Certina DS Caimano watches

The Certina DS Caimano is the quiet end of Certina's DS family: a slim, round steel dress watch with hours, minutes, seconds and a date. Certina, part of the Swatch Group, files it with its Heritage models, and presents it as a watch for the office as much as for formal evenings.

DS stands for Double Security, the durability concept Certina has used since 1959. Behind the restrained dial that means a sapphire crystal and a reinforced case back with its own gasket, there to absorb knocks and keep pressure off the movement.

On the 39 mm Caimano the real decision is the movement, since the two versions share the same look. The quartz C035.410 runs on Certina's ETA-made Precidrive calibre F05.411, rated to about 10 seconds a year, which keeps the case down to 7.95 mm. The DS Caimano Powermatic 80 (C035.407) carries the automatic Powermatic 80 with up to 80 hours of power reserve, enough to sit in a drawer over a weekend and still be running on Monday, at 9.85 mm thick. Both take a 20 mm strap and are rated to 100 m, and the quartz adds Super-LumiNova on its hands and indices. Either comes in plain steel, in steel with rose or yellow gold PVD, or fully rose-gold PVD with a grey dial; the quartz also comes in titanium, the C035.410.44.087.00.

The C017 Caimano is a different watch: 38 mm and 8.6 mm thick, with Arabic-numeral or index dials, in steel, two-tone, PVD and titanium. The DS Caimano Lady brings the same restrained design down to 27 mm, in steel and two-tone.