Sinn Continues their 60th Anniversary Celebration with a New Limited Edition 103

Sinn is continuing their 60th anniversary celebration (we covered their first batch of special releases to celebrate the occasion earlier this year) with a new version of one of their most iconic chronograph designs. The Sinn 103 has a special place in the hearts and minds of many watch enthusiasts – for many, it’s an early entry point into watch enthusiast culture, and a great example of a watch made by a small brand to a very high standard that impresses well beyond its historically modest price point. It’s a simple, no frills pilot’s chronograph executed extremely well, and while the basic version with an acrylic crystal is about as unfussy as it gets, the platform has proven to be fertile ground for a variety of special and limited editions over the years in a rainbow of colors and themes. This latest release, the 103 Classic 12, is on the one hand a limited anniversary edition of a well known watch, and on the other it feels like a legitimate evolution of an idea, and could easily be the basis for a “next generation” 103. Not that anyone is really asking for that; this falls squarely in the “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” category. Still, it’s an appealing design that is sure to have longtime Sinn heads excited, so it’s certainly worth taking a closer look at. 

The watch in question, on the surface, looks a lot like a normal 103, but it’s been given several aesthetic updates, along with a fairly significant material change in one component, to make it stand out and feel a bit more modern. The aviation heritage of the 103 is still very much present in the rudimentary layout, syringe hands, and a 12 hour bezel that makes it easy to track a second time zone, or provide a numerical view to the current hour. The sub registers at 3, 6, and 9 have been rendered in an off-white color (Sinn calls it “chamois,” and it’s also seen in other printed accents on the dial) for a striking reverse panda effect. While this is certainly evoking aged lume to a certain degree, the fact that the color treatment has been applied to the subdials as well as other areas of the watch that aren’t traditionally lume coated makes this feel more like a color choice than an attempt to make the 103 look aged. 

A subtle but important update comes in the material chosen for the bezel. Here, for the first time on a 103, the bezel insert is made of ceramic, instead of the traditional aluminum. The appearance, in photos, hasn’t changed that much. It’s still a thin bezel in a vintage style. But we’re guessing that in person the ceramic gives a very different impression when compared bezels with an aluminum insert. Ceramic bezel inserts have become the standard on premium watches in recent years for their resilience to scratches and wear, and this 103 will age differently than made previously as a result. 

Another small change comes in the form of the dial signature. This watch is signed ‘Sinn Frankfurt am Main’ right below the traditional Sinn wordmark (all in chamois, as mentioned above). This is an effort on the part of Sinn to pay tribute to their history, but also has the effect of making the watch feel more contemporary, if only because it’s so unusual for a 103, the design of which has been burned into the brains of so many of us. The combined changes to the 103 for this Classic 12 edition are simultaneously unusual, attractive, and just different enough to make it really stand out against other limited versions of the same watch. It’s more than just an updated colorway or a line of text – this edition feels particularly well thought out. It’s also worth pointing out that the 103 Classic 12, while not taking advantage of every proprietary Sinn technology available, is still a perfectly capable modern sports watch going by specs alone. This watch is water resistant to 200 meters, has a sapphire crystal, and features Sinn’s Ar-Dehumidifying Technology to keep the crystal free from fog.

Only 600 pieces of the 103 Classic 12 will be made. Retail pricing was not available at the time of this writing. More information here.