If you fancy a tonneau shaped case retro watch, you have two choices. Buy an older 1970s vintage watch and gamble that it will keep reasonable time, or invest in something like this new Certina DS-2, which has the trusty Swatch Group Powermatic 80 automatic movement inside.
Yep 80 hours of reserve, lots of modern super luminova, 200m water resistance and a sapphire crystal. You won’t get that with a vintage Omega Cosmic.
Here is the press info; price is £770, which is not too cheeky.
With the first DS-2 from 1968, Certina began a new chapter in the making of extremely reliable watches, taking up the very successful – and exceptionally stylish – story that had begun nine years earlier with the DS-1.
The DS-2 earned high marks, as it does today, for its tonneau-shaped case, an ellipse capped at both ends, as the 1968 product presentation put it. The soft corners and edges are combined with a round dial and sapphire crystal.
The new DS-2 is available in four versions, with dials in matt black and satin-brushed silver, blue or black. Rectangular hands and indexes with Super-LumiNova® highlighting underscore the vintage look of the watch. The stainless steel case (width 40mm, length 38 mm) is worn on a Milanese mesh bracelet or a NATO strap made of #tide ocean material®, which is based on plastics fished from the ocean.
THE POWER OF MODERN MECHANICS
Though there’s a striking external resemblance to the older version, the interior of the new DS-2 is clearly an original piece of work.
The current model features a state-of-the-art automatic movement with up to 80 hours of power reserve and an anti-magnetic NivachronTM balance spring – clearly visible through the sapphire crystal case back – that reliably drives the hours, minutes and second hands, along with the date display at 3 o’clock.
Thanks to the screw-down crown and Double Security (DS) system, the watch is water-resistant to 20 bar (200 m). So even with all the nostalgia, the DS-2 makes it perfectly clear: in watchmaking, time has certainly not stood still!
The new DS-2 Powermatic 80 will be available starting in February 2022 from authorised Certina dealers around the world.