Introducing: Sinns Announces The 308 Hunting Watch, The 544, And The 936 S

Any conversation about mechanical watches that inspire their owners to go into harm’s way must begin and end with Sinn. Sure, the Frankfurt-based brand has a handful of more refined, dare I say “elegant” dress watches, but it is best known for its non-nonsense, ultra-durable, and very Teutonic sports watches. Sinn continues to press its case with three new compelling releases ahead of Watches and Wonders—the 308 “Jagduhr,” the 544, and the 936S. Let’s take a closer look.

The term “tool watch” is overused these days. It seems that any watch with a bit of water resistance and decent lume gets to wear the tool watch banner. But honestly, most watches are tougher than we give them credit for. So go ahead and dig up your garden wearing your Tank or go snorkeling with your Odysseus. To me, then, the label “tool watch” applies most aptly to those timepieces designed with specific functions in mind, those purpose-built to do a job. There are few brands that do this as well, or as often, as Sinn. In the past, we’ve seen versions of their Einzatsmesser (Mission Timer) built for German police and military units, oil-filled deep divers, and even a paramedics’ watch made to be sterilized, featuring timers for emergency response and pulsations. This spring, we get a new edition to Sinn’s legacy of watches designed for hunters—the 308.

The 308 Hunting Watch

In Germany, hunting with an artificial light source is prohibited, so hunters, or “Jäger,” must rely on natural, ambient light. If it’s nighttime, that means the stars and the Moon. To aid in this very specific scenario, Sinn has a tradition of hunters’ watches, most recently a chronograph, the 3006, and now the simpler 308. Housed in a 40mm satinized steel case that’s 12mm thick, it features a hunter green (natürlich!) dial with time display and a pointer date complication.

But it is the watch’s “moonlight” function that makes it useful to nocturnal hunters. According to Sinn, the best light for hunting comes in the three days before and after a full moon. Thus, the position of the luminous disc in the aperture at 6:00 indicates this time period, and arrows on the dial show the direction of travel of this lunar display.

Aside from its moonlight complication, the 308 offers 200 meters of water resistance and low-pressure resistance. A modified Sellita SW382-1 movement is visible through a sapphire caseback and is protected from moisture by Sinn’s familiar Ar-Dehumidifying technology—a capsule in the side of the case that absorbs moisture and indicates saturation by changing color.

The new Sinn 308 Hunting Watch can be had on a steel bracelet for €2870, or on a leather or silicone strap for €2570.

The 554 & 554 RS

If the 308 is too specific or too complicated for you, the new 544 and 544 RS might be more your speed. Both variants are identical (save for the red-painted seconds hand on the RS), 38.5mm satin-finish steel case with hooded lugs, a sapphire caseback and crystal, and a minimalist matte dial. 

Both can be had on a steel bracelet for €1,740, a silicone band for €1,370, or a beefy pilot-style leather strap also for €1,370. This is a simple three-hand time-and-date watch that emphasizes legibility with the restraint of a dial absent of text besides the familiar Sinn wordmark. Specs are classic Sinn, with the 554 still offering 200 meters of water resistance and low-pressure resistance, while staying svelte at 10mm thick. The movement is a Selitta SW200-2 automatic.

While Sinn has a reputation for its beefy dive watches and pilots’ chronographs that bristle with technology, it also does well in the more affordable “do-anything” category, in which these new 544 references squarely fit.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a scenario where this watch wouldn’t work, especially with its versatile and wearable dimensions. The hooded lug design is something of a Sinn trademark, more commonly associated with its 144 family of chronographs. It can be a bit of a Marmite design (love it or hate it), which I happen to like, especially on the H-link bracelet that flows well into the case.

The 936 S Chronograph Limited Edition

The third big release for Sinn is the 936S chronograph. This isn’t so much a new watch for Sinn, but a variant of its existing 936. The key here is the “S” in its name, which stands for Schwarz, German for “black,” and it is limited to only 100 pieces, a decidedly limited edition. 

What sets the 936S apart from most conventional chronographs is the presence of a 60-minute totalizer. With a few in-house exceptions or center sweep minute hand examples, most chronographs on the market have 30-minute counters that require good vision, and an additional hour counter to track elapsed time beyond half an hour. Sinn’s in-house modified SZ05 movement adapts a Valjoux (ETA) 7750 caliber to allow for an hour of stopwatch timing on a single counter, decluttering the dial. The elapsed time hands (sweep seconds and the 60-minute) are painted red, to contrast with the white hand of the running seconds hand on the 9:00 subdial. This makes for easy and quick read-off at a glance.

In addition to its movement chops, the 936S boasts a highly scratch-resistant “black hard coating” on top of Sinn’s patented tegiment steel. If you’re someone who likes some patina, this might not be the watch for you. It’s also 100 meters water resistant, with chronograph pushers that can be actuated underwater. This is thanks to Sinn’s D3 technology that seals the push-pieces directly in the case band, eschewing the sleeves that more conventional chronographs utilize. The watch also has an impressive magnetism resistance of 80,000 A/m.

The 936S is no trembling flower, clocking in at 43mm in diameter and 15mm thick. You’ll feel this one on your wrist for sure. It’s also not cheap. On a black steel H-link bracelet, it will sell for €4150. That’s steep no matter which way you look at it, but I’ve always felt that Sinn tries a little harder than most brands to pack as much capability and durability into its watches as possible, and the 936S is a watch with which you reliably time the zombie apocalypse, one hour at a time.

For more information, visit Sinn’s website. For US retail information, visit WatchBuys.