The bezel of the DS PH200M can be rotated quite easily with your bare hands, but it can be difficult to turn while wearing diving gloves. The legibility is also good during the day, unless sunlight shines directly through the highly curved acrylic crystal and reflects glaringly off the glossy lacquered dial and polished hands. Glow-in-the-dark Super-LumiNova shines brightly and is long-lasting, with its characteristic green hue on the hands, the indexes and the dot on the bezel. The caseвЂ™s pressure resistance to a depth of 200 meters easily meets the needs of recreational divers, while leaving plenty of additional meters of pressure resistance as a safety reserve. While weвЂ™re on the subject of diving, the letters вЂњPHвЂќ in this modelвЂ™s name stand for pression hydrostatique (French for вЂњwater pressureвЂќ). Historical version: The original DS PH200M debuted in 1967. The textile strap has leather-edged holes and a complexly styled large-format buckle with a milled tang. Thanks to spring bars with integrated sliders, no tools are needed to change the straps. People who want to wear this wristwatch while playing sports or diving can temporarily swap the leather wristband for a textile strap with black and blue stripes that comes with the watch. The velvety calfskin strap ends in a neatly polished buckle with a tang thatвЂ™s milled rather than merely bent into shape. The engraved turtle emblem, which is typical of DS models, looks three-dimensional on the caseвЂ™s massive, solid back. The case is neatly polished and satin finished. The exterior finishing of the DS PH200M is just as convincing as its mechanical inner life. This solution is more elegant and shows greater technical sophistication. As a further improvement, ETA eliminated the regulator with adjusting screw and installed a freely oscillating balance with two variable weights. This assures that this self-winding watch will keep ticking even if it languishes motionless and unworn throughout an entire weekend.ДЄ few years ago, ETA achieved this increase in performance compared to its basic caliber, the well-known ETA 2824 with a 38-hour power reserve, by reducing the balanceвЂ™s frequency by 25 percent to 21,600 vibrations per hour and by making the barrelвЂ™s shaft slimmer, thus freeing space inside the barrel to accommodate a longer mainspring.

Movement manufacturer ETA, which belongs to the Swatch Group, supplies the Powermatic 80.111 caliber, which continues to run for 80 hours after having been fully wound. It comes with a supple calfskin strap and a sturdy textile one.Дespite its low price, the new watchвЂ™s long-lasting power reserve is one characteristic that surpasses the performance of other watches in this price class. The DS PH200M is comfortable on the wrist. However, the lightweight metal is an improvement over the bezel on the original model, which had a calibrated insert made of relatively brittle Bakelite plastic. In return for this low price, the owner must accept the fact that the scale of the unidirectional rotatable diversвЂ™ bezel is made of aluminum rather than scratch-resistant ceramic. This cost saving, along with other factors such as synergies within the Swatch Group, enable Certina to offer the DS PH200M at a price of just $780. Furthermore, an acrylic crystal costs less than a sapphire one. But design considerations and the desire for authenticity prompted Certina to use an acrylic crystal in its stylish new diversвЂ™ watch, where the crystalвЂ™s high curvature and large material thickness are two inarguable bonuses. Modern sapphire crystals, for example, are so shatter-resistant that they can easily outperform acrylic crystals, while requiring much less material thickness.

Watch movements today are so sturdy and cases are of such high quality that they make the historical DS principles unnecessary.

An extra-thick acrylic crystal and a reinforced, fully threaded, screw-in back are two elements in the design that enhanced the security of the original model and reappear in the contemporary DS PH200M, our test watch.

Since 1959, along with an Incabloc shock-protection system, the elastically suspended movement has been part of CertinaвЂ™s DS (Double Safety) concept, hence the two letters that serve as the name for the brandвЂ™s extensive DS collection. Just like the version from the вЂ™60s, Certina leaves a narrow gap between the case and the dial, which is connected to the movement, to provide space for the slight motions permitted by the elastic rubber ring. As in the original construction, the movement is borne atop a thick rubber ring that cushions it against shocks. The DS PH200MвЂ™s similarities to its predecessor not only apply to its design but also continue into its interior.

Certina ds action diver 38mm