Watches and Wonders always brings about excitement for our wrists and perhaps foreboding for our wallets with the advent of new models and different takes on existing watches. I’m writing this shortly after W&W 2024 concluded, but I want to focus on something announced last year, in 2023, from one of my favorite companies, Sinn. This is the Sinn T50.
Sinn has had a comprehensive line of dive watches in the U1, U2, UX, and EZM models. I owned a couple of U1s early in my watch-collecting career, but I always found them to be a little awkward and cumbersome. In 2020, Sinn released the U50, a downsized version of the U1 in a smaller/thinner case. I had the chance to review one of these pre-releases and fell in love with it on my wrist. After I returned the sample I had, I never really forgot the U50… Fast forward to early 2023, and I see Sinn announce the T50!
The Sinn T50 is a tool watch by every measure of the phrase. Sinn took the chassis of the U50, swapped it to Titanium, “fixed” the handset, and added their Ar-Dehumidifying technology. It is this golden ratio of utility perfection, in my opinion. The same week the T50 was delivered, I departed on a two-week-long trip to Scotland. This was a perfect opportunity to get some long dedicated time with it for this review and I am eager to share my experiences with you.
Case
The T50’s case is roughly 41mm wide, 47mm lug to lug, and 12mm thick. The T50, as indicated by the “T” is made of Titanium, and the bracelet sized for my 7” wrist weighs just over 95 grams. Sinn is a brand known for making robust and technologically forward watches, albeit thick and big watches. The T50 is a pleasant departure from their modus operandi. Like they did with the U50, Sinn has taken the concept behind the T1 and T2 and downsized it into a watch that’s more aligned with the current trends of the watch community. The result is a comfortable, appropriately sized diver that suits many wrists.
The entire titanium case has a matte finish with a 5.8mm signed crown at 4 o’clock. Everything about the finishing on this watch screams “tool watch.” It’s meant to absorb and conceal wear as much as possible and not appear flashy in any way. There’s nothing polished on the T50, so the watch flies under the radar when on the wrist. There’s nothing that’s going to sparkle and catch someone’s eye.
The tegimented titanium bezel is engraved with a full diver’s scale and then filled with contrasting paint, black and white, in line with the monochromatic theme across the watch. The bezel also has Sinn’s “captive bezel” mechanism. This requires you to press down for it to turn and keeps it from being moved accidentally. This feature, practically speaking, is a little extra. But as an additional touchpoint on the watch, it’s a nice touch and well-executed.
As mentioned above Sinn is known for the different technologies they incorporate into their watches. On the side of the lower left lug, you’ll find a small “port” where the copper sulfate capsule sits. This portion of Sinn’s Ar-Dehumidifying technology consists of the drying capsule, Extreme Diffusion-Reducing seals, and protective gas filling. What does this do, you may ask? Well, as I understand it, over time, the moisture in the air within the watch can cause the lubricating oils to degrade, thus the inert gas filling. Additionally, the EDR seals prevent the penetration of additional atmospheric moisture through the seals. Lastly, should any moisture thwart the first two mechanisms, the copper sulfate capsule will absorb it, causing the color of the capsule to darken (blue).
This is visible through the sapphire window in the port on the lug. This is a good indication of when it’s time to send the watch back to Germany for a service, new seals, and a fresh squirt of inert gas. So, is all of this malarky worth it? Well, probably, but also maybe not. To my knowledge, Sinn is the only brand that currently goes to these lengths to prevent moisture in their cases. Other brands’ watches can maintain their fidelity for years and years despite atmospheric moisture. As an added complication, the specificity of these “technologies” makes it necessary to return the watch to Sinn in Germany if you want to maintain it.
Lastly, let’s talk about Tegimentation. The Sinn T50 has a tegimented bezel. This means that the bezel received some sort of surface treatment by Sinn that hardened the titanium to a greater degree than we’d see with untreated metal. Meaning it should be significantly more resistant to scratches and surface marks. Sinn is a little cagey on “what” is done to the metal to achieve this. My guess has something to do with black magic and human sacrifice, but it works great. I’ve owned watches in the past with tegimented bezels and they look new for a long time.
Dial
If legibility could be encapsulated into one word, it would be “T50.” Sinn went very “black and white” with the T50’s dial. You have white sword hands and white hour indicators with matching white minute ticks around the exterior of the dial. The second hand is grey, matching the script written at 6 o’clock for the model name and other details. The second hand has a small white patch, maybe 20% of the way down the hand that is lumed. At three o’clock you have a date window that contains a matched date wheel with white script. This is a perfect implementation of a 3 o’clock date, in my opinion. It easily blends into the background and is only noticeable when you’re looking for it.
Movement
Back in the day, Sinn used to use ETA movements in their watches. However, now they are forced to use Sellitas because the Swatch group are a bunch of greedy bastards…ahem ETA, and by association, Swatch has opted to reduce the supply of ETA movements to non-Swatch brands.
The T50 has a SW 300-1 in it. This movement is a known quantity, and my experience with it has been great. I am observing a +2/-3 seconds per day when worn on the wrist, and -2s/dayish when not on my wrist. The only negative I could offer is that the SW 300-1 has a power reserve of 42 hours. Less than two days. That’s pretty rough in the time of 3-day+ power reserves in Swiss brand’s in-house movements.
The trade-off, however, is that you have one of the single most ubiquitous time/date movements available. It’s a known and trusted movement used widely in the watch world. Sinn, with some of the technological aspects, complicates the service situation around the T50, but the movement itself should be easily worked on by nearly anyone.
Strap/Bracelet
The Sinn T50 is available on their titanium H-Link bracelet. This bracelet is complete with three micro-adjustments (not quick-adjust, still a need a pin tool) and a diver’s extension. The issue with the T50 bracelet lies within the diver’s extension. It’s f*cking awful. The slightest tug on the clasp will release the diver’s extension and induce a small heart attack as you think you’re about to drop your watch. This could be so much better.
Sinn has recently released a quick-adjust clasp in steel and I am just waiting on them to do the same in Ti. I’ll be their first order. As soon as I returned home from Scotland, I removed the diver’s extension and ran a spring bar straight through the end of the bracelet to attach it to the clasp. This greatly improved the bracelet’s performance, and I would highly suggest it to anyone with this watch.
That being said the T50 has drilled lug holes and will be a great candidate for many types of straps. Put this sucker on a NATO, slap a rubber strap on it, and get some bespoke canvas strap for it; any of these, and you’ll have a great time.
Final Thoughts
So, in the end, what do I think about the Sinn T50? Well, I think this is a high-end, high performing, and well-made tool watch. Sinn designed it to last a long time and remain reliable and accurate. I think the T50’s Achilles Heel lies within the Ti bracelet’s clasp. Once the diver’s extension is removed, it’s fine.
The next point of conversation lies within the T50’s price. The T50 on bracelet is $3,870 at Watchbuys. This pits it against some pretty serious competition in the Ti watch arena. Well within reach of a used Tudor Pelagos at the same price. I’m not necessarily suggesting that a Pelagos is better (or worse) than a T50 but it certainly has a greater degree of brand prestige/name recognition. If you’re able to separate yourself from brand recognition/Swiss brand snobbery, I think it’s possible to see the value of the T50 by itself. No Swiss brands are building in ambient moisture absorption technology or filling their cases with inert gas to keep the lubricants from degrading.
Now, the question that needs to be answered is: Will Aaron keep the T50 passed in this review? Perhaps, in a lot of ways, this is a perfect watch for my wrist. Very “techy” with lots of good points of interest. Plus, a higher-end Sinn is somewhat of a rarity even amongst watch nerds, whereas if I were to replace it with something like a Pelagos, it’d be a little more dime-a-dozen among my horologically nerdy brethren. Ultimately if someone was looking to purchase a titanium dive watch I think this is a very solid option. Perhaps, even more solid if they can find it pre-owned for under MSRP.
Aaron is a Nashville based watch collector and road bike rider. In addition to TBWS, his articles can been seen on ABlogtoWatch and Bladereviews.com. Aaron’s interests primarily focus on tool watches — specifically in the dive, pilot, or field watch arenas. When not over enthusiastically asking someone about the watch they’re wearing, Aaron can be found traveling, cycling, trying new restaurants with his partner Carissa, or petting any and all dogs within his sightline.
