Certina Reviews 31

CERTINA DS Action diver.
First of all I love this watch! It's my daily beater, great looks and rugged, accurate enough, after all who really cares if it loses a couple of seconds a day?
Crown thread failed and couldn't screw down so contacted Certina and told it needs a standard service. Packaging and postage arrived and off it went for service. Condition report pre and during service was accurate.
Tracked through their website but expected delivery date came and went. Contacted them, good response and received watch a couple of weeks later.
When it arrived the bezel, insert and case didn't aligned. Both off by half a second. Good response from Certina and watch was returned to them.
Response was not satisfactory. Stated that it had been inspected by a senior technician and was in acceptable limits. You dont have to be OCD (but it helps!) To realise this isn't acceptable after a few back and forward emails the watch was re serviced and returned (had to chase them a bit as delivery went past scheduled date).
Watch came back perfect. All replaced parts were returned as well.
Yes, the watch was away for 5 months, yes I had to chase them for delivery and yes I had to argue the case on the misalignment but the watch is perfect and will serve many more years.
It pays to remember that servicing of a watch with the manufacture takes months. And certina were a fraction of the cost of Panerai, Rolex, Omega.

My watch is sent by Certina to a place in Besancon, France. I got a login-code so I could see that it's registered with an incomplete address. I called twice Certina. After a minute you can speak in on a tape and they will call you back. They never called back. Also twice, I've filled in a contactform. The first time the raction was: we need a servicenumber. That servicenumber was already filled in at the contactform but I sent it again. No response. On the second contactform came no reaction. I inherited the watch from my father, so you can imagine that this watch is very important for me.

I purchased 2 Certina watches and have used their service centre for the servicing of both watches, under warranty, and they both arrived back to me in good time and as good as I expected them to be.
Also, they arrived in small Certina cases for no charge.
I am so glad I chose Certina.
Reason I chose Certina is because I can't afford a Rolex, but Certina have been around just as long and produce very fine quality watches and in my opinion, just as good as a Rolex but at a more affordable price.

Great right out of the box, about +1-3 sec on average. Feels great and looks great.

I purchased the Certina C048.407.11.051.01 from an authorized retailer in Poland. After just one week of wearing it, I noticed serious defects: the bezel insert was visibly misaligned or engraved incorrectly, and the bracelet didn’t sit flush with the case lugs — there was a noticeable gap. I sent an email to the service center describing the issue and clearly requesting a warranty replacement with a new, defect-free unit. I received no response for a full week. Only after calling them directly did I receive a shipping label and service request form. I sent the watch in with complete documentation and a detailed explanation of the defects, again requesting a full replacement under warranty.

Once the watch was sent in, communication essentially ceased. I didn’t receive any confirmation that the watch had arrived at the service center or any updates on its status. I had to call them myself to find out whether it even reached the service. After a few days, I was told that “the bracelet had been adjusted.” No mention was made of the bezel issue. When I asked specifically about it, the conversation ended abruptly — and two hours later, a representative called back to inform me that “this is a sports watch and it’s supposed to look like that,” claiming the watch had been compared to three other units.

After I insisted again that the bezel was clearly defective and that the watch was supposed to be replaced entirely, I was suddenly told that the watch had been replaced — but the serial number was still the same, which immediately raised red flags.

The next day, I requested written confirmation of this supposed replacement. The representative promised it would be sent via email, along with documentation in the return package. That email never arrived. When the watch came back, not only did it still have the same defects (misaligned bezel, loose-fitting bracelet), but now it also had new scratches that weren’t there before — I have timestamped photos taken before shipping as proof. The bezel had clearly been tampered with — the triangle at 12 o’clock no longer aligns with the dial index, and now the bezel has noticeable play that wasn’t present before.

The return package included no clear description of the service performed — just a vague note saying “minor service” and a printout of accuracy and water resistance tests. There was no transparency, no accountability.

I then decided to contact Swatch Group HQ in Switzerland directly, sending an email with a full summary of the issue, including the serial number and supporting documentation. I had already submitted a complaint through Certina’s official contact form earlier — and received no reply whatsoever. No confirmation, no response, absolutely nothing. As a last resort, I posted a comment under one of Certina’s official Facebook posts, publicly describing the issue. In response, the Certina social media team asked me to send them my contact details privately, promising that someone from International Customer Service would get in touch.

After providing my details, I was — once again — contacted by the exact same person from the Polish service center who had mishandled my case from the beginning and ignored my prior requests.

It was during that call that she offered me a refund. I refused. I had purchased the watch at a favorable price that is no longer available, and from the very beginning my request was simple: a proper, defect-free replacement under warranty. I made it clear that I felt deceived and misled, and that their entire handling of the case had been unprofessional and dishonest. Her response was silence.

At this point, I have completely lost trust in the Polish Certina service team and their empty promises. I made multiple specific requests and asked clear questions — all were ignored, dismissed, or avoided. I received no clear answers, no documentation, no transparency. The way Certina handles customer service — both in Poland and internationally — is shockingly unprofessional, evasive, and disrespectful. If anyone is considering buying a watch from this brand, they should know that if anything goes wrong, they’ll be completely on their own.

Avoid Certina – Poor Quality, No Warranty Support

I purchased a Certina DS Action Diver 38 mm (C032.807) and wore it carefully for just 5 months.
Never took it swimming, never mistreated it — yet the screw-down crown thread failed.

I brought the watch to Chronos.kz (Almaty, Kazakhstan), an official Certina service center. They refused to accept it under warranty. No explanation, just rejection.

A Swiss brand that promotes reliability, yet fails after 5 months and refuses to honor the warranty?
That’s unacceptable.

I had no choice but to sell the watch to avoid future problems. I’ve since switched to a Seiko Prospex SNE585P1 — solar-powered, sapphire crystal, reliable, precise, and doesn’t need to be touched for years.

Certina turned out to be an unreliable and poorly made watch backed by an even worse service experience.
I’ll never recommend this brand to anyone.

I have a Certina DS Podium, quartz watch, it's worked fine for 10 years, then started to run slow half a year after a battery change. Sent it in to the repair centre in Switzerland, they did a full service, watch was fine for a couple of years, then started running slow again. Certain repair centre offered a full service again, but I declined the price of the services is nearly CHF 200 each time. Seemed like the watch had an underlying issue they weren't recognising. In the end I'm not impressed with quality, service and longevity. I've been better off with Japanese watches, those work for decades with a few simple battery changes.

I bought a watch from Certina as a birthday gift but had to return it because the recipient preferred a different model. The return process has been incredibly frustrating! On October 25th, I received a notification stating that I would be refunded within 10 working days. However, it is now November 20th, and I still haven't received my money back or any response to my calls and emails. I feel scammed. This has been a terrible return and refund experience. Think twice before purchasing from Certina.

Do not buy unless you have minuscule wrists. Watch itself is up to expectations but comes with a strap that is far too short. Worse still even if you can make it fit on the longest setting there is insufficient material on the strap to tuck it into the retaining bands. Moreover Certina do not supply longer straps. So add ££££ and hassle onto your purchase. Inexcusable for a company as large as the swatch group (which owns Certina).

Three years ago, I got my dad a Certina Powermatic 80 DS-1 watch for his birthday - you know, the model with the two date indicator digits controlled separately.
Initially, it seemed to work fine, so a year or so later, I bought one for myself as well.
Then, the troubles with the date mechanism began: first, it got stuck on my dad's watch, but the jeweller could promptly get it in working order again. A little later, the watch stopped to work completely; the jeweller dutifully returned it to Certina. Took pretty long (some eight weeks), but eventually came back in good working order.
A few weeks later, the date mechanism on my own watch got stuck. Apparently, the jeweller was losing their patience with Certina; they had gotten multiple similar complaints by then. They returned all of these watches that they had in stock and told Certina to do something about these problems, or they no longer wanted to stock them and offer them to their customers.
It took some ten more weeks until my watch came back, properly repaired, for free, and with Certina admitting that these watches had a manufacturing fault that had finally been identified and remedied.
What a pity that a watch that in the end runs perfectly fine, had to cause such headaches to get there.

It was the best sub teacher watch my sub love his watck kepp up the good work😊👍

Well, I bought a Certina Powermatic 80 DS-1 watch in 2020. I own 2 other automatic watches (an old Mido, and a Seiko Sports 5), and in the earlier days also a Swatch Automatic.

This Certina has a very specific date indication system, with the two digits being controlled separately.

This particular watch had to be sent back to Certina three times, when this date mechanism system got stuck. The seller kind of tried to blame me for having operated the watch incorrectly. But I do own other automatic watches, never encountered any problem, and I did pay attention to follow the instructions extra carefully, and still it got stuck three times!

After the third time, they supposedly gave me a new watch. But this also got stuck, after less then a year.

There are horrible reviews to be found on the internet, about the service of Swiss watch companies. Certina did not respond to my questions at all.

I figure that Certina took a risk in adding this specific double date indication mechanism to the Powermatic 80 drive. But no information can be found on this issue.

I hope my second Certina DS-1 can be repaired, so as I will never have to sent in a watch to Certina again. But for now, I wouldn’t buy a Certina again

I bought a Certina about 12 years ago and I just had it serviced directly by them for the second time. They were brilliant! A serving webpage was used to keep me in touch with their initial findings and the cost and timing of the repair. And, boy, did they deliver! My watch looks brand new. I am very pleased with them. Again!

I bought my Certina Podium automatic in 2008 and had many good years before have it serviced by them in 2019. After the watch was returned I noticed that a part was loose in the back of the watch stopping the winding mechanism. The watch had hardly been worn after it was serviced but when it was returned to Certina they alleged to the shop staff that it "must have been damaged by force" and pointed to a small dent in the edge of the watch case as proof of this - despite the fact that this dent is about 12 years old and was on the watch when it was serviced in 2019. They removed the loose piece and returned the watch, not working, to the shop with no paperwork or explaination. My email to their customer services team has also been totally ignored. Rubbish service and dishonest.

Bought a Certina DS Action quartz in 2018. Watch is immaculately made, still keeps very accurate time, water resistance great, design & specs great. Only issue is that the battery warning mode (ticks every 3 seconds) comes on VERY early, months before it actually runs out. When that happened only about 6 months after I bought the watch, I contacted Certina. They sent me a box to send the watch to them in, repaired it quickly and sent it back in same condition for no charge. Great service!

A week ago I ordered directly from Certina UK/Swatch Group in Southampton a rubber strap for my Certina divers watch. They took my payment details and ordered the strap from Switzerland. One week later I wanted to order either some spare stainless steel links or failing that an entire new bracelet for another Certina divers watch I had just bought second hand. They replied saying that private members of the public could not deal with Certina/Swatch and I would have to go through a jeweller. I replied saying that a week earlier I had dealt with them direct. Fortunately I have an extremely good local jewellers (Beaverbrooks) and they immediately ordered a complete new strap from Certina/Swatch. Tissot supply individual bracelet links but Certina/Swatch can't be bothered and you have to buy a complete new bracelet. They are beautiful watches, just a big shame that their UK head office are not to the same high standard one would expect from a Swiss company..

Don't buy Certina period they have no customer service they don't care about you or your purchase.
Finally contact has been made it's only taken forever I will update on how things are going with process and costs of the repair that I believe to be a Certina manufacturing fault.