Certina
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Certina S.A. is a Swiss watch brand, part of the Swatch Group, founded in Grenchen in 18881 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth. All Certina watches bear the "Swiss Made" seal of origin. Certina watches are not related to German industrial conglomerate Certina Holding.
Certina S.A. is a Swiss watch brand, part of the Swatch Group, founded in Grenchen in 1888 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth. All Certina watches bear the "Swiss Made" seal of origin. Certina watches are not related to German industrial conglomerate Certina Holding.
Affiliation to ASUAG
In 1971, the owning family opted to join General Watch Co, the newly created sub-holding of ASUAG, in order to consolidate their efforts with others. The introduction of cheap and reliable automatics and quartz watches from Japan (under the ideas of their strategic management) stopped Certina's expansion. The restructuring involved the abandonment of their own manufacture of calibres, and by the end of the 1970s, operations were moved to Biel/Bienne and the entity Edox & Technos. Under the new management, the company managed to hold on to some of their properties, especially in the Scandinavian countries. Upon the merger of SSIH and ASUAG companies, Certina S.A. became a member of a new managerial entity, together with Mido and Tissot, which became known as Le Locle, (the newly elected Unesco World Heritage Site in Switzerland).
The Certina brand
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 trademark for the export and marketing of their watches. In 2014 Certina S.A. changed their red logo with a new 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 S.A. 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.
External links
Alliance Horlogère listing of Certina calibres
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372077657 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.