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Certina DS-2 Precidrive - a great quartz watch

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IsaaH

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Around 2-ish years ago, I was thinking about whether or not to get a Certina Precidrive Chronograph. I decided not to at the time, but eventually picked one up before they disappeared from online stores.

For a quick bullet list of why these things are cool:
  • HAQ +/-10 SPY, thermocompensated. 27 Jewels for the quartz movement. Integrated circuit sealed within a ceramic casing
  • 1/100 large seconds chronograph hand - useful in most cases? No. Fun to watch whiz around the dial for the first minute? Absolutely.
  • Independently Adjustable Hour Hand for quick time zone changes
  • DS (Double-Security) system, 100M water resistance & added shock absorption via rubber & plastic case spacers.
Blue Superluminova is applied to the ends of the indices and hands (picture taken right after returning indoors from a sunny day). Good duration on lume, lasts throughout the night but isn't the brightest compared to the C3 white The bracelet is very comfortable, though I would rather it be a quick foldover clasp w/ microadjusts than the butterfly deployant clasp. I like the green hands - very noticeable. The case itself is 41mm wide, but the huge 51mm L2L distance makes it stretch far across wrists.

1.5 months of ownership, and it's been holding within 1 second so far. Awesome stuff.

Anyways, figured I'd post this little writeup on a rather unassuming watch.

Image
Image
 
#5 ·
I got one of these recently as well. It's a pretty remarkable watch for its price point. They are becoming harder to find lately.

Image
 
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#9 ·
IsaaH said:
Around 2-ish years ago, I was thinking about whether or not to get a Certina Precidrive Chronograph. I decided not to at the time, but eventually picked one up before they disappeared from online stores.

For a quick bullet list of why these things are cool:
  • HAQ +/-10 SPY, thermocompensated. 27 Jewels for the quartz movement. Integrated circuit sealed within a ceramic casing
  • 1/100 large seconds chronograph hand - useful in most cases? No. Fun to watch whiz around the dial for the first minute? Absolutely.
  • Independently Adjustable Hour Hand for quick time zone changes
  • DS (Double-Security) system, 100M water resistance & added shock absorption via rubber & plastic case spacers.
Blue Superluminova is applied to the ends of the indices and hands (picture taken right after returning indoors from a sunny day). Good duration on lume, lasts throughout the night but isn't the brightest compared to the C3 white The bracelet is very comfortable, though I would rather it be a quick foldover clasp w/ microadjusts than the butterfly deployant clasp. I like the green hands - very noticeable. The case itself is 41mm wide, but the huge 51mm L2L distance makes it stretch far across wrists.

1.5 months of ownership, and it's been holding within 1 second so far. Awesome stuff.

Anyways, figured I'd post this little writeup on a rather unassuming watch.

View attachment 18317476 View attachment 18317475
Click to expand...
I really like that model with the green accents! I've been thinking of adding a high precision quartz to my collection, and I've looked at that one. Thanks for the write up!
 
#10 ·
MrDisco99 said:
Yep that's a PDF of the paper manual that came with mine.

They only did a few references with this 251 movement, and they were all from last decade. All their current quartz chronographs use the G10 movement.
Click to expand...
ETA catalog still lists the 251.264 AA. I think this is the only current production 1/100s analog chronograph where the base watch is thermocompensated (TC).

Perhaps the only 1/100 analog with TC, period?

The new Seiko solar 1/100 is not TC. Nor does it have that IAHH.

quartz-movements/flatline/eta-flatline-chronograph-251264-aa
 
#11 ·
IsaaH said:
Around 2-ish years ago, I was thinking about whether or not to get a Certina Precidrive Chronograph. I decided not to at the time, but eventually picked one up before they disappeared from online stores.

For a quick bullet list of why these things are cool:
  • HAQ +/-10 SPY, thermocompensated. 27 Jewels for the quartz movement. Integrated circuit sealed within a ceramic casing
  • 1/100 large seconds chronograph hand - useful in most cases? No. Fun to watch whiz around the dial for the first minute? Absolutely.
  • Independently Adjustable Hour Hand for quick time zone changes
  • DS (Double-Security) system, 100M water resistance & added shock absorption via rubber & plastic case spacers.
Blue Superluminova is applied to the ends of the indices and hands (picture taken right after returning indoors from a sunny day). Good duration on lume, lasts throughout the night but isn't the brightest compared to the C3 white The bracelet is very comfortable, though I would rather it be a quick foldover clasp w/ microadjusts than the butterfly deployant clasp. I like the green hands - very noticeable. The case itself is 41mm wide, but the huge 51mm L2L distance makes it stretch far across wrists.

1.5 months of ownership, and it's been holding within 1 second so far. Awesome stuff.

Anyways, figured I'd post this little writeup on a rather unassuming watch.

View attachment 18317476 View attachment 18317475
Click to expand...
Lume looks good!!
 
#13 · (Edited)
mconlonx said:
Unsung bargain HAQ and IAHH function.

FWIW, these movements are like grand-cousin once removed from movements Omega used to spec.
Click to expand...
Yes, like this Seamaster Polaris 1/100, unveiled in time for the 1988 Seoul Olympics:
Image


Forum discussion and more photos here

The Omega cal. 1670 (edit) is similar to the ETA 251.265, but featuring only a single digit in each window.

ETA 251.265 is just one ref unit away from OP's ref 251.264 AA.
 
#17 ·
IsaaH said:
Around 2-ish years ago, I was thinking about whether or not to get a Certina Precidrive Chronograph. I decided not to at the time, but eventually picked one up before they disappeared from online stores.

For a quick bullet list of why these things are cool:
  • HAQ +/-10 SPY, thermocompensated. 27 Jewels for the quartz movement. Integrated circuit sealed within a ceramic casing
  • 1/100 large seconds chronograph hand - useful in most cases? No. Fun to watch whiz around the dial for the first minute? Absolutely.
  • Independently Adjustable Hour Hand for quick time zone changes
  • DS (Double-Security) system, 100M water resistance & added shock absorption via rubber & plastic case spacers.
Blue Superluminova is applied to the ends of the indices and hands (picture taken right after returning indoors from a sunny day). Good duration on lume, lasts throughout the night but isn't the brightest compared to the C3 white The bracelet is very comfortable, though I would rather it be a quick foldover clasp w/ microadjusts than the butterfly deployant clasp. I like the green hands - very noticeable. The case itself is 41mm wide, but the huge 51mm L2L distance makes it stretch far across wrists.

1.5 months of ownership, and it's been holding within 1 second so far. Awesome stuff.

Anyways, figured I'd post this little writeup on a rather unassuming watch.

View attachment 18317476 View attachment 18317475
Click to expand...
thought pretty hard about the dive watch version of this. didn't end up buying it.
Image
 
#19 ·
IsaaH said:
Around 2-ish years ago, I was thinking about whether or not to get a Certina Precidrive Chronograph. I decided not to at the time, but eventually picked one up before they disappeared from online stores.

For a quick bullet list of why these things are cool:
  • HAQ +/-10 SPY, thermocompensated. 27 Jewels for the quartz movement. Integrated circuit sealed within a ceramic casing
  • 1/100 large seconds chronograph hand - useful in most cases? No. Fun to watch whiz around the dial for the first minute? Absolutely.
  • Independently Adjustable Hour Hand for quick time zone changes
  • DS (Double-Security) system, 100M water resistance & added shock absorption via rubber & plastic case spacers.
Blue Superluminova is applied to the ends of the indices and hands (picture taken right after returning indoors from a sunny day). Good duration on lume, lasts throughout the night but isn't the brightest compared to the C3 white The bracelet is very comfortable, though I would rather it be a quick foldover clasp w/ microadjusts than the butterfly deployant clasp. I like the green hands - very noticeable. The case itself is 41mm wide, but the huge 51mm L2L distance makes it stretch far across wrists.

1.5 months of ownership, and it's been holding within 1 second so far. Awesome stuff.

Anyways, figured I'd post this little writeup on a rather unassuming watch.

View attachment 18317476 View attachment 18317475
Click to expand...
I had this exact watch.
I also had the Seiko Speedtimer and struggle to understand why the speedtimer is so successful compared to this Certina.
Apart from the Seiko being solar IMO the Certina blows it out of the water.
Date window properly integrated.
No useless 24hr sub dial.
More accurate timekeeping.
More versatile chronograph functionality.
Better bracelet integration.
No purpleish sub dials.
 
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