type member of the swatch group industry watch manufacturing founded 1888 by adolf & alfred kurth in grenchen switzerland headquarters le locle unesco world heritage site switzerland products wristwatches timing devices systems parent the swatch group ltd. website www.certina.com certina cal . 25 36 1960 certina 1888 ds podium chronograph certina s.a. is a swiss watchmaker founded in grenchen 1888 by adolf and alfred kurth and currently an affiliate company of the swatch group . contents 1 history 2 affiliation to general watch co allgemeine gesellschaft der schweizerischen uhrenindustrie ag asuag 3 wristwatches world s first & lines of collection 4 brand ambassadors 5 watch series 6 advanced systems and materials 7 motoring sponsoring & partnerships 8 the certina brand 9 references 10 external links history edit certina was founded in 1888 when adolf and alfred kurth opened in grenchen their first movement and supplies factory for the watchmaking industry . at the start certina s staff consisted of three employees working in a workshop that was connected to the family home . certina did not begin producing complete watches and timepieces for a few years which they then did alongside their work producing movements for other companies . by 1938 the company had expanded and 250 employees celebrated the 50th anniversary of the company . at that time certina were already known as pioneers citation needed . certina continued to expand and by 1955 the company had 500 employees working between the factory and offices producing 1 000 timepieces every day . certina worked up a new business plan that expanded its operations and was at the time considered the most modern and best equipped watchmakers in the world citation needed . by 1972 certina employed 900 people and produced 600 000 watches every year . the company was ranked first in most major jewellery watch fairs and they obtained both the international diamonds awards and the golden rose award . by this time certina was producing 375 000 watch components per day and used 53 000 rubies . 1983 certina became a member of the smh group swatch . 1 affiliation to general watch co allgemeine gesellschaft der schweizerischen uhrenindustrie ag asuag edit by 1971 the owning family had wisely decided to join general watch co the newly created sub holding of asuag in order to concentrate their efforts with others . the onslaught of the japanese watch industry under the rules of their strategic management see strategic management with their own reliable and much cheaper automatic and then quartz watches stopped certina s expansion to a relative standstill . the restructuring involved the abandonment of their own manufacture of certina calibres and by the end of the 1970s certina operations were moved to biel bienne and the entity edox & technos . under the new management certina managed to hold onto some of their strongholds especially in the scandinavian countries . upon the merger of ssih and asuag companies certina became a member of a new managerial entity together with mido and tissot which has now established itself in le locle the newly elected unesco world heritage site in switzerland . wristwatches world s first & lines of collection edit the first wrist watches were already produced by the company in 1938 predominately ladies watches because men still preferred pocket watches . for exceptional performance the founders received the milan fair s gold medal award . digital watch 1936 certina was the first company to produce the digital watch . it was driven by a spring movement . rotating disks bearing inscribed numbers were used to display the time instead of hands . ds double security line in 1959 hans and edwin kurth had set themselves the objective of creating a brand new niche in the marketplace based on quality through engineering and technical designs . thus certina created the concept of suspending the watch movement inside a highly reinforced case which they named ds for double security . the certina ds were the first watches to raise the water resistancy and shock protection down to 6 m previous watches were set at 2.2 meters . the certina ds watch was taken up the himalayas by a team who climbed the dhaulagiri and the watch withstood all changes in pressure and altitude . biostar in 1971 certina introduced the biostar the world s first watch that displayed human biorhythms . scratchproof certina went on to produce many world firsts including the unscratchable ds diamaster in tungsten carbide and scooped many awards . brand ambassadors edit ole einar bj rndalen oliver keller st phane kox watch series edit sport collection ds 2 2013 ds eagle ds multi 8 ds podium ds podium big size ds podium valgranges ds sport aqua collection ds action ds action diver ds first urban collection ds 4 ds 4 big size ds 8 chronograph moon phase ds dream ds prime ds stella heritage collection ds caimano ds powermatic 80 2014 ds 1 advanced systems and materials edit certina basic recent collection of certina include titanium 316l high grade stainless steel sapphire glass its own ds feature such as the current ds podium ds first or ds action and eta swiss made movements are standard features . it currently offers collections classified under the names automatic sport classic sport elegant and sport xtreme including some models claimed to perform up to 200 m underwater . motoring sponsoring & partnerships edit the 2000s decade saw many new partnerships with motoring companies including colin mcrae sete gibernau and finally the sauber petronas formula one team renamed sauber formula one team of which certina is currently engaged in a sponsorship . certina was timekeeper of the motorcycling grand prix in the 1990s . certina sponsors the 2014 world rally championship . the certina brand edit in 1906 the certina brand name was used for the first time with adolf and alfred choosing to call their watches grana the short form of granatus the latin name for grenchen . in 1938 the company adopted the name certina taken from the latin certus meaning assured certain as their exclusive trademark for the export and marketing of their outstanding quality swiss made watches . in 2014 certina changed their red logo with a new more classic looking logo . the new logo uses a turtle symbol to symbolize protection against water and shocks . the change in logo and brand colours was because certina wanted to move to a more expensive and higher quality segment . differentiating it from tissot another brand in the swatch group family . the impact of the changes in the brand has been the integration of better and more accurate movements like the precidrive in new releases . citation needed references edit history certina . certina . retrieved 2014 12 08 . external links edit official certina homepage including all necessary explanation on the various collection lines history of the swatch group sa and the various re organisation vintage certina time line and various info official swatch group history alliance horlog re listing of the certina calibres vintage certinas wikimedia commons has media related to swatch group . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title certina kurth fr res & oldid 734609166 categories watch brandsswiss watch brandswatch manufacturing companies of switzerlandthe swatch groupluxury brandscompanies established in 1888hidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from october 2013articles with unsourced statements from june 2009articles with unsourced statements from january 2015commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact 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