Diving Watches Editorial GTTP Limited Edition spotlight New Releases New Watches New Watches 2021 Sinn

Weather Any Storm With The New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

With its dollops of lume — on the indices, hour, minute and seconds hand — and a rather rare for Sinn black small seconds hand, the new Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS stands out for all the right reasons.

Weather Any Storm With The New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

Kicking off the Brand’s 60th Anniversary is the new Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS, a limited edition monochromatic timepiece with a handsome decorative grinding dial.

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

For those who love the design language of the U1 series and wish to add a distinctive dial to their collection, this seems to be a no-brainer. Textured dials when executed correctly can be all the rage. Now I haven’t seen this one in person, and am only going off press images, but the no-nonsense aesthetics of the watch are appealing so say the least. And given the dial sports a decorative machine-ground texture, every dial should be a unique piece, as impressions achieved during the machining process usually not repeated exactly. 

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

Powering this utilitarian beast the ref. 1010.0351, is the outsourced Sellita calibre SW200-1 automatic-winding movement. This anti-magnetic as per DIN 8309 movement features 26 jewels and beats at the frequency of 4Hz (28,000 vph). I have said this earlier while discussing Sinn watches, but given it’s a limited edition, a different movement rather than their standard of Sellita SW200-1 with more than 38-hours power reserve would have been more befitting. 

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

The movement is encased inside a 44mm diameter and 14.7mm thick high-strength, seawater-resistant German Submarine steel black case with a band lug width of 22mm and a screwable crown at 4’o clock. The thickness of the watch can be questionable, especially for those with slimmer wrists, and given that the Sellita SW200-1 used is an iteration of the workhorse ETA2824-2 that measures in at 25.6mm diameter and only 4.6mm thickness, I would have preferred if Sinn had chosen to have a slightly slimmer case profile for this limited edition release.

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

This light coloured stealth case frames the silver-ish ‘grinding dial’ face and shows the functions of central hour, minutes and seconds, and a date window at 3’o clock. Given that the Sellita SW200-1 movement allows the date complication to be at any of the 3, 6, 9, or 12’o clock positions, I feel that Sinn should gone for the different 6’o clock position instead to make this limited edition even more special aesthetically.

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

Another standout feature of this release is the rotating unidirectional 60-minute diver’s captive bezel with minute ratcheting and luminous key mark; it makes use of the brand’s TEGIMENT Technology that not only hardens the bezel surface for heavy-duty wear but also makes it scratch-resistant. A true dive watch from the word go, it also comes with a DNV GL certification and tests based on European diving equipment standards EN 250 / EN14143, solidifying the brand’s impressive claim of the watch being water-resistant to depths of 1000m (100 ATM).

Last year the brand expanded their U-series; it used to be available in two sizes, 44 (U1, U2, and UX) and 47mm (U212) and in 2020 Sinn added a much welcomed smaller U50 series — U50, U50.S, and the U50.SDR — that measure in a more wrist friendly 41mm diameter and 11.15mm thick case featuring the Sellita SW330-1 movement. For someone like me with slimmer 16cm wrists, I would have preferred the Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS to be a part of the new U50 series. 

60th anniversary means that celebrations that are going to be big. This teaser from Sinn watches only cements that idea. 

The new Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS is straight out of the brand’s much loved design language look-book that combines striking form with minimalist display, and offers a diver with exceptional legibility, strong durability, with its clean, cluster-free look. And for the price of $3’979 AUD, one gets a sturdy, reliable, highly legible, very scratch resistant and limited edition with a unique dialled dive watch with the iconic bold and blocky hands/indices that have become the defining feature of the U1-series.

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

As much as its an oxymoron for a scratch-resistant watch to feature a scratched dial, I do admire the quirkiness of the brand here and hopefully as light touches this dial, it will change its tone to the pleasure of the person wearing it.

The main standout feature for me is the substitution of the seconds hand colour from red to black. Providing exceptional legibility and contrast is this high-gloss, black seconds hand that works well against the white indices and hour and minute hands that are all coated with luminescent colour. Complementing the black seconds hand is the date wheel colour synchronised in black as well. 

With its dollops of lume — on the indices, hour, minute and seconds hand — and a rather rare for Sinn black small seconds hand, the new Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS stands out for all the right reasons.

New Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS

As a lead up to the brand’s 2021 novelties being announced on 1st April this year, this 500-pieces only version is now available through authorised dealers. To find out more about the new Sinn Diving Watch U1 DS and other Sinn watches, please head to their website here. All images unless otherwise stated are courtesy © Sinn / Copyright Sinn Spezialuhren. 

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Watch Ya Gonna Do About It

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading