The Most Sinn of All Sinns | Ref. 07
And a few EZM1s you can actually buy right now.
The latest YouTube video, about watches I’d actually buy at retail is up now. Watch it here.
Let’s talk about badass watches. I use the term not lightly, but specifically. These are tool watches, but real ones, not the saccharine marketing concoction of today, wherein these supposed instruments are too often paired with high polish and five-figure price tags.
I saw a buddy wearing an old Doxa Sub 200 T-Graph at Windup Chicago this weekend. That’s a badass watch:
I recently said I’m not worthy of wearing a Sinn. Most likely, because I’ve had too many jobs that require knowing what a KPI is, where a deck is a slideshow and not a part of a boat. These feel antithetical to the purpose of the German toolmaker Sinn.
The most Sinn of Sinns is the EZM1, or Einsatzzeitmesser (“mission timer”). Another highly specific tool from the country that gave us the eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher (“egg clacker”).
The EZM1 (ref. 503) was made for German special units in the police and Federal Border Guard, introduced in 1997 and produced through 2004. The titanium case measures 40mm (46mm lug-to-lug). I strapped this one on Friday night, and when I looked up the specs on Saturday morning, I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn it’s supposedly 16mm thick.
The lightweight titanium, short, downturned lugs—I thought it felt at home on my 6.3-in wrist, but look at the photos and tell me if you disagree. The case design is very close to old compressor cases used by Heuer and others, which will make even more sense in a moment.
The EZM1 uses the Lemania 5100, but with a quirky setup. It’s got a central chronograph hand and minute counter, along with the pushers and crown on the 9 o’clock side. All of this to be more legible and usable for those German special units.
The domed crystal, bi-directional rotating countdown bezel, red date at the so-odd-it’s-right 3:45—it’s all so perfectly instrumental. A few weeks ago I expressed distaste for a red-and-black FP Journe, but that’s because I believe the only allowable expressions of this color combination come from Sinn and the Chicago Bulls.
There’s also a copper sulphate capsule inside, which permanently binds to any moisture that dares enter the case, viewable through a window in the lug:
Getting to know the EZM1
There are a few dial evolutions of the EZM1. The earliest (~1997-2000) used tritium lume. These are the best. The one I photographed has aged to a warm hue, the markers and hands like a perfectly toasted marshmallow against the stark matte-black dial.
EZM1 dial types:
3H dial: featuring a small red circle at 6 o’clock enclosing the 3H (the symbol for hydrogen-3, aka tritium). As the tritium ages, these feel like real vintage watches.
“Ar” dial: Around 2000, Sinn and watchmaking more broadly shifted from tritium to non-radioactive Super-LumiNova. It swapped the 3H for an “Ar” to signify its use of Argon as a dehumidifying gas within the case.
Super-LumiNova doesn’t age like tritium, so these dials tend to keep a crisp white look.
Beyond the lume changes, there are a couple of military-issued EZM1s:
ZUZ dial: Early examples, issued to the German customs authority, or Zentale Unterstützungseinheit Zoll. According to BroadArrow.net, 22 examples were originally made for ZUZ. Another 50 or so were then sold into Japan as a limited edition. Apparently, the ZUZ officer who originally commissioned the watch got wind of this, said NEIN, and bought the rest from Sinn, which then trickled into collector hands.
ZTZ dial: A batch of 10 examples was also made for the Zentrale Technikgruppe Zoll (Central Technology Group, the covert technical unit that works alongside ZUZ), three of which had the crown on the right. Sinn Grails!
(These German words have made me realize the letter “Z” is woefully underutilized in English.)
The Sinns of the Father
In 2005, Lemania (owned by Swatch Group) announced that it’d be ceasing production of the Lemania caliber 5100. There’s a Fratello review from around that time in which the reviewer rushes to get the last of the EZM1’s production. In the comments, noted chronograph chronicler Chuck Maddox also professes his love for the EZM1, volunteering to join the firing squad for whoever decided to discontinue the caliber 5100.
Estimated production: I’ve seen estimates, even attributed to Sinn, of ~3,000 EZM1s made across all variants. That’s not a lot.
In the 1990s, it wasn’t easy to get a Sinn. This was by design. In his Talking Watches, William Massena mentions he had to visit Sinn’s manufacturer outside Frankfurt to buy an EZM1.
Anyone who, like me, is foolish enough to proclaim loyalty to United Airlines has surely braved a connection at the Frankfurt Airport and knows that this is no small task. You’ve probably gotten stuck there too.
But all the things that make the Frankfurt Airport so dreadful—sterile, brutalist, inflexible—are what make the Sinn EZM1 so excellent.
“Put me in a room full of collectors, the guy with this is gonna get the most respect from me,” Massena says in that Talking Watches.
Helmut Sinn founded Sinn Spezialuhren in 1961. Yeah, he was a Luftwaffe pilot and flight instructor during World War II. This regrettable past meant he had a real interest in pilot’s watches. In addition to building watches to its specs, Sinn repaired Heuer and Leonidas chronographs, even customizing them. In 1979, Sinn bought up stock and components from Breitling, which served as the foundation for its own watches. You can find old Sinn Navitimers (ref. 903) that are basically Breitlings.
In 1992, two young guys—Bruno Belamich (“Bell”) and Carlos Rosillo (“Ross”)—wrote to Sinn after learning about military watches, and Helmut Sinn invited them to Frankfurt for internships. Bell & Ross built their first watches with Sinn (signed Bell & Ross by Sinn) before setting off on their own. A slept-on era of B&R, btw.
This is also around the time when, in 1994, Lothar Schmidt, who’d built his career at IWC, acquired Sinn from its founder. Sinn began to expand from there. In 1999, WatchBuys launched as the exclusive authorized distributor of Sinn watches in North America.
I love the intertwined history of all these manufacturers. Nowadays, it’s vertical integration and in-house everything, but back then these guys just wanted to make badass tools. Collaboration before that became some streetwear-laced buzzword.
A pair of Sinn EZM1s for sale right now | Watchlist
Since only a few thousand were made, it’s not easy to find an EZM1—not many make it to the United States. Sinn also made a few reissues, but they never quite captured the magic of the original. Luckily, a couple are on sale right now in the U.S.:
