In 1888, when the Kurth brothers founded their company called Kurth Frères, only watch parts and movements were produced. These were sold in Switzerland and France. Various manual-winding movements were in the product range until 1947 when the first self-winding movement – the hammer-winding KF 360 – came out. The first self-winding movement with a rotor (the KF 21-0114 movement, introduced in 1950), was derived from the AS 1323 movement. Finally, in 1951 with the 25-45, the first Certina-developed self-winding movement came onto the market. The 28-45 movement line was launched in 1953 and had the same construction characteristics as the previous movement, except that the diameter was 3mm bigger. Maybe you had already noticed: the first number in the movement designation stands for the diameter in millimetres.
In 1954, Certina began providing Hamilton with self-winding movements, and did so for a few years. Hamilton saw a need to add automatic wristwatches to their line but they had no such movements.

At the end of the fifties, the demand for flat wristwatches was increasing, and Certina developed an applicable movement. The 25-65 or 25-651/652 (with date/day and date) was launched in 1960, and was 1mm slimmer than the predecessor 28-45.
The 25-651 is the most prevalent Certina movement which was used in countless models, where it proved its robustness. This robustness was further improved with the "DS" System (meaning “Double Security”). In this system, besides the shock absorber of the movement, the whole movement assembly is float mounted by means of an elastic anti-shock ring made of synthetic rubber (see illustration on the left).

With the "288" movements (which were used beginning in 1970), the balance wheel oscillation rate was increased from the former 19,800 to 28,800 A/h. As a special feature, the 25-671/672 had a micro ball-bearing mounted cannon pinion and the Certina patented "Clineric 21" anchor escapement. The micro ball-bearing (see illustration on the right) had a diameter of only 2.2mm and each of the seven mounted balls had a diameter of 0.3mm! For the final serial production, a slightly improved version, the 25-681/682, was introduced in 1972. You can identify watches with this movement through the marking "288" on the dial. The last Certina-developed self-winding movement was the 919/920-1. It came on the market in the spring of 1976 and was the successor to the legendary 25-65 movements.

For the chronographs, Certina used (as did other manufacturers), approved movements like the Venus movements, the Valjoux 23 and 72 (in its different generations), and later the Valjoux 7750. These movements were partly revised and labelled with Certina’s own movement markings. Two specialities are the 29-064 which was based on the Valjoux 728. It is a later and little-known version of the Valjoux 72 family with central chrono minute indicator as popularized by the Lemania 5100. The other speciality is the Certina 749. This one is based on the tuning-fork movement, the ESA 9210 "Mosaba", which is derived from the ESA 9162/4. For the 9210, the chronograph mechanism is in modular form, and mounts on the dial side of the movement. This movement was used in Omega and Longines chronographs as well. It is the only tuning fork chronograph movement ever made and just 21,000 units were produced.

The first electric movement from Certina came on the market in 1971. It was the 28-353, which was used in the Biostar. The 28-353 was an ESA 9154 Dynotron, with an electronically-controlled balance wheel motor. Certina provided this movement with an additional mechanism for the biorhythm indicator. About that time, the first tuning-fork movements were used. The 29-151/152 was derived from the ESA 9162/64 "Mosaba" (for “montre sans balancier”) and was used in the Certronic models. In 1973, quartz movements were introduced and subsequently more and more watches were fitted with quartz movements. The Quartz Crisis had reached the Swiss watch industry. Quartz was “hip”, mechanical was “out”. And so it remained for a time. The few mechanical movements which Certina still offered were purchased from ETA. Certina’s in-house production was history.

The following list does not contain all Certina movements, but just the most frequently used as well as those which are attached to the models described on these pages. Currently, 53 movements are listed (status April 06, 2017). Do you think that there is a relevant movement missing from this list? Have you found an error or do you have further information? Contact me!