Sunday Morning Showdown: Certina DS Super PH2000M STC Vs. Tissot Seastar 2000 44mm
Welcome to this week’s installment of our Sunday Morning Showdown series. For today’s matchup, we pitted two Swatch Group divers against each other. You can take both to great depths, and even better, neither will cost you an arm and a leg. So, if any of you have any deep-sea adventures in mind, these two divers will not eat up your whole budget. But which of the two will win today’s battle? Jorg’s pick is the retro Certina DS Super PH2000M STC that debuted last month. Mike’s has chosen the more modern Tissot Seastar 2000 44mm, which came out around the same time as the Certina. It’s time to see which of the two you would take on a great diving expedition (even if it’s just to the office).
While both of today’s contenders are serious new dive watches from the Swatch Group, there are notable differences. The Certina DS Super PH2000M STC is a lightweight titanium retro-style diver that impresses by combining good looks with extreme specs. With a 2,000m depth rating and a helium escape valve, the watch is ready for saturation diving. Plus, its 43mm case is smaller than the new Tissot Seastar 2000, a 44mm stainless steel watch. This one is the updated version of Tissot’s top-of-the-line diver. It has a 600m depth rating and has seen a 2mm size reduction to make it easier to wear without compromising on specs. While today’s contestants are rather different, the simple question that we want to ask you is this: which of the two would you pick when looking for a serious dive watch? Would you spend €995 on the Tissot or €1,395 on the Certina? Let’s find out.
Last week, on Sunday Morning Showdown…
Before Jorg and Mike argue for their picks, let’s quickly look at last week’s results. In the previous showdown, Thomas’s new 38.5mm Seiko Presage Cocktail Time easily beat Daan’s Baltic HMS 002. In all honesty, the margin was much wider than we ever expected. The Seiko ended up getting 65% of the votes, leaving the Baltic with 35%. That sentiment was reflected in the comments, with people favoring the Cocktail Time. It was praised for its quality and finishing compared to the HMS 002, making the victory clear. Let’s find out if this week’s matchup will end up the same way. Over to Mike and Jorg!
Jorg: Certina DS Super PH2000M STC
Mike and I have returned! After both enjoying trips abroad, we’re back to reality and battling each other in the virtual watch arena. Today’s matchup might seem a bit odd at first. The two watches appear to have little in common besides being serious divers from Swatch Group brands. But they do occupy roughly the same market segment, so let’s keep it simple this week by asking which of these two professional divers you would choose. My answer will always be the Certina DS Super PH2000M STC. While I am usually not the biggest fan of these pointless, “hors catégorie” dive watches, as Gerard once put it, I do like this one — a lot, actually.
When it comes to affordable dive watches, several Swatch Group brands offer great options. Mido has the Ocean Star collection, Hamilton has the Khaki Navy series, Tissot has the Seastar line, and Certina has the DS Action and DS Super series. All of them also have similar Powermatic 80 calibers, bringing them closer together.
Certina designs the best affordable dive watches among the Swatch Group brands
For me, Certina has always stood out in that lineup of brands with, in my opinion, better designs than the others. Certina also nails the sizes and dimensions of its divers, resulting in many great options. From the 38mm titanium DS Action diver to the retro DS Super PH500M to the DS Super PH1000M STC, the brand has created quite a few stylish watches that immediately stand out to me. The latest is the new DS Super PH2000M STC, which I reviewed a month ago.
The watch thoroughly surprised me. First, I like the charming look of this special model created in support of the non-profit Sea Turtle Conservancy. The combination of the retro case shape with the bright colors gives it instant visual pull. It looks like a modern version of a Certina classic from the archives. But once you pick up the watch, you notice that Certina chose lightweight titanium to create a modern-day diver with retro charm. It makes this extreme diver an absolute joy to wear despite its substantial size.
The perfect balance between specs and looks
Let’s review the specs to get an idea. The DS Super PH2000M STC has a 43mm Grade 2 titanium case with a 16mm total thickness, a 50mm lug-to-lug, and a whopping 2,000m depth rating. To facilitate this, the watch features a helium escape valve on its left flank. I was super impressed by the angular case because it strikes a perfect balance between retro charm and modern-day relevance. Whereas the case shape gives the watch its retro character, the knurled 12-sided bezel’s black ceramic insert with a blue diving scale and the turquoise gradient dial bring modern touches.
The dial is actually a wonderful surprise. Depending on how the light hits it, the color changes. Some purists will say that a gradient dial has no place in a dive watch, especially not in one as seriously specced as this. For those people, Certina offers the same watch with either a regular black, white, or yellow dial. If you ask me, though, the turquoise dial adds a modern playfulness that makes the DS Super PH2000M STC far more interesting than its counterparts and the Tissot Seastar, for that matter.
A detail-rich design makes the Certina better
But that’s not where it ends. If you zoom in, you see and feel all the details that make this Certina even more interesting, like the 12-sided bezel’s inner rim. This bezel also features a push-to-turn system to ensure it locks securely in place. It takes some practice to get used to it, but once you do, it works really well.
On top of that, I like how the Certina designers treated the date window at 3 o’clock as an hour marker. Lastly, the large orange minute hand, “Super PH2000M” text, and triangle on the bezel add nice, colorful touches that are both decorative and functional. Overall, the Certina is just a far more exciting watch. It makes the Tissot look mundane — like any other dive watch out there, basically.
The DS Super PH2000M is thrilling because of its detailed design, well-chosen colors, superior specs, and the way it wears. I haven’t touched upon that last point yet, but considering its substantial size and thickness, the lightweight titanium watch is super comfortable on the wrist. The five-row titanium bracelet balances the case so nicely.
And if you want to spice things up a bit, you can replace it with the turquoise rubber strap. This turns it into a colorful diver that doesn’t look or feel like the extreme dive tool it actually is. All these factors make the Certina DS Super PH2000M STC an easy pick for me, and I would gladly pay the €400 premium for it. At €1,395, this is one of the most exciting extreme divers on the market. I will go so far as to say that it’s one of the best dive watches under €2,000. It really is that good, which is why this week’s champion is a no-brainer for me.
Mike: Tissot Seastar 2000 44mm
Happy Sunday, everyone! Today, I’m back against my formidable foe Jorg with another large-sized deep-water diver. The Tissot Seastar 2000 44mm is my gladiator versus another goliath, the Certina DS Super PH2000M. This is a timely one because my colleague Lex published his hands-on review of the new collection only yesterday! Now, let’s be clear. Whereas the “2000” in the Certina model’s name refers to a depth rating of 2,000 meters, for the Tissot, it actually means 2,000 feet. There’s something related to lies, damned lies, and statistics going on here, but that’s okay. At the end of the day, most mortals can’t go deeper than 600 meters anyway.
Yes, the latest Seastar is a professional model because of its water resistance and the inclusion of a helium valve. Also, unlike its contender today, it’s available in five colorways, including two PVD-coated ones not pictured here. Curiously, although par for the course for the Swatch Group, only the dark gray model comes with a metal bracelet. All the other variants come with business-like rubber straps and pin buckles.
When a 44mm case doesn’t mean super-sizing
Interestingly, the new steel 44mm Seastar represents a size reduction! Yes, the prior version of this watch had a dinner-plate-like 46mm diameter. Now, neither watch in today’s contest would likely fit my tiny wrist, but I do see the point of these pieces. There is a large market for watches, and particularly dive watches, above the seemingly perfect 40mm size. Plus, if a watch like this is actually used for its intended purpose, there’s a good chance that it could find itself sitting on top of a wetsuit. In that case, a few extra millimeters might not be the worst thing.
A toned-down approach
Now, aside from the orange version, the Seastar 2000 44mm takes a more under-the-radar approach to its execution than the Certina. And, honestly, orange isn’t even that zany for a dive watch when a brand like Doxa can call it a signature color. What I mean is that the Tissot has a jazzy colorway — a damn attractive one, I might add. Certina, on the other hand, largely chose more traditional colors and bezels that could easily be worn daily. This is a big differentiator, depending on how the wearer uses these watches.
No surprises on the mechanical side
There’s no novelty inside the Seastar 2000 44mm. It uses the venerable Powermatic 80 automatic movement with its requisite 80 hours of power reserve. Interestingly, in the Tissot, the movement has 23 jewels instead of the 25 found in the Certina. The faithful internet tells us that the Tissot has a non-adjustable plastic escapement fork in place of the jeweled version in the DS Super PH2000M. Interesting.
Hardcore and jazzy or traditional and economical?
With the Tissot Seastar 2000 44mm, buyers receive a classic diver for just €995 on a bracelet or €975 on the rubber strap. The two PVD-coated versions on rubber also retail for €1,025, but all options offer a sizable discount compared to the flashier €1,395 DS Super PH2000M. That said, both Tissot’s and Certina’s contenders represent astounding value. Your job is to choose which deep diver you’d rather have on your wrist. Cast your vote below, and let us know which timepiece would accompany you to the depths and why in the comments section. Thanks for playing!
