Sinn dropped their Spring novelties this morning, an event that’s always of keen interest to hardcore watch enthusiasts. Sinn is one of our favorite brands for a whole number of reasons, but I’ve always felt that part of their appeal is in their somewhat elusive, “if you know, you know,” nature. Part of that is the fact that they have a single American distributor, and don’t have the flashiest social media presence. In the US, they still seem very German and are truly a brand for connoisseurs. If you see someone wearing a Sinn, you know that they sought it out, and that it might not have been easy to find.
Sinn’s pattern for novelty releases over the last few years seems to be to release a mix of modern tool watches and vintage throwbacks simultaneously. This year’s vintage throwback is a manually wound chronograph, the 103 St Ty Hd. The 103 is their core chronograph model, the simplest and arguably least fussy, and has been made in a huge number of variants over the years. This new version has a steel case and old-fashioned acrylic crystal, and a panda-style dial layout with red accents.
Fans of the 103 will notice immediately that the 12, 6, 9 (with day/date at 3) layout from previous 103 references is missing, a result of the manually wound Sellita SW 510 M powering the new watch. Here we get a classic three register, no date dial in the same familiar 41mm case. This is Sinn’s first manually wound 103 in 20 years, which should make the release of the 103 St Ty Hd something of an event for serious Sinn collectors. It’s a limited edition of 1,000 units with a retail price of $2,870.
Along with the new 103, Sinn is dropping a series of new U50 divers today as well. The U50 is on the opposite end of the Sinn spectrum from something like the 103. This is a thoroughly modern tool watch, and the new U50 HYDRO divers released today incorporate proprietary Sinn tech. The new HYDRO, HYDRO S, and HYDRO SDR are rated to a completely unnecessary 5,000 meter depth rating, and all are powered by quartz movements with cases in German Submarine Steel. They’re also all oil filled, which improves legibility at depth and is what allows, in part, for the absolutely insane water resistance rating.
The watches are differentiated largely by their finishing. The HYDRO is of course the simplest model, with a Tegimented steel bezel and something of a classic, utilitarian aesthetic. The HYDRO SDR has a bezel with a black hard coating and Tegiment treatment, and the HYDRO S has a full black coating and Tegiment treatment, and has the most aggressive, contemporary appearance of the three. Retail prices on the new HYDROs start at $2,460 and go up from there depending on strap/bracelet and finishing options.
Lastly, Sinn is getting into the current trend for fully luminous dials with the U50 S L. This limited edition of 500 pieces is built on the same platform as the HYDRO watches but uses a mechanical movement movement (a Sellita SW-300) and in this variant features a dial that will glow bright blue in low light situations. Water resistance is down to 500 meters without the oil filled case, but, honestly, that still feels like plenty. The retail price on the S L is $3,640.
More information on all of Sinn’s new spring novelties can be found at their website here.
