Sinn has attracted a fervent cult following since its founding in Frankfurt am Main in 1961 by former World War II pilot and flight instructor Helmut Sinn.

For many years, Helmut just made and sold watches to friends and colleagues, but by the mid-1980s, his brand’s resounding success convinced him to set up a new headquarters, where he had around 40 employees. Around this time, Sinn also became the first automatic watch to travel to space, when its chronograph Model 140 S travelled with astronauts on the historic Spacelab D1 mission.

Led by Helmut’s ambition to engineer high-precision navigation cockpit clocks and pilot chronographs, this manufacture originally named “Helmut Sinn Spezialuhren” developed Ar-Dehumidifying Technology in 1998, which works in tandem with Sinn’s special oil to enable watches to operate in temperatures as low as negative 45 degrees Celsius and as high as 80 degrees Celsius. Around this time, Sinn also swept headlines when it released the titanium 244 Ti and 244 Ti F models, and the Mission Timers EZM1 and EZM2.

Sinn is also responsible for furthering tegiment technology, which the brand leveraged to harden the stainless steel of watches like the U1 and U2, and make it scratch resistant.

Fans might wax lyrical to you about Sinn’s Diapal technology, which eliminated the need for lubrication in watch movements, and the extremely rigorous testing that its watches have undergone and performed well under.

In fact, this maker of clean, legible and highly robust timepieces has been commissioned to create utilitarian tool watches for forces like the German police unit GSG 9 and the German Air Force.

If you’re interested in getting into Sinn watches, consider acquiring the iconic U1 or U2, or a classic pilot’s watch from Sinn’s acclaimed 103 series. You can take your pick from a slew of tool watches that Sinn has released in recent years.

If you’re a long-time Sinn aficionado who would like to spruce up your Sinn timepieces, consider pairing them with RSM watch straps. Below, you can take inspiration from how some RSM fans have endowed their Sinn watches with unique visages, by pairing them with RSM leather straps, X-hatch straps, and fine canvas straps.

Your Sinn timepiece might also look good on other popular RSM models like silk straps, military straps, camo straps, engraved stripe straps and herringbone twill straps.

Photo credits for header image: @wh1chw4tch (left); @rsmwatchstrap; @enthuseddad