OWNER’S REVIEW: THE SINN U50

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AUGUST 14, 2020 WORDS BY BLAKE BUETTNER PHOTOS BY BLAKE BUETTNER

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This review is written from an owner’s perspective. There will be bias.

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When Sinn revealed the U50 earlier this year, a much wider audience than the German brand usually taps into stopped and took notice. The watch represented their trademark diver aesthetic popularized by the U1, packaged in an approachable 41x11mm case at an accessible price point around $2,000. This was the watch many of us had been asking for, and Sinn delivered the goods in spades. As the U50 began to ship over the summer, I took the opportunity to add one to my own stable, having long been a fan of the blocky yet modern design, but never quite able to pull off the bulkier dimensions of the U1. In many ways, this is a watch that lives up to the hype, and whose success could signal a broader sea change in the genre.

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SINN U50 T AND U50 SDR

You’ve likely noticed a trend that’s taken hold in much of the industry in which brands are resurrecting references from their back catalog, releasing their greatest hits with modern movements and better build quality. Buyers and enthusiasts, myself included, have celebrated this return to what many of us see as the glory days of watch design. Looking back at watches from the ‘90s and early ‘00s it’s not hard to see how we ended up here. Past attempts at novel designs left many of us waxing nostalgic, and the past 10 years have represented a return to the ‘60s and ‘70s aesthetic, including pre-aged lume, should you desire. If you’ve found yourself asking ‘where do we go from here?’ in recent years, you’re not alone.

One of the reasons we love small independent brands around here is their ability and willingness to exercise a greater degree of creativity in their products. Brands like Halios, Farer, and Autodromo (among many others) are carving their own path, with wholly unique design language, and the general watch buying population is taking notice. Larger brands should be as well, even if their ships are harder to turn. This is the world in which Sinn finds itself at present, and while they have considerable heritage, they aren’t quite a household name (save for your household, dear reader).

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Owner’s Review: The Sinn U50
CASE Stainless Steel, Bead Blasted, TEGIMENT Available
MOVEMENT Sellita SW300-1
DIAL Matte Black
LUME Yes
LENS Flat Sapphire
STRAP Silicone Strap and Steel Bracelet
WATER RESISTANCE 500m
DIMENSIONS 41x47mm
THICKNESS 11.3mm
LUG WIDTH 20mm
CROWN Screw Down
WARRANTY 2 years
PRICE $2180

Historical Context
While Sinn does produce modern timepieces, both in their aesthetic and their production, they boast a history that dates back to 1961. It is here that flight instructor Helmut Sinn begins selling cockpit clocks and pilot chronographs directly to the end users, bypassing retail sales altogether. Helmut sold the company to engineer (and former IWC employee) Lothar Schmidt in the mid ‘90s, but their watches, then and now, have retained their distinct sense of purpose built tools. The brand’s impressive array of certifications from the likes of DNV, ISO/DIN and TESTAF are testament to their unique abilities to survive and indeed persevere under extreme conditions (see EZM watches). We see the fruits of these advancements in technologies like DIAPAL, TEGIMENT, and Ar (to name just a few) at use throughout their collection today.

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THE SINN U1

Sinn introduced their modern dive watch template with a watch called the U1 back in 2005 (see Zach’s review of the U1 here). This watch has been something of a standard bearer in dive watch circles thanks to its no frills presentation and blocky dial features. Its 44mm case is made from German submarine steel that’s been bead blasted for a uniform matte presentation, no polished chamfers in sight. It also enjoys TEGIMENT technology (more on that later) and is pressure resistant to 1,000m as certified by DNV GL. It’s a lot of watch presented in typical German fashion, straightforward with just enough personality shining through in the functional design elements.

As capable as the U1 is, its dimensions have made it an outlier on the periphery of more casual, everyday dive watches. Though 44mm is not extreme, it pushes the envelope just enough to remain more of a curiosity than daily wear candidate. Enter the U50, a watch released this year that captures all of the unique character of the U1, along with much of its diving capabilities, and packages it into a slim, 41mm case. We’re now presented with a watch that makes a great deal of sense in everyday use, and further still, expands our contemporary options in a genre rife with throwbacks.

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  • Case and crown made of high-strength, seawater-resistant German Submarine Steel
  • Bezel with TEGIMENT Technology and therefore especially scratch-resistant
  • Diameter of case: 41 mm
  • Tested based on European diving equipment standards and certified by DNV GL
  • Captive diver's bezel with minute ratcheting
  • Crown at 4 o'clock to prevent pressure on the back of the hand
  • Sapphire crystal glass
  • Pressure-resistant up to 500 m diving depth (= 50 bar), certified by DNV GL
  • Low pressure resistant
Print as PDF

Download operating manual

Durability and clear readability in a 41 mm diameter size that is comfortable to wear: you will find these properties in the U50 series.

Visually, the diver’s watch is noticeable for the striking design of its matte-black dial and a display that concentrates on the essentials. When it comes to its features, we also focus consistently on typical SINN characteristics. The case and crown are thus made of high-strength seawater-resistant German Submarine Steel. This type of steel stands out not only for its extremely high strength and exceptional non-magnetic properties but also for its especially high resistance to seawater. We have designed the rotating bezel so that it is captive in the case. As it may experience high levels of stress during use, we have also hardened the surface using TEGIMENT Technology, making it especially scratch-resistant.

These features make it clear that the U50 is perfectly suited to diving use – a fact that has been verified by the classification company DNV GL. DNV GL verifies and certifies pressure resistance to a diving depth of 500 metres (= 50 bar) and temperature resistance and functionality in accordance with the European diving equipment standards.
  • Mechanical Movement
    • The information on the mechanical movement corresponds to the current production situation in Frankfurt am Main. Due to technical changes, it may happen in individual cases that stock items of our sales partners deviate from this information. (further Information)

    • SW300-1
    • Self-winding mechanism
    • 25 bearing jewels
    • 28,800 semi-oscillations per hour
    • Seconds stop function
    • Anti-magnetic as per DIN 8309
  • Case
    • Case made of German Submarine Steel, bead-blasted
    • Sapphire crystal glass in front, anti-reflective on both sides
    • Case back screw-fastened
    • Crown screwable
    • Meet the technical requirements for waterproofness, as set out in standard DIN 8310
    • Pressure-resistant up to 500 m diving depth (= 50 bar), certified by DNV GL
    • According to the technical demands for the diving norm DIN 8306
    • Tested based on European diving equipment standards EN 250 / EN14143 and certified by DNV GL
    • Low pressure resistant
  • Functions
    • Hours, minutes, seconds
    • Date display
    • Diver’s bezel with minute ratcheting and luminous key mark
  • SINN Technologies
    • Bezel with TEGIMENT Technology, therefore especially scratch-resistant
    • Captive bezel
  • Dimensions and Weight
    • Case diameter: 41 mm
    • Band lug width: 20 mm
    • Case thickness: 11.15 mm
    • Weight without strap: 74 gramme
  • Dial and Hands
    • Matte black dial
    • Indices coated with luminescent colour
    • Hour, minute and second hand coated with luminescent colour
  • Warranty
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