Hodinkee - Dispatches: Run Silent, Run Deep – Diving With The Sinn U1 Professional
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& For a century, there have been tales, both authentic and apocryphal, of German submarines in America’s Great Lakes. After World War I, the surrendered 185-foot long UC-97 was brought to Lake Michigan, and sunk as target practice by the USS Wilmette in 1921. The U-boat now rests in very deep water, 13 miles offshore from Chicago. A more questionable tale revolves around the experimental UX-791 which supposedly sank in Lake Ontario during World War II’s Battle of the St. Lawrence. But definitive proof has yet to be put forth and it remains a myth. Regardless, I still found it somehow fitting to dive a shipwreck with some World War II history in Lake Michigan this month wearing a watch made from German submarine steel – the Sinn U1 Professional.
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& Quite a few things have changed for this limited edition version of the U1 diver.
The U1 is not a new watch from Sinn. It is, in fact, the flagship diver from this German brand better known for its pilot’s watches. Those who prefer dive watches that run silent and deep over those with name recognition tout the U1 as one of the best in the business. But for some Sinn fans, there was room for improvement. One such person was Chris Shortell, a 21-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, who was chatting with representatives of Sinn’s North American distributor, WatchBuys, last year and presented some ideas for a tough new limited edition U1. To Shortell’s surprise, WatchBuys and Sinn were game to give it a try. The Sinn U1 Professional was born, and introduced at Baselworld earlier this year.
The U1 is already an eminently capable dive watch, but the “Professional” version adds an additional level of toughness, making it, in my opinion, one of the best true dive watches available. Like the standard U1, the new watch has a 1,000-meter water resistant case, made from the same steel as that used for the hulls of the German Navy’s submarines. Sourced from the German firm, Emden GmbH, this proprietary alloy is strong and corrosion-resistant, but also highly anti-magnetic – important for a submarine running undetected, but also helpful for a wristwatch containing a mechanical movement. The uni-directional bezel is also made from this same steel and is held “captive” by screws to prevent it from being knocked loose.*
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& Only the facts occupy the caseback, with no excess ornamentation.
In 2003, Sinn pioneered a hardening process called “Tegiment” (from the Latin tegimentum, for “layer”) for surface-hardening steel, to make it highly scratch resistant (as opposed to adding a surface layer of material such as DLC). *On the standard U1, the bezel gets this treatment, but for the Professional, the entire 44mm case is hardened. Between its matte finish and the Tegiment hardening, the watch takes on a dark grey hue, almost like titanium. From some angles, it even looks black. Its flanks are slab-like, with no decorative flourishes whatsoever, and drilled lugs make for easy strap changing. The bezel on the Professional is black and ratchets counterclockwise with 60 reassuring, if slightly loose, clicks. It sits a bit wider than the case diameter, which makes gripping it a cinch.
Inside this magnificently over-engineered case ticks a Sellita SW-200 self-winding movement from which the date function was deleted at Shortell’s suggestion, for even more stripped-down singleness of purpose – timing a dive, date be damned. I won’t digress here with my feelings about high-end movements in “tool” dive watches, but suffice it to say, the Sellita caliber is perfectly adequate in this watch, and kept fine time for the duration of its tenure on my wrist. It is appropriately hidden behind a thick, solid caseback that is engraved with – well, just the facts, ma’am. In another change from the standard U1, the crown is moved from its 4:00 position to 10:00 which, beyond its trendy “destro” appeal, was something I appreciated when I strapped it on over my thick 5mm neoprene diving glove.
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& The strap and clasp on the U1 Professional are extremely substantial.
Sinn has long had some of the best straps in the business, and the strap on the U1 Professional is no exception. Made from a thick silicone that is Goldilocks-perfect in its supple/stiff ratio, it fits tight to the case at the lugs and ends with possibly the largest dive clasp I’ve ever seen. In order to size it, the strap has to be cut, and there are incremental indents as guides, between which are fitted reinforcing metal rods. The massive two-button folding clasp is made from the same Tegimented steel as the watch case. With no micro-adjustments, you have to “measure twice, cut once” when sizing the strap but a snap-out dive extension gave a precious few extra millimeters for use over my dive glove.
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& This is a true tool watch, not some would-be imposter.
The technical changes that went into the U1 Professional are subtle, but make the watch arguably a better, more capable dive watch – the lefty crown, a domed crystal, the elimination of the date, the Tegimented case – but there are also some aesthetic cues that Sinn altered too, at the suggestion of Chris Shortell. The hands replace the red accents of the regular U1 with gloss black. The dial text is now red, and the “Sinn” logo slightly larger, while the depth rating is rendered in gloss black at the bottom of the dial, to, in Shortell’s words, “avoid the wall of text” found on other U1s. The bezel markings are all white now, in place of the red accents. The overall effect is an even more stripped down lean, mean, German diving machine. This is a stark watch, modern and resolutely Teutonic. It's not for those who like a warmer, more nostalgic dive watch. But if you’re the sort who likes a dive watch that looks most at home plumbing the innards of a shipwreck, the U1 Professional is just the ticket. And that’s how I put it to the test.
Diving With The U1 Professional
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& The U1 Professional accompanied me down to the shipwreck of the Prins Willem V in Lake Michigan.
The Prins Willem V was a 258-foot Dutch freighter that led an interesting life before it ended up at the bottom of Lake Michigan. In fact, it was a shipwreck twice. Built in the late 1930s in the Netherlands, she was intentionally sunk by the Dutch Navy in Rotterdam’s Maas River as a navigational impediment, to fend off the Nazis. She was raised in 1945 and refitted as a package freighter, sailing across the Atlantic and through the Great Lakes until her ultimate demise in 1954. That sinking was far from intentional – the Prins Willem’s captain managed to sail her between a tow barge and a tugboat, snagging on the towline, which slammed the barge into her flank, delivering a fatal blow that sent the Prins Willem 95 feet down, to the bottom of the lake. Attempts were made to raise her, including one that served as a rehearsal for a possible raising of the famous Andrea Doria ocean liner wreck in the Atlantic. Needless to say, the attempt failed, and the “Willy” now serves as a popular dive site for intrepid cold water divers – though still with some danger; the wreck has claimed the lives of four divers.
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& Underwater, the U1 Professional is an extremely capable companion.
May is early season for Great Lakes diving, and I caught one of the first charters out of Milwaukee for the half-hour trip out to the wreck site. Water temperatures rarely crack 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees F) in summer, so as we approached the mooring buoy marking the wreck, I donned a fleece union suit and a sealed drysuit to ward off the chill.*
The Sinn U1 Professional clicked confidently over my glove on my left wrist, with a digital dive computer on my right. I aligned the bezel’s zero marker to the blocky minute hand, and descended the mooring line to the wreck, adding air to my drysuit to offset the increasing water pressure and add a cushion of precious insulation. At about 45 feet, the wreck came into view, lying on its side and intact, from bow to stern. The invasive zebra mussels in Lake Michigan are a menace and coat every inch of the wreck, but their filter feeding has one benefit – cleaning the water for excellent visibility.*
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& Legibility at depth was not a problem at all.
I kicked around the wreck, exploring the maw of a cargo hold, dropping inside the pilothouse and around the smokestack. At the stern, the lettering that spells out the name is now covered with a thick coating of mussels. Brushing against any surface releases a shower of mussels and all the fine matter that collects on them, making for a cloud of silt that restricts visibility. But if the U1 is legible topside, underwater it really shines. Extra layers of SuperLuminova on those massive hands glowed blue in the gloom and though I was mainly relying on my dive computer for timing, it was reassuring to know that I had a mechanical backup to my battery-powered computer, especially in 43-degree water. At 33 minutes, with enough air for my ascent, it was time to go.
Hand-over-hand, I made my way up the mooring line to 15 feet, where I paused for three minutes to decompress before continuing up past the buoy, which was, by then, rising and falling in the growing swell. I made my way up the boat ladder with my numb fingers and glanced at the Sinn. A fine layer of mist clouded the crystal, giving me a moment of panic. Had it leaked? No, its cold surface hitting the warmer air had merely caused condensation that wiped off. Job done.*
https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/i...usm=12&w=2000& After the dive, the watch was still performing admirably, none the worse for wear.
The Sinn U1 Professional is an interesting beast – built by a German company, designed by a former New York cop, and destined as a limited edition for the North American market, with only 100 of them made. There are other capable Sinn divers available, of course. The U2 is similar but adds a 24-hour hand for second time zone tracking, and there are other U1 versions as well, with black or naked steel bezels, red accents, one with a faux-patina lume, even one with a camouflage dial. All would no doubt serve as well diving a shipwreck in Lake Michigan, Scapa Flow, or Truk Lagoon. But if a no-date, destro-crown, full Tegiment steel U1 is your thing, don’t delay. At last report, the U1 Professional is going fast.
The U1 Professional, on strap, retails for $2,670 and is available only from Sinn’s North American distributor, WatchBuys. You can find all the details here.
Photos: Christopher Winters for HODINKEE
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