Sinn and Leica! Any other German brands you admire?
I love my Sinn U50 MOP limited edition and the Leica Q2. Both are beautifully designed and constructed to get the jobs done. I have yet to own a German car and I wish to do that some day. Any other German brands, watch or non-watch related, that you love and admire?
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Sfwatchlover
Passionate about watch collecting, he is a member of the HSNY and loves to share his experience and joy with fellow watch lovers.
West coast 🇺🇸
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Limes,Arcimede, Tutima, Laco
Great camera 📸 and that dial is awesome. I quite like the design of Glashütte original.
That dial is beautiful
NOMOS, Glashütte Original and Stowa are a few I like. Aside from watches, I've always liked Benz. ;)
Yes definitly Guinand is really underrated with so much love shown to Sinn online, This is the company that Helmut Sinn bought after selling his first company and being bored at over 80 years old, what a legend! Other Tool watches Stowa, Laco, Tutima, Damasko and Hannart, are also great. By the way all Type XX got inspired from Hannart 20's chronographes design as war reparation.
On the Dress side and aside the known ALS and GO, Junghans and Union Glashüte have interesting designs. The second one part of Swatch group is a really nerdy alternative to Tissot or Longines.
Don't forget Tourby which is a young company and does awesome vintage looking things on Unitas handwound movements.
Porsche, BMW, Sig Sauer, heckler and koch, Weihenstaphaner, hofbrau, etc etc.
Porsche!
What people don't know about the brand / manufacturer is that before the advent of the Boxster in 1996, Porsche was like Aston Martin - great performance, great racing heritage, but poor build quality and reliability, and seemingly always on the brink of bankruptcy.
http://canakdeniz.co/lean-business-in-modern-automotive-manufacture-porsche/
Facing certain doom in the early 90's, Porsche appointed Wendelin Wiedeking to the post of CEO in 1993, and he made adoption of lean manufacturing (otherwise known as Toyota Production Systems) the #1 priority of the company. It saved the company, and soon Porsche began to boast the same levels of reliability and quality and fit and finish as Toyotas - while also maintaining rip-your-face-off performance.
Today, you can buy a mid-engine Cayman for ~$60k!!! A Cayman GT4 starts at only $100k! A quick search on mid-engine sports cars available for sale quickly shows most competitors selling at $150k+, without the same levels of reliability, fit and finish, etc.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g27343417/mid-engined-cars/?slide=20
This combination of performance and quality has resulted in Porsche becoming the most profitable car manufacturer in the world, while providing consumers with unrivaled value.
Adidas and Puma: Owned by two German brothers who hate each other.
Aldi and Trader Joe’s: Owned by two German brothers who hate each other.
It would be a trip to learn that the owners of, I don’t know, Sinn and Damasko are also two German brothers who hate each other.
This has nothing to do with the OP. Sorry. 🤷♂️
I’m a fan of Nomos. They have some fantastic dials in terms of textures and colours and a real bold minimalist style.
Also love A. Lange und Söhne which I don’t think needs any explanation. Also love Sinn too.
I can’t think of any other German brands that appeal to me. I’ve never been a fan of German cars as they seem so devoid of character inside…
Damasko for me ! I have a white lumed dial chronograph, super glow in the dark, and a lot of specs on the watch back ! Made from ice hardened steel I believe.
This looks nice I’m thinking about buying one .
Yes definitly Guinand is really underrated with so much love shown to Sinn online, This is the company that Helmut Sinn bought after selling his first company and being bored at over 80 years old, what a legend! Other Tool watches Stowa, Laco, Tutima, Damasko and Hannart, are also great. By the way all Type XX got inspired from Hannart 20's chronographes design as war reparation.
On the Dress side and aside the known ALS and GO, Junghans and Union Glashüte have interesting designs. The second one part of Swatch group is a really nerdy alternative to Tissot or Longines.
Don't forget Tourby which is a young company and does awesome vintage looking things on Unitas handwound movements.
Thank you so much for the detailed reply and recommendations! It was my first time hear about Guinand, Tutima and Tourby, and I will definitely check them out. I own a Lange Odysseus in WG and I'm loving it. For other brands in your note, I have certainly read about them and I look forward to the opportunity to see them in person in the future! Thanks again!
I have had many Adidas and Puma sneakers since I was young! I would love to own a German car in the future :). Thanks for the recommendations :)
Porsche, BMW, Sig Sauer, heckler and koch, Weihenstaphaner, hofbrau, etc etc.
I only know the Porsche and BMW from your list. I will check out the others! Thanks :)
I am liking that Q2, lifting my SL gets tiring after a while
Damasko for me ! I have a white lumed dial chronograph, super glow in the dark, and a lot of specs on the watch back ! Made from ice hardened steel I believe.
It is wonderful that you like it a lot! I have heard of Damasko and hope to see it in the metal someday. Thanks for the recommendation!
This looks nice I’m thinking about buying one .
It does look stunning! Thanks for sharing!
I've always been a fan of Braun, the older version of the company when the design was central to the brand. Bosch and Miele have carried on great design and quality engineering traditions.
Great recommendations! I need to check out Miele. Thanks!
I will pile on with Audi, Porsche.
Given common ownership with Porsche, my Audi interior build quality is so tight on tolerances / fit & finish.
Thanks a lot for the recommendation! I first learned to drive in a very old Mercedes-Benz actually, but later on I bought Japanese cars and a Tesla model 3. I would love to own a German car one day.
Honestly I appreciate German watch brands more than Swiss overall. Sinn, Damasko, Stowa, Laco, Muhle, Nomos, Glashutte Original... I feel like these brands outperform their Swiss counterparts more often than not at their various price points. Not to mention that if I had serious money to spend on a grail I'd go for a Lange over any of the holy trinity any day of the week.
There are a lot of people who would agree with you. Here is a YouTube channel that I have watched every video. Ben just loves German watches. I have learned a lot about German brands from his channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/TOKKANTE/ . Thanks for replying!
My favorite 2 German brands are Sinn and Mercedes.
A really beautiful static shot!
I like Laco, too. Best quality at its price point that I can think of, with case work so good you'd think the watches were triple the price. I bet the esteemed rooster would agree.
Thanks for recommending Laco! I will have chance to attend Windup Watch Fair in San Francisco next month and I will check out Laco watches there as they will be attending! https://windupwatchfair.com
For more affordable German watches, consider Iron Annie (the company was rebranded from Junkers). Their Bauhaus range is a real step up from many of the other minimalist watch collections. Great value and beautiful watches.
Could this site remain on topic and not drift into posh cars?
Haha! I will stay on topic with the reply ;). I just visited the Iron Annie website and they do offer fantastic watches at great prices. I love their Flieger watches and I have been looking one to add to my collection. Do you know if they regulate the ETA movements? Thanks again for the recommendation!
Leica has their own watches now, the L1 & L2. They really put a lot of camera, photography aesthetic into them without seeming cheap, tacky. They look to be beautifully built and finished. The crown is very innovative. Instead of unscrewing and turning as usual, you unscrew and then push it like the shutter of a camera to change time, date, etc. Really interesting.
Yes, I read a few articles on Leica L1 and L2 already and your comments are spot on! It seems that the timing is good for Leica to introduce the watch models at this time, as the interests in watches seem to have reached all time high! I would love to check out the new Leica watches in person some day.
I am liking that Q2, lifting my SL gets tiring after a while
Yeah, I love Q2 and have taken a lot of pictures during the Christmas vacation in Southern California 2-3 months ago. Q2 is my first and only Leica. I sold some watches to Crown & Caliber and they offered me 20% more money to redeem at Hodinkee. I ended up buying the Q2 at Hodinkee ;).
Thanks for recommending Laco! I will have chance to attend Windup Watch Fair in San Francisco next month and I will check out Laco watches there as they will be attending! https://windupwatchfair.com
Funny you mentioned that - I picked up my Laco watch at the W&W fair in New York City a couple of years ago.
I love the quality of Damasko watches, gorgeous timepieces. Almost clinical, so German.
i have the leicas, no Sinn yet. hopefully soon
Fantastic watches and Leicas! Excellent pictures! Thanks for sharing. May you get the Sinn soon :)