Dial

The dial is where the 856 B-Uhr departs from the line, taking on traits of the watches its named for. For those who are unfamiliar, the B-Uhr style, sometimes referred to as flieger type-b, features a large minute index towards the exterior of the dial with a smaller hour track on the inside. They are slightly less common than the more recognizable type-a, which is featured on this Stowa as well as many others, but most brands that make one make the other as well.

For the 856, Sinn played with the concept, creating a design that while speaking to B-Uhrs is unique. The primary index is a minute index with numerals at 15, 30 and 45, a vintage style triangle at 0/60, larger rectangles at intervals of five and small markers for the individual minutes. One immediate difference between the Sinn B-Uhr and a classic version is that Sinn went with numerals at the quarter hours, which dramatically simplifies the overall design.

The other, which is very obvious at a glance, is the use of two colors of lume. For the numerals and 5-minute marks, they went with a warm, parchment color lume. For the individual minutes, they used white. People use these types of warm lume to suggest aging, as the color is similar to old rhadium or tritium. By using both colors, they negate this, making it much more interesting.

This is especially true once the hour index comes into play. At the center of the dial you’ll find the hour index, which has small white numerals for each hour, connected by curving white lines that create the appearance of a circle. Because the minutes are parchment color and the hours are white, you have this really easy way of visually distinguishing between the two, which also corresponds to their respective hands. The minute hand is a long roman sword with edge to edge parchment lume. The hour is a short skeletonized roman sword in white. I think this use of color is brilliant, adding character to the design overall, while increasing ease of use. It also stops the watch from feeling like a faux-aged time piece, which wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting.