It was the reference 5601 003 with date, equipped with a Guy FrГЁres metal band. The members of this expedition were equipped by Certina with DS Automatic watches. It crashed during the difficult takeoff maneuvre on but nobody was injured. Thereby, the prototype of the Pilatus Porter PC-6 (HB-FAN) set the, still valid, record for highest landing.

In this expedition, for the first time a cargo plane was used to transport the equipment as well as the members to the base camp 2 at 5700 m altitude. At this time it was the second last not yet climbed eight-thousander.

On a Swiss team, under the leadership of Max Eiselin, succeeded to reach the summit of the Dhaulagiri (8167m). In 1960, the Certina DS was able to prove their robustness on the Himalaya. Here you can find a small gallery with which you can track the evolution of the DS case back. The manual-wind version had a flat case back, and the automatic version had a case back with a wave pattern in relief. This patent (346825) was related to the shock mount of the movement and was registered on by case manufacturer Huguenin FrГЁres (see patent drawing on the right).ДЇrom the end of 1960 onwards, the new 25-65 and 25-651 movements were used, and the famous turtle was engraved on the case back. Very early specimens still had evidence of the patent application instead of the patent number engraved on the inside of the case back. The first watches, which came on the market in 1959, had dauphine hands and a flat case back without the turtle logo. It held out against drop impact from up to 6 metres and was water resistant up to 200 metres. Other features were: added sealing, an extra thick and sheathed Plexiglass, combined with a reinforced case back.Дespite the classical styling with the Bombay band lugs, the watch was very robust. In addition, there was an air gap between the dial and case, so the movement could move in all directions. DS stands for вЂњDouble Security.вЂќ This was achieved by a floated mounting of the entire movement with an elastic shock absorber ring in addition to the conventional shock absorber (Incabloc). Through countless experiments they finally developed the construction principle of the DS models. In the middle of the 1950s, a team under the guidance of engineer Philipp Kurth wanted to design a wristwatch as rugged as possible.

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