Oris and Sinn have released smaller versions of their popular dive watches, the Aquis Date and U50. What can these 41- and 41.5-mm-diameter newcomers do" Find out in this comparative review from our October 2020 issue, with original photos by Nik Schölzel.

?Honey, I shrunk the U1? is the headline of Sinn?s ad for its new U50. And Oris is making a scaled-down version of its Aquis Date. Fortunately, however, these watches haven?t become quite as tiny as the children in the 1989 movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. And their larger role models (the 44-mm Sinn U1 and the 43.5-mm Aquis Date) remain in the brands? portfolios.

The victory march of gigantic watches is over; today?s trend is toward moderately sized timepieces. Sinn and Oris emphasize this with the 41-mm U50 and the 41.5-mm Aquis Date, our test watches. They have responded to their customers? requests for a more moderately sized divers? watch. The smaller dimensions of the models presented in 2020 have tangible advantages. These watches are more comfortable to wear, they aren?t so top-heavy, and they?re less likely to get caught on nearby objects, especially the U50, which is only 11.15 mm high.
These two moderately sized dive watches are visually very different from each other. Sinn bead-blasts the case and strap, relocates the crown away from the back of the hand to the 4 o?clock position, trims the dial with instrumental styling and optimizes legibility thanks to strong contrast between applied lumi...