watch if you follow these steps:
• buy a Certina watch only from authorised Certina retailers
• ask for the credit-card size guarantee, duly completed with the watch reference and the retailer's full name and address
6. Do you have spare parts for my old Certina watch?
Certina guarantees repairs and the delivery of spare parts for at least 10 years for standard watches and up to 20 years for gold watches from the date production is discontinued. Beyond this time, Certina will do its utmost to ensure collectors\' items and vintage watches can be repaired.
7. How long is the lifetime of a watch battery?
A battery life varies usually from two to five years depending on the type of the watch, its dimensions and the quantity of energy requested by the different functions. For instance, a chronograph will have a higher energy consumption than a watch indicating the hours and minutes only. Most Certina watches feature an End Of Life (EOL) indicator: When the seconds hand starts jumping every four seconds, it is time to have the battery replaced by a Certina qualified watchmaker.
8. How frequently should a watch be serviced?
Like any high-precision instrument, a watch needs to be services regularly in order for it to work perfectly. Obviously, we cannot indicate the intervals for such servicing, given that it depends entirely on the model, climate and the care taken by the watch\'s owner. As a general rule, it is be-tween 3 and 4 years, depending on the use of the watch.
9. Why does Certina not deliver spare parts directly to its customers?
For technical and quality reasons, we do not deliver individual spare parts directly to our customers. The Certina World Customer Service Centres are available to all customers and offer a professional service, carried out in accordance with Certina's high quality standards.
10. To what depth are Certina watches water resistant?
Certina sport watches set the standard in water resistance. In water sports, a timepiece with a minimum water resistance of 100 meters is recommended. All Certina sport watches are equipped with either the 'DS' or 'DS +' system, and tested at a minimum pressure of 10 atmospheres (equivalent to a depth of 100 meters at sea level) in accordance with the ISO 6425 standard.
Every Certina must undergo a series of tests for water resistance before it reaches the sales outlet. The first test places the timepiece under high air pressure, to ensure that air cannot find its way into the watch housing. The following test takes it through wide temperature variations in a damp environment, to ensure the total absence of water condensation inside the watch glass. The final hurdle which must be overcome by every Certina is the diving test: several hours under water at high pressure, to simulate the depth for which the watch has been certified, and guaranteed to withstand.
The water resistance rating of our watches is based upon laboratory pressure tests, comparable to the pressure conditions to which an unmoving swimmer or diver may be exposed at the corresponding depth in a wide range of water sports, and may show some variation. The conditions under which the timepiece is tested represent a basis for minimum protection that a water-resistant watch should give, and may vary in such cases where strong or intense movements occur.
It should also be understood that water resistance cannot be guaranteed for an indefinite length of time. It may become compromised by accidental shock or impact to the crown, push-button or other areas. For this reason, we recommend that you have your timepiece checked for water re-sistance by an authorised Certina Service Centre annually, and have any faulty component replaced, if necessary. One should not, under any circumstance, attempt to open a complex, mod-ern watch on one's own.
11. What should I do to ensure that my watch continues to provide excellent service for many years?
• Magnetic fields: Do not expose your watch to intense magnetic fields such as loudspeakers or refrigerators and other electromagnetic appliances.
• Bathing in the sea: always rinse your watch with fresh warm water afterwards.
• Crown: depending on model, push or screw it in carefully to ensure that no water enters the mechanism.
• Cleaning: for metal bracelets and for all water-resistant cases use a toothbrush with soapy water and a soft cloth for drying.
• Chemical products: avoid direct contact with solvents, detergents, perfumes, cosmetic products etc., since they may damage the bracelet, the case or the gaskets.
12. What are the precision tolerances for Certina mechanical watches?
The accuracy of the watch depends on the movement and on the individual habits of the wearer and can therefore vary. A qualified Certina watchmaker can adjust the precision of a watch to within the Certina tolerances. The majority of watches that do not have a chronometer certificate have average precision tolerances of between -5 / +30 seconds per day. To earn the title of chro-nometer, the mechanical movement’s average daily variation in rate must be between -2 / +12 seconds per day.
13. What is the difference between a self-winding and a manual-winding movement?
The difference between these two movements is the way in which the watch is wound. Manual-winding watches must be wound every day by hand using the crown, whereas self-winding watches are wound by an internal rotor which responds to wrist movements.
14. How much is the power reserve for a self-winding mechanical Certina watch and how does it work?
The functioning of a self-winding mechanical Certina movement depends on the wrist movements of the wearer. When fully wound, the watch have a power reserve of minimum 38 - 42 hours. Since the watch's self-winding mechanism is directly linked to the wearer's activity, 10 to 12 hours' wear should be sufficient to generate a power reserve of 20 hours or more, which ensures that the watch will continue to run throughout the night. However, if a watch has not been worn for several days and its power reserve has thus run low, we recommend you wind the watch manually for around 15 rotations of the crown (clockwise) to ensure the best possible rate from the outset.
15. What are the precision tolerances for Certina quartz watches?
All Certina quartz movements are produced in accordance with Certina’s highly renowned procedures and quality standards. Ambient temperature may affect the precision of quartz movements, which can lead to variations of between 4 and 6 seconds per month.
16. What is the difference between a chronograph and a chronometer?
A chronograph is a watch with hands that display hours, minutes and seconds, together with a mechanism for measuring elapsed time by means of a central chronograph hand, which records seconds, and 30-minute and 12-hour counter. A chronometer is a watch that has obtained an offi-cial rate certificate from the COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) after having passed precision tests in different positions and at different temperatures, as well as water-resistance tests. These tests are conducted over a 15-day period.
17. Can I wear a Certina stainless steel watch if I am allergic to nickel?
The materials used by Certina are subjected to severe tests in order to avoid allergies. The stainless steel (316L) used by Certina does contain a small amount of nickel, but does not release it and is therefore safe for allergy sufferers. The only exception is for those who are hyper-sensitive to stainless steel. In this case, we recommend you to buy a watch which is made of titanium, gold or which is PVD coated.
18. What is the DS Concept?
DS means “Double Security”. This concept is characterized by a shock-resistant movement suspension system, a reinforced case, a sapphire watch-glass, special o-rings on stem, crown and case back. This process confers on the watch an exceptional resistance, even under extremely demanding conditions.
19. What does PVD mean?
PVD are the initials for Physical Vapour Deposition. It is a sophisticated process, performed under vacuum which deposits microscopic particles on the products by ion bombing or sputtering, to form a protecting coating on their surface. Very thin layers (1 to 3 µm) of impurity-free components can be made which possess high levels of hardness (nitride, carbides, etc...) and it is hypoaller-genic.
20. What is titanium?
Titanium is a metallic element found in the earth’s crust. The element occurs as a bright, lustrous metal or a silver-grey or dark-grey powder. Its compounds are found in practically all igneous rocks and their sand deposits. Hardened titanium is 30% stronger than steel and nearly 40% lighter but more expensive. Titanium resists corrosion; when exposed to the atmosphere, titanium forms a tenacious oxide film that resists salt water corrosion. Titanium is hypoallergenic: it is nickel-free.
21. What is a tachymeter?
A tachymeter is an instrument for measuring speed. It is a chronograph with a graduated dial on which speed can be read off in kilometres per hour based on a 1000 metre distance. How to read the tachymeter: Only the central chronograph second-hand is used. For longer durations, the indications of the timers (minutes and hours) also count. Example for calculating the speed of a car: The chronograph indicates that the distance of one kilometre has been covered in 30 seconds. The corresponding point on the tachymeter scale indicates 120. The speed is therefore 120 km per hour.
22. Does the dial and hand of my watch contain Radium or Tritium?
Radium has been abandoned by Certina a long time ago, followed by tritium some years ago. Tritium has been replaced by a new luminescent material called Super-LumiNova that is used in the manufacturing of our dials and hands. Super-LumiNova is phosphorescent only and consequently has no radioactivity whatsoever. The Super-LumiNova material takes its luminescence from day-light or any artificial source of light. The watch should therefore be exposed to bright light in order to ensure the luminescence of the dial and hands in the dark, i.e. during the night. The luminescence decreases with hours but it is restored as soon as the watch is exposed to bright light.
23. What is a unidirectional bezel?
Often the bezel (top ring on the case), serves to record additional data, and can rotate in both directions to provide a number of functions. A unidirectional bezel only turns one way to prevent any danger of false manoeuvre. This is especially important when being used to measure diving times as even if the bezel is knocked and moved it will simply indicate the diver has less air or decompression time rather than more.
24. What does the Flyback function mean?
A "Flyback" or "Retour a vol" is a function which allows the chronograph to be reset to zero without having to stop the chronograph first (remember that a normal chrono requires you to stop the timing before resetting). This is useful for aviation, where several segments or legs of a route are flown for specific periods of time in sequence; the act of stopping, resetting, and restarting leads to a short delay at the beginning of timing the next leg. This delay, reportedly, can be an important factor in some precision military operations, for example.
25. Why is the 4 o’clock roman number of my watch represented with 4 sticks (IIII) when the correct number is IV?
The “correct” roman number is IV, but the IIII is also applicable and accepted. Several explanations are possible as to the reason for this interpretation of the roman figure. One thing is sure: it has been like this for more than 4 centuries. One reason is because half of the numbers are upside down, since they follow the edge of the clock face round. You can get IV and VI muddled up when they are the right way up. It is even worse when they are upside down. Another, historical reason, is that in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, most of the population could not read their own language let alone a foreign one. Time was displayed mainly on public monuments like churches, temples and towers. It was then easier for people to count four sticks rather than make mistakes reading a strange figure. Finally, it could also be seen simply to come from a decorative point of view as the IIII balances well with the VIII opposite.
26. What does the guarantee cover?
Certina customers receive additional benefits with an extended guarantee period. The Certina management decided to introduce a 24 months’ guarantee period for all Certina watches sold worldwide, starting from January 1st, 2002.
All terms and conditions of this extended 24 months’ guarantee remain unchanged as in the past for the one year guarantee. For repairs, the guarantee remains at one year on the work performed.
Related document: Guarantee (except for the USA)
Related document: Limited Two-Year Guarantee (only for the USA)