Sinn

From cockpit clocks to case engineering

The business began with clocks for aircraft navigation and chronographs for pilots, and Sinn still sells its navigation cockpit clocks under the trademark NaBo.^1, 4

On September 1, 1994, the engineer Lothar Schmidt bought the company and renamed it Sinn Spezialuhren GmbH. Over the following decade it introduced a series of technologies of its own, each aimed at a condition a watch is used in: magnetism, moisture, temperature, scratching and seawater.^1, 2

Most of Sinn’s cases are made by SUG, a case maker in Glashütte that Lothar Schmidt co-founded in 1999.^1, 3, 4

In 1985 the astronaut Reinhard Furrer wore a Sinn 140 S chronograph on the Spacelab D1 mission; Sinn says the flight showed that an automatic watch winds itself in weightlessness. Sinn chronographs flew again on the Mir-92 mission and, in 1993, on D-2 aboard Columbia.^1, 2

Sinn builds its water-resistant watches to DIN 8310 and its diving watches to DIN 8306. It says it initiated TESTAF, a test standard for pilot’s watches developed with Aachen University of Applied Sciences and presented in 2012, which became the basis of the German standard DIN 8330.^1, 4

Where Sinn leads

• Part of · , HistoryGerman watchmaking

  A Frankfurt maker founded in 1961, one of the West German firms of the post-war years.^1, 2

• Part of · , TraditionDive watches

  Sinn says it was the first watch company to have diving watches certified by Germanischer Lloyd, in 2005.¹

• Part of · , TraditionPilot’s watches

  Sinn began with navigation clocks and pilot’s chronographs, and says it initiated TESTAF, the test standard for pilot’s watches behind DIN 8330.^1, 4

• Part of · , TraditionTool-watch engineering

  Much of Sinn’s range is built on case technologies of its own, against magnetism, moisture, temperature, scratching and seawater.¹

• See also · , CompanyDamasko

  Both German makers use submarine steel for diving cases and build around hard steel cases, by different methods.^1, 4, 6

• See also · , CompanyLaco

  Sinn says it initiated TESTAF, the scheme on which DIN 8330 is based; Laco says its current pilot’s watches are certified to DIN 8330.^1, 4, 7

• See also · , PlaceGlashütte

  Sinn says most of its cases come from SUG, a case maker in Glashütte co-founded by Sinn’s owner.^3, 4

Elsewhere in Watch Vault

• Current coverage

  Stories that name Sinn, newest first (opens in a new tab), in Watch Vault Media.

• References

  Sinn references from the maker’s own pages (opens in a new tab), in the Watch Vault Archive Reference Directory.