Certina DS Podium watches

The Certina DS Podium is a sports line from the Swiss brand: steel and titanium chronographs, GMTs and three-handers, with both quartz and automatic movements. Certina, part of the Swatch Group, builds it on its DS concept, which goes back to 1959 and the brothers Hans and Edwin Kurth. DS stands for Double Security: a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, a reinforced case back made to absorb knocks and resist pressure, and an O-ring gasket on the stem against water.

Certina's ties to racing run through the brand. It has worked with Colin McRae and the Sauber Formula One team, was timekeeper of motorcycle Grand Prix racing in the 1990s and sponsored the 2014 World Rally Championship. The Big Size Chrono 1/100 sec is a 44 mm watch, and its WRC Limited Edition is a 43.5 mm titanium version limited to 5,000 pieces. The Chronograph Automatic and the Valgranges are also 44 mm, while the Chronograph 1/10 sec measures 41 mm, the Lap Timer 42 mm, and the Chronograph GMT adds a second time zone to a 42 mm chronograph.

The Big Size Chrono GMT is the same idea at 42 mm in steel, titanium or aluminium, and the plain GMT drops the chronograph for a 41 mm case. The 3-Hands is a 38 mm everyday watch, and the Square puts the line into a square case of 37.5 to 39 mm. The smaller models run from the 29 mm Automatic to 32.5 and 33 mm cases, mother-of-pearl dials and rose-gold PVD trim among them.