Some time ago, Bas van Dorp and I both decided we needed a Lemania 5100 watch. I bought a Sinn 142 St.S at Horloge Platform Nederland in The Hague and Bas ordered a Sinn EZM1. His one was on order, and since the run on the last watches with Lemania 5100 was enormous, he had to wait a bit longer. Last week his watch arrived and here you can read his review on his EZM1.About two years ago, I read that Lemania would end the production of thecal. 5100. The horror! The guys who came up with this idea will be thefirst against the wall when the revolution comes, that's for sure. Sinn,among others, would still be producing watches with this movement, usingthe remaining stock. I was still happy wearing my Omega SpeedmasterProfessional (which has a Lemania 1873), and there was still some timeto decide. However, recently, Sinn has also stopped the production of5100 based watches, so I quickly decided to order one of the last EZM1's. I received it 5 days ago...I like functional designs. The reason I got a Speedmaster Pro wasbecause it has the best designed chronograph dial ever. Extremely goodto read, beautiful and timeless design. The Sinn EZM 1 shares many ofthese features, but in a very different way. But most of all: bothwatches make a statement on watch design.The Sinn has no subdials but it still has a two register chronograph.That's one of the odd features of the Lemania 5100, it has a centralseconds and a central minutes register. Additional to these four centralhands, the Lemania 5100 allows for three subdials (24 hour hand, normalseconds hand and chrono hour totalizer), but Sinn didn't use them in theEZM 1. Who needs these functions anyway? Sinn considers extremelegibility more important, so let's throw these registers away, eventhough we payed for them. A very bold statement.Both Sinn and Omega considered legibility the most important goal butthey defined their design constraints different. I found the Sinn'soverall legibility better in the dark and I found it is particularlyeasier to read the chronograph in the dark. The Omega, however, allowsmore accurate and easier reading of the seconds counter in normalconditions, because of it's "perfect" outer scale where every second hasan identical, very thin marker (now that's a statement). The Sinndoesn't have this, the markers on the hours are thicker it doesn't evenhave a marker on 1 and 59 seconds because of the huge 12 hour marker.You can still use the chrono, but not to the degree of perfection in theSpeedmaster. I'd say for scientific purposes the Omega is better, butfor the rough work "in the field", the Sinn is better. For timing pasta,both watches will do just fine. But wait! The Sinn has a rotating bezelwhich gives you a countown timer for the pasta so you can use still thechrono to time the desert in the oven. The date window is a nice bonus,and Sinn did a perfect job not to make the date window interfere withthe legibility of the rest of the watch. Also a bold statement.The Sinn looks much more modern, not as timeless as the Speedmaster. ButI do consider the Sinn EZM 1 a classic. Time will tell if I'm right.Where the Speedmaster Pro looks like a technical instrument, the EZM hasthe appearance of a hefty diver's watch, a bit like the IWC Aquatimer,Omega Seamaster 300 and Submariner. However, Sinn took the "formfollows function" adagium to a new level. The date indicator is in redand even the brand and model names are in red. Oh by the way, the modelname, "Einsatzzeitmesser" might be the main reason for me to get thiswatch (I like long German words that just say it all).I have to mention the crown & pushers on the left side (great, allautomatic watches should have this), copper sulphate capsule (great ideaif you ask me), the German lettering on the back, the superbly designedhands, the clear manual, the not-so-pretty-but-comfortable bracelet, andthe beautiful straps.I consider the 142, the 157 and the EZM 1 the best designed watches inthe Sinn catalogue so I sincerely hope that Sinn can come up withreplacements for all these great 5100 based watches that are out ofproduction now. The 656 and 756 lines surely look promising. In themeanwhile, when people ask: "how much does your watch cost?", I reply:"that doesn't matter, it's not in production anymore."