morlock Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 As many of us in RWG, I was amazed when a couple of weeks ago appeared in the dealers the rep Sinn U2, because Sinn is one of those brand mainly know by watches aficionados and scuba divers. The factories usually don't replicate watch from not so popular brand, so this was a pleasant surprise. I have been a long time fan of the Sinn U1, but this is not a reason to keep me away from this new rep U2. So I checked at Trusty Time and ordered last weekend, after a usual flawlessly transaction with Andrew in a speed record shipment I receive my new baby in just 5 days. So here you have the review of this famous timepiece. PD. I used the gen pics posted for our fellow member Vikingo99. Sinn Watches - Company Profile Sinn was formed in 1961 by the legendary pilot and flight instructor Helmut Sinn. They began manufacturing flight watches based on his extensive aviation experience, this was primarily based on Mr. Sinn's dissatisfaction with the watches that were available for pilot and navigational purposes at that time. His own designs incorporated the features and functionality that he felt more fit for purpose as an instrument watch. This is a design philosophy that has transcended the company's culture right through to the present day. Sinn is now the world's most eminent manufacturer of high quality, precision, functional and purposeful instrument watches. From the beginning, their emphasis was on creating special purpose instruments that performed under extremely adverse operating conditions such as high speed, high and low pressures and altitudes, intense heat or pressure, extreme cold, high magnetic interference, and submergence in liquids. Sinn are becoming increasingly known for their instrument watches, and are today a force to be reckoned with as they lead the way in instrument watch design. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> The company changed hands in 1994 when Lothar Schmidt formerly of IWC assumed control and further expanded the boundaries of Sinn’s high tolerance manufacturing expertise. Over the past decade, Sinn has pioneered some innovative new technologies, including oil filled watch chambers to enable operation under extreme pressures, argon gas filled watches to prevent moisture infiltration, impact resistant gear suspensions, and new micro-lubricating techniques. Since 2005, Hamburg's Germanischer Lloyd has tested and certified the Sinn diver's watches for water-resistance and pressure-proofing. The test confirms that the U1 model is pressure-proof to 100 bar, the U2 model to 200 bar and the UX to 500 bar, while its case can withstand pressure to 1,200 bar. In 2006, Sinn developed a testing procedure in conjunction with Germanischer Lloyd, the certification of watches according the European dive equipment norm. The result: tester confirmed the temperature stability and perfect functioning of teh U1, U2, and EZM 3 models under extreme temperature differences. The Gen The Sinn U2 case is made from the same German steel that is also used in the construction of the outer hull of submarines. The steel was procured by Sinn from a steel supplier to Emden GmbH, one of Germany’s North Sea shipbuilding yards who construct submarines from the very same steel. This special steel is also amagnetic which means that is does not have magnetic properties and cannot itself become magnetized. The watch movement itself is protected from magnetic fields up to 4,800 A/m. Because of the special steel used from the submarine steel manufacturer, the case resists the effects of exposure to salt water and salt water environments. The uni-directional ratchet operated rotating bezel is also milled from this submarine steel which is Tegimented. The indices are machined directly into the bezel without the use of bezel inserts, which can corrode or come loose at deep depths. The international testing lab of Germanischen Lloyd has tested the U2, and determined that the watch can be certified as water resistant to 2,000 meters. This same firm tests submarines for their ability to withstand the effects of underwater use. The watch operates in temperatures between -45° Celsius to +80° Celsius due to the special lubricants in the movement applied in the Sinn laboratory. The Sinn U2 has full UTC functionality through the use of an additional short red tipped hour hand which can be set independently from the primary time zone and indicates the second time zone using a 24 hour display. Screw down crown. The U2 features an inert gas filled cavity with two copper sulphate humidity absorbing capsules, which are visible at 6. Matte black dial with date at 3, Super Luminova on hands and markers, and striking red seconds hand complete the design. Other features include sapphire crystal with hardened anti-reflective coating, and silicone rubber strap with double push deployant buckle and fliplock safety clasp. The EZM 5 Professional Series with the Sinn U2watches feature a number of cutting edge technologies, many of which are unique to Sinn. Among the more popular features are: Inert Gas Filled Cases Sinn has found that filling the case with these inert gases can help prevent the introduction of moisture and humidity to the case, as well as provide a more stable environment for the oils that lubricate the movement. Copper Sulphate Capsules The U2 uses a copper sulphate capsules located on the dial at 6 o'clock to absorb humidity trapped inside the case. Over time these capsules will gradually turn dark blue indicating that humidity has been absorbed. The primary benefit to these copper sulphate capsules is a more dry and stable environment for both the movement and the lubricating oils. Together with Sinn's inert gas treatment these capsules form the basis of Sinn's Dry Hold Technology. This technology not only provides a more stable environment for the movement, but also prevents fogging of the crystal when going from hot to cold environments or from humid to non-humid conditions (such air conditioned buildings). Submarine Steel Sinn has created the U Series featuring cases made from German submarine steel. The steel was procured by Sinn from a steel supplier to Emden GmbH, one of Germany’s North Sea shipbuilding yards who construct submarines from the very same steel. Because of the special steel used from the submarine steel manufacturer, the case resists the effects of exposure to salt water and salt water environments. This special steel is also amagnetic which means that is does not have magnetic properties and cannot itself become magnetized. The watch movement itself is protected from magnetic fields up to 4,800 A/m. Gen Specifications: Movement Caliber:ETA 2893-2 Movement winding:Automatic Bearing jewels:21 Alternations:28,800 /Std. Case Case diameter (mm): 44.0 Case thickness (mm): 15.4 Case material:German submarine steel Crystal:Sapphire crystal glass Case back:Solid Captive diver´s bezel with TEGIMENT technology Waterproof:yes Pressure resistance:200 bar Weight:114 g Band lug width:22 mm The Rep This piece is awesome, out of the box is full of details and great fit & finish. As the gen, the rep feels extremely solid and heavy. The case is Stainless Steel 316L with a sandblasted finish to mimic the gen finish. The bezel is also in SS sandblasted, with minutes markers engraved and painted in black and red, with numbers in 5 min. increments. The bezel spot a big inverted triangle at 12 with lume treatment. The bezel is unidirectional with 60 loud clicks, the feels is quite solid. Even the rep bezel has the small screw at the unusual location at 12-2-6-10, as in the gen, I don't know if the screw are functional to hold the bezel in place or just for decoration porpoise, but they look great. The solid caseback has the same sandblasted finish as the case, with deep & crisp engrave, all the words are exactly the same as the gen. The huge crown is located at 4, which avoid it hurts your wrist. The rep crown is perfect in form and has the signature raised "S". Of course it is screw down, the thread feels smooth. It has 3 positions, on the first to manually wind the movt, second to adjust the date (clockwise) and the 24 hour hand (counter clockwise), and finally the third position to adjust the hours and minutes. The dial is stunning, deep mate black with bright white markers, and in bright red for the 24 hrs scale. The Sinn logo and the wording are beautifully applied in the right place with the right fonts and in the right size. And for the joy of the RG community, the "Ar" logo and the "Made in Germany" printed in bright black are there, it's a little hard to shot them, but at the naked eye they look gorgeous. I must comment on the copper sulphate capsules located on the dial at 6 o'clock in the gen, which look look like depressed under a clear micro window. On the rep, the factories replace this special feature with a raised white dot. This could be a big tell, of course if you use to gather with the only 1 or 2 Sinn experts in your town . The prominent big white hour/minute hands stand proud, both perfect in form and size as the gen. The fourth hand in black with red accent at the tip, is used for the 24 hr second Time Zone, adjusted independently. The seconds hand has been pointed out as one of the fewest flaws in the rep U2, in the rep the second hand is painted in bright red with the white tip, while the gen is all red with a white stripe in the top end. But I am hardly bug for this, because as any other watch geek I always try to spot the watch in other people wrist, and I have never seen a Sinn in the wild, so it's almost impossible to be notice for a non-expert on Sinn watches. And anyway, you could easily solved with some paint from the hobby shop. UPDATE: In shy 3 weeks after the dealers launched the U2, they have posted an update version on their site with the seconds hand paint corrected, it's too soon to know if the factories corrected the error of if this version comes form a different factory, anyway the right version is out there, so ask your dealer before order it. The crystal in the rep, as in the gen, is Sapphire with Double AR coating, and Andrew advertises it as Swiss Genuine Standards, which I thought was an arrogant statement, but WOW, what a pleasant surprise, the AR is almost as good as the one on my gen Fortis, and I mean it's very close to it. The watch wears a thick rubber band with a raised Sinn logo, and a stain-steel buckle with dive extension, and two push buttons to open. The whole steel piece has the same sandblasted heavy mate finish as case. I must remark the "Sinn" engraved on the buckle , which is the best I ever seen in a rep or even in a gen, the engrave is deep & crisp, it's just plain perfect. Also to copy the gen, the rep buckle has the word "EDELSTAHL", for high-grade steel in German. In order to size the rubber band you must cut it to your need, to affix the band to the buckle you have to replace the metal pin in the band with a spring bar. As really nice detail, the inside of the band (just as in the gen) has raised numbers to adjust it to perfection. I opened to check the movt and to apply some silicon grease to the caseback O ring. I found inside the case the advertised Swiss Eta 2836-2 Modified Automatic Movement, the crown feels firm when manually wind it or adjusting the time. The sec. hand moves nice and smooth. Finally the usual wrist shop. Gen Specifications: Movement Caliber: Eta 2836-2 Modified for the 24 hr Second Time Zone Movement winding: Automatic Bearing jewels: 25 Alternations: 28,800 vph. Case Case diameter (mm): 43.5 Case thickness (mm): 14.0 Case material: Solid Stainless Steel 316L, Sandblasted Finish Crystal: Sapphire crystal with Double AR coating Caseback: Solid Bezel: Unidirectional Diver Bezel Waterproof: I guess Band lug width:22 mm Conclusion The minor flaws (sec hand paint and raised dot at 6) are totally overcome for the huge amount of beautiful details as the perfect engraves, nice rubber band with raised logo, crisp dial, bright black print on mate dial, solid performed buckle, etc. etc. etc. For a tenth of the price, I got a wonderful watch, solid as a tank and beautiful as a work of art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazz Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 Great review thanks Might pick up a U1 when they come out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morlock Posted September 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 Great review thanks Might pick up a U1 when they come out Bazz, thanks. I hear the U1 is going to be released. I am waiting too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheaton26 Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 morlock, out of nowhere with a major review ... great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 Nice review.. I'd never really considered Sinn watch before this rep came out, but this is definitely a rep purchase for the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanikai Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 Epic Review Morlock !!! Great Job on a great rep .. thank you for the time... A~C Lani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve52 Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 Very nice review morlock! Thanks for all your work on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbchubb Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 Great review. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to put this together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbchubb Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 By the way... is there any lume on this watch and if so, how good is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolfire Posted September 6, 2009 Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 That is one AWESOME review... I couldn't do one like that in a million years, morlock... Your review is going to get alot on here buying this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morlock Posted September 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2009 By the way... is there any lume on this watch and if so, how good is it? Chubb, the lume is really great, close to a gen lume, just a little bid not so bright, but almost there. I am not so good doing lume shots, so I borough this from Andrew's site, which is just like the real thing. That is one AWESOME review... I couldn't do one like that in a million years, morlock... Your review is going to get alot on here buying this one! Coolfire, thanks for your kind words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanikai Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 Bump... for a great review.. don't miss this one Gang !! L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolexman Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 Great review. Wear it well. Seems all reps that are comming out lately are made with a genuine sample ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morlock Posted September 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 Thanks pals. For sure this time the factories did their homework I hope they keep on this trend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossanti Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 I would love to get this in a near future ..thanks ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrgod Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Great review, I think the U2 has made it to the top of my "to buy" list! One thing, I see you writes under "Gen specifications" that is has a 2836-2 movement. I remember to have read that the gen uses a 2892 movement, which is a true GMT-movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morlock Posted September 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Great review, I think the U2 has made it to the top of my "to buy" list! One thing, I see you writes under "Gen specifications" that is has a 2836-2 movement. I remember to have read that the gen uses a 2892 movement, which is a true GMT-movement. Chrgod, thans, but no, under the Gen Spec. I putCaliber:ETA 2893-2, also a true GMT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickey Padge Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Great review, nice pictures too! It seems the second hand flaw has been fixed already, check the dealer sites, they updated their pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickey Padge Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Here is a picture from Puretimes website: I imagine you could probably buy a new second hand from your dealer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vlydog Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Thank you for this interesting and painstaking review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Simply a fantastic review Morlock. Thank you for contributing to the community Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member X Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 (edited) Great review, thank you Looks like the factories have been doing their homework and putting some effort in recently - I'm glad to see these sort of reps! Doesn't help my general poverty, though, I still can't afford to buy anything... lol Edited September 10, 2009 by Member X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morlock Posted September 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Great review, nice pictures too! It seems the second hand flaw has been fixed already, check the dealer sites, they updated their pictures Mickey P, you are right, I included a note in the review pointing this out. Thanks for the pics and comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosk Posted September 11, 2009 Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Mickey P, you are right, I included a note in the review pointing this out. Thanks for the pics and comments. Great review...one issue...Puretime lists his watch with correct sec hand as being Titanium case. Strange if this were true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADRED7 Posted September 11, 2009 Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Ha..bosk...that was exactly what I was thinking when I saw Angus post....how can this piece be soooo heavy when made of Titanium??? Curious...Theo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.