Sinn x The Rake & Revolution 155 Bundeswehr "Dark Star"

1967 – 1990 — The Original Bundeswehr 1550 SG and the Sinn Model 155 Bw

The Bundeswehr watch was designed for military pilots, created for the West German Federal Defense Force (Bundeswehr). They were initially made by a company called Leonidas, which was later purchased by Heuer. It was driven by a Valjoux manual-wind caliber 222 with Incabloc shock protection, 36-hour power reserve, flyback function and hacking feature. It would thus have been identified as a Heuer-Leonidas movement, and would be replaced by the similar caliber 230.

The watch featured two pushers for the chronograph functions, with two subdials. The counter at nine o’clock showed real-time seconds while the dial at three o’clock was a 30-minute counter. Oversized Arabic numerals, straight hands and a “Concorde”-shaped tip for the chronograph sweep-seconds hand all combined to create a supremely legible watch. However, the signature design element was the bezel. The watch had a distinctive, extremely wide, black bi-directional bezel with semi-matte finish, a large, white triangle at its zero point and Arabic numerals at 15, 30 and 45.

Sinn’s role in this story came during the 1980s and early 1990s when Mr Helmut Sinn purchased phased-out watches from the inventories of the Bundeswehr and sold these after reconditioning with, inter alia, added SINN lettering on the dial under the label “Bundeswehr Chronograph for Pilots” as the Model 155 Bw.

It was during this period that the luminous materials used were changed from the earlier radioactive substance to something safer, hence the dials with “3H” (Hydrogen-3) to denote the conversion. Some versions of the dial also included a small “t” on top of the 6 o’clock index that also referred to the presence of tritium.

All watches were fitted with a “Bund” style double layer strap, which was meant to protect the pilot’s skin in the case of extreme temperatures. They were produced from 1967 to 1990 when Germany was reunified, and the Bundeswehr was restructured. Today a nice example of a Bundeswehr 1550 SG will cost anywhere from US$ 5,000 to well above US$ 10,000.

2005 & 2008 — The Only Sinn Bundeswehr Re-Editions to Date

In 2005, Sinn created a 200-piece re-edition of the Bundeswehr watch for the Japanese market. According to lore, the manufacture found 200 additional cases intended for military watches and put them together with a hand wound Valjoux 7760 movement, the identical military style bezel and dial, now with Super Luminova instead of Tritium; syringe shaped hands from their 103 Flieger pilots watches and an original spec Bund strap. Incredibly, these retro modern watches have become cult collectables and the asking price for a good quality watch is now US$ 4,000 to US$ 5,000.

In 2008, Sinn created a second 272-piece limited edition homage to the Bundeswehr watch this time using an automatic Valjoux 7750 for German dealer Manufactum. Though the case, bezel and hands were identical to the military watches, this time the dial featured a day and date window at 3 o’clock. Also, the sub seconds counter was suppressed and in place a minute, as well as an hour totalizer, appeared. Note that while the 2005 Japanese edition has a 4-screw military style case back, this watch featured a more modern screw down caseback and did not come with a Bund Strap.

2019 — The Dark Star Rises

Now, a full 12 years later Sinn has finally reissued the 155 Bundeswehr this time in collaboration with Revolution. This is the rarest of the three re-editions with just 150 examples made. It features the exact same case, bezel and domed plexiglass crystal as the vintage military watches and the Japanese re-edition. But this time, the hands and dial have been treated with specially colored Super Luminova to perfectly evoke the look of aged tritium of the vintage watches. The bezel has similarly been given a subtle “ghost” effect to give it the appearance of having been faded by time and the sun.

The movement of the watch is the more practical, automatic Sellita SW510. However, the dial is of the two-counter design in strict accordance with the military design. The caseback here reverts back to the 4-screw design of the vintage military watches. It comes not only with the original equipment Bund strap, but also a second heavy duty Desert Sand colored NATO strap with heavy duty keepers as well as a changing tool and display box. Finally, in place of the 3H logo you will find a subtle black star that can only be seen in direct light endowing the military chronograph with its sobriquet the Dark Star.

As mentioned the price of the Sinn x The Rake & Revolution 155 Bundeswehr “Dark Star” is just US$ 2,500 making it approximately half the cost of the current value of the 2005 Japanese 200-piece limited edition watch.

Technical Specifications: Sinn x The Rake & Revolution 155 Bundeswehr “Dark Star”