06 Jul 2025
I don’t fall for many watches, but when I do, they share the same quiet confidence: mechanical field pieces built to survive more than a lifetime.
My first love was in 2008, after doing tons of research, I ended up travelling to Frankfurt at Sinn's manufacture to buy the 856 UTC.
For fifteen years that watch has absorbed knocks, saltwater and airplane cabins, its tegimented steel case shrugging off everything until — quite literally a few weeks ago — it finally stopped.
That silence sent me back down the horological rabbit hole where I realized every watch that makes my pulse jump belongs to the same family of simple, no-nonsense tool watches.
Chronographs, moonphases, perpetual calendars? I admire the craftsmanship, yet the crowded dials feel like shouting on a postage stamp.
What I crave is legibility: bold numerals, high-contrast hands, perhaps a date window or a discreet GMT ring — nothing else. The engineering hidden beneath that restraint is the real hook.
A self-winding movement is a miniature power plant of gears, springs and jewels, humming along on wrist-generated energy.
Each sweep of the seconds hand reminds me both of human ingenuity and of time sliding past, a double jolt of admiration and urgency.
My current shortlist reads like a who’s-who of practical watchmaking.
At the affordable end sits the Hamilton Khaki Field, a stalwart with heritage in its bones.
Closer to home are German stalwarts like Damasko with ice-hardened steel and, of course, more Sinn references — because once you’ve lived with one, their engineering philosophy spoils you for less robust offerings.
At the aspirational peak stands the Rolex Explorer.
I’ve never warmed to Rolex’s broader image, but the Explorer’s understated dial, history on Everest, and everything-in-house build quality feel like the blueprint from which all modern field watches were traced.
In an ideal world I’d rotate three pieces:
the battered Sinn 856 for travel and rough work;
the Rolex Explorer as the everyday partner that can slip from jeans to blazer without fuss;
and Sinn’s 6068 B, a Frankfurt Financial District model that finally proves dress watches can remain tool watches at heart — transparent case-back, bull-and-bear rotor, 12-hour GMT ring, all in a design that still whispers rather than shouts.
The whole trio would cost roughly ten thousand euros, far less than a single Royal Oak, which I admire for its design but could never baby enough to justify.
Why this fixation?
Partly it’s my love of engineering writ small: these watches encapsulate metallurgy, machining and micro-mechanics in something you can hold, inspect, and trust.
Partly it’s the philosophy of preparedness baked into a field watch — water resistance, anti-magnetism, shock protection.
Mostly, though, it’s the emotional layering every glance delivers: wonder at the craft, respect for the durability, and a sober reminder that seconds march on whether I notice or not.
A good watch doesn’t just tell the time; it asks me what I plan to do with it.
Ideal Watch Collection
The goal is to have at least three watches:
1. Sinn 856 UTC (current daily wear): for use in environments where a more discreet option is preferred. Sinn
2. Rolex Explorer: for everyday use, valued for its field watch style and durability.
3. Zenith 6068B: a dress watch from Sinn's Frankfurt Financial District series
Brands on my radar:
Audemars Piguet
Damasko
Hamilton
Hublot
IWC
Laco
Marathon
Maurice Lacroix
Nite Watches UK
Nomos
Rolex
Sinn
Tissot
Yema
Zenith
Zodiac