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 Certina goes green

Certina celebrated its 125th anniversary and presented a brand-new corporate identity at BaselWorld, switching from a sporty red to a colour less used in the industry: a vibrant green that symbolises “freshness, dynamism, luck and success”. In addition to the comprehensive revamp of the brand’s identity and point of sale material, the change will also be marked with the use of the turtle emblem, which will be either stamped or engraved on all Certina watches (it was already used on the DS-1 and DS-2 models in the 1960s).

The turtle symbolises resistance and durability and is intended to reflect the characteristics of “Double Security” in the DS models for which the brand is famous and which now also features, along with the turtle shell, in the new Certina logo. Europa Star sat down with Certina’s boss André Bosshard to talk about the brand’s new identity and its latest products.

Europa Star: You are presenting a big change in identity for Certina at BaselWorld. What was the main reason for making this change?
André Bosshard: This year is our 125th anniversary and we are taking it as a milestone year. We are very proud that we have been producing and distributing watches throughout this 125-year period. Because of this, and because it is a “new” BaselWorld and we have a new stand, we decided early last year to bring back some elements from our roots. So we decided to change our logo and go back to the initial font, which has been on the dial of our watches for some 50 years. We also wanted to incorporate a message in the logo that was part of our DNA. DS, or Double Security, has been in our watches for over fifty years and is a unique quality concept. We have used the shell of a turtle in the logo to symbolise the quality of our watches. A turtle has a long life and its shell is very resistant.
As for the colour, we liked the red colour. It’s a nice colour and it’s appreciated. But often in points of sale I saw too many reds and I thought that our products deserved to be highlighted and to stand out. So we did some research into colours and picked out green as a colour of freshness, dynamism, luck and success. Also, it’s not strongly occupied in the industry. I think it upgrades the brand and we are proud of the new booth and our advertising layouts. We have achieved the target we had of highlighting the key strengths of the brand in an appropriate environment.

After Tissot and Longines, Certina has also launched the Powermatic 80 movement in its collection. What percentage of Certina watches are mechanical?
AB: Ten years ago we were a pure quartz brand, so all our production was in quartz. But now we see that in Europe the culture to buy mechanical watches in our price segment is increasing. Whereas ten years ago the main trend in the 500-800 Swiss franc price bracket was to buy quartz, today this is changing. We also have the influence of the Asian tourists, over 50 per cent of whom buy mechanical watches and are therefore influencing demand.

Do you aim to increase the proportion of mechanical watches in the Certina collection?
AB: We have a huge heritage in this segment. Let’s not forget that Certina was a manufacture in the 1970s and we produced our own u u mechanical movements. The new Powermatic in our anniversary collection is a vintage product with a very modern movement inside that offers a precision of plus or minus five seconds per day. This Powermatic will definitely help to increase our market share in the mechanical segment.

DS-1 LIMITED EDITION by Certina

Certina presented a limited-edition boxed set consisting of matching ladies’ and gents’ models in the DS-1 collection in celebration of the brand’s 125th anniversary. Only 1,888 will be available, in stainless steel, and sold only as a pair.

The figures presented by the Federation of the Swiss Watchmaking Industry at the opening press conference in BaselWorld showed that the growth in exports of quartz watches has been flat for a number of years. If this is the case, how come big brands such as Tissot and Certina, which are dependent on quartz movements, are still growing?
AB: Even if the cake stays the same size, you can still cut a bigger slice of it. But the quartz segment still has some potential in my view and should not be neglected. Some customers are interested more in a watch’s design and the materials used rather than the movement inside, mainly in the ladies’ segment.

What is the split between gents’ and ladies’ watches at Certina?
AB: It’s two-thirds gents’ and one-third ladies’, which is a good balance for a sport brand offering mainly chronographs.

Europe is your biggest market. Can you subdivide this further into the most successful countries or regions?
AB: The main areas in terms of market share are Switzerland and Scandinavia. We are one of the market leaders in these areas. We are also strong in eastern Europe and Russia—both in terms of absolute figures but also in terms of growth rates—as well as in Germany, Spain and more recently in the UK. There is a potential for good penetration in the UK because both Formula 1 and rally are popular there and the people have fuel in their blood.

What is your outlook for the coming year?
AB: I have a very positive outlook for the year. We already did the first presentation of our new corporate identity to our markets in January and the feedback was very positive. We now look forward to the challenge of implementing all these tools in the markets accordingly and to see the reaction of the end consumer.

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