For Baselworld Sinn had a small and focused collection of novelties. The following four stood out to me.
First the classic pilot chronograph Sinn 103 with a beautiful blue sunburst dial with matching anodized pilot bezel. Keeping the hands with vintage lume and matching it with the brown leather strap helps transport the wearer of this watch to pre-GPS days when we needed chronographs for various navigation functions. The stainless steel case is 41 mm and encases the re-worked Valjoux 7750 which is decorated and displayed on the back.
Next is a variation on the Sinn 910 flyback chronograph, or SRS (Stopp-Retour-Start) as Sinn refers to it on dial. At 41.5 mm it wears really well and is stylish on that matching black leather strap with red accents. For me the SRS acronym on the dial is an unecessary distraction. Perhaps it will strike conversation with fellow watchnerds? Not sure. Otherwise, this is a winner in my view and would be even more desirable sans SRS markings.
Continuing its assault on the entry-level tool watch (beater) segment. Sinn adds a variation to the 836 using the same red accent on the seconds hand as with the previous models and with a black dial, which pairs really well with the black strap with red stitches (not shown here on the 836).
Sinn tegimented steel (used in the 836, 936, and many of its watches) increases the hardness of the case to 1,500 vickers and renders it virtually scratch resistant.
Another important aspect of this stainless steel 43 mm watch is the tegimented treatment of the steel by Sinn. This increases the metal's hardness to about 1,500 Vickers by applying a layer of protection. The tegimented treatment renders the metal literally scratch proof.
I can personally attest to this with my U1 tegimented when I took a fall with the watch doing some ill advised jump while mountain biking. The watch survived unscathed, which is not something I can say of my left arm's skin. But don't take anyone's word for it, instead you can try for yourself if you ever visit the one and only Sinn store in Frankfurt, Germany.
Finally, the Sinn 936 bicompax chronograph with what Sinn confusingly states as including a "60-seconds scale for the stopwatch minute." The case for this is also tegimented steel with red styling cues on the back dial as for the 836.
In the reworked Valjoux 7750, Sinn creates calibre SZ-05 where the subdial at 3 o'clock counts the minutes to 60. The 9 o'clock subdial indicates the running seconds of the watch with a contrasting white color hand. Different to the chronograph hands which are red. Helping also the readability is luminous white application for the indices along with the hour and minute hands.
Sinn watches are available online in the United States via their exclusive official distributor WatchBuys.com where you can find a complete list of current prices and even reserve a watch.
One of the winners in the 2019 GPHG awards in the first week of November was a two year old upstart watch brand from Kuala Lumpur named MING Watches. The young brand won best watch in the Challenge category at the Geneva show to the delight of its founder and watch aficionados who have regularly helped sell out the brand’s 11 prior releases since its debut of the 17.01 watch.
MING watches are not limited per we but are produced in small batches of a few hundreds, which in effect make them limited. A quick perusal to their web site shows that all models, except for the two new 2019 models have sold out. Interestingly the new models are also priced much higher than the previous ones. However, before getting ahead of ourselves, how does one go about seeing or trying on a MING watch?