Please don’t make me choose one of the two. Both are highly desirable to me. Are you really going to make them fight for my affection? I wonder who would win. Here you have two Valjoux 7750 automatic movement based watches from American and Germany, though the movements are Swiss.

The Kobold Phantom is the epitome of the tactical black watch. Housed in PVD coated steel, the large and rugged watch is the very apex of its genre. Being features on such shows as “24,” and having a fond place on the wrists of professionally active people all over, the market is rich for these highly demand watches. Quality is top-notch for a tool watch, that does happen to look good. Like the Sinn, Kobold watches are tested for reliability and accuracy in a ton of harsh conditions including high heat, severe cold, deep depths, magnetic fields, and oppressive shock.

The Kobold Phantom is but one a line of quality instrument watches that have become the hot-ticket item for many buyers. The retail price of the Kobold Phantom tactical watch is over $5,200. A steep price given the almost equal Sinn 203 Arktis is about half that brand new. This is just what Kobold thinks the market will bear, and many do. Right now a Kobold Phantom is available on eBay for about $2,500.

The Sinn 203 Arktis is a watch I’ve been longing for. They say pictures don’t do the cobolt blue face justice, and they are right. It was in Japan that I first saw a Sinn 203 Artkis in person, and was stunned. The blue face has a bit of a metallic sheen to it, but is not shiny to the extent it distorts legibility. The solid white hands strongly sweep around a proud face with pure mechanical precision. The blue face of the watch relates to it being an arctic edition specially made for use in the extreme cold. It is built with special non freezing oil to ensure accurate use long after the human body would freeze to a popsicle-like state. Price wise it goes for about $2,500 retail (depending on the strap/bracelet), and is less when you can find previously owned.

Both watches are 41mm in size, which is medium by today’s standards. Though you’d never consider these small watches, they are not the 44mm plus size watches often seen. This has functional benefits as you don’t want something too big in the way during expeditions. Larger size watches are more for style than function.

While these watches share almost the same size and the same movement, they are different. Both will more or less satisfy the same requirements as a timepiece, but seeing them evokes different feelings. In the Kobold I see a modern performer, and in the Sinn I see a trusted classic.

See Sinn and Kobold watches on eBay here.

See Kobold watches on Amazon here. [phpbay]sinn | kobold, num, “14324”, “”[/phpbay]