Yes, we're vintage watch snobs.

In virtually any comparison, we'll take a piece that has been properly aged over something shiny and new.  There is just something inherently superior in our minds about a timepiece that has already passed through time.  It gets a little metaphysical, a little emotional, a little wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey to explain properly, but you're with us, right?

Anyhow, there IS a time and place for a modern wristwatch - in the field.  If you're out digging up Unicorn bones in the Scottish highlands, battling space aliens with adaptive camouflage in some equatorial rainforest, defending your urban keep against a raging zombie horde - whatever - chances are a modern timepiece would be a better tool for the job.  It has something to do with their inherently superior water resistance, durability, accuracy, as well as their ease of replacement and all that.  We won't bore you with the practicality of it all.

Seeing that we at analog/shift engage in at least one of these activities on a monthly basis, we have had to make some tough decisions and select modern watches that are up to difficult tasks without being, you know, too modern and bleh.

Sinn has been a favorite modern brand of ours for some time.  Their watches are high end tools, built to exacting German standards and have classically-industrial designs.  The Reference 656 presented here is an excellent all around daily-beatable watch with all the elements we've come to love.

The 656 has an Explorer-style dial with Arabic numerals, a simple three-hand movement and a date function between 4 and 5.  The case is corrosion/scratch-resistant sandblasted steel, has a 200m water resistance and anti-magnetic protection up to 80,000 A/m.  Inside the perfectly proportioned 38.5mm case beats the venerable ETA 2824, a brick-shithouse movement if there ever was one.  Basically it is perfect for doing all those things you'd never in a million years wear your precious vintage watch for.  This particular example is a lightly used piece with only one prior owner and a full recent overhaul to the movement.  It is sensible, practical, and good looking.  We hate that we love it.  Oh, and its cheap.

That is all.