Latest Review
As we’ve discussed at length here recently, one of our favorite things about Ming is their ability to innovate across price points. Recent watches in the 37 series, like the Minimalist and Ghost, prove that thoughtful contemporary design and creative watchmaking and engineering do not have to approach five figures. But then, when the brand does cross that five figure mark, and creates something in the haute horlogery realm, we get things that are incredibly special and can kind of break your brain, making you wonder both how they did it and what is this anyway? That’s very much the vibe of last year’s solid gold 20.01 Series 3, which featured a fused borosilicate dial with 600 tiny holes cut into it that were then filled with lume (all on top of an AgenGraphe chronograph movement, naturally). At the time, I thought that watch was Ming’s most avant-garde creation, but the latest watch in the 20.01 Series might just top it.
The centerpiece of the new 20.01 Series 5 is a science-fiction inspired dial that is laser milled from a single block of titanium. I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with this watch ahead of its release, and even though I had my chance to gaze at the dial, look at it under magnification, and consider it in all the ways we always evaluate something like this, I still have a hard time actually describing it. It is, effectively, a decorative sheet of titanium that has been cut to form a complex radial pattern emanating from the dial’s center. Each little titanium shard has both vertical and horizontal contours that must be insanely complex to mill and leave a dizzying visual impact.
In terms of the manufacturing process, after the milling is complete, the dial is vapor coated to give it a blue color, and then lasered again to remove the blue coating from the top surface. Again, this requires highly precise work that I think will make the retail price seem appropriate once we get to it toward the end of this article. The end result is the appearance of bare titanium at the top of each “strake” that contrasts with the blue dial base underneath. Again, it bears repeating, the entirety of the dial is milled from a single block of titanium.
As a machining project, this dial is incredibly impressive. As a watch dial? Well, let’s just say it’s not exactly the most legible dial I’ve ever seen at a glance. It’s perfectly easy to tell the approximate time, but I struggle to think that the 20.01 Series 5 is anything but impractical as a chronograph, even with the AgenGraphe’s jumping minute feature that in theory should make it a little easier to track elapsed time. There’s just so much going on with that milled piece of titanium, it’s tough to focus the eye elsewhere, and the detail is so incredibly fine hands are inevitably going to get lost in there unless your eyesight is on the verge of superhuman. As with other recent Mings, indices and chronograph scales have been etched into the crystal. These etchings have also been filled with Ming’s “Polar White” luminous material, which debuted last year on the Minimalist and glows pure white.
I have to admit, though, that this doesn’t really matter much to me with a watch like this. I can really only think of the 20.01 Series 5 as an art piece, and as an aesthetic object, I found it to be successful. That, I think, is how a watch like this should ultimately be evaluated. I can’t imagine a single Ming client will purchase the 20.01 Series 5 to be their one and only practical timekeeper.
As mentioned, the engine powering the 20.01 Series 5 is the AgenGraphe by Agenhor chronograph movement. As with previous Ming watches that make use of this caliber, the version here has been customized to Ming’s specifications, which include manual winding, rose gold coated bridges, and polished anglage.
The 20-series case is 41.5mm in diameter and 14.2mm tall, with the bezel, lugs, caseback and crown crafted from stainless steel, and chronograph pushers, and the caseband in titanium. The case size is larger than most Ming watches, a result of the need to accommodate the AgenGraphe movement, so the lugs here have been shortened somewhat to keep the watch wearable on a variety of wrist shapes and sizes.
The price, you ask? Ming is asking CHF 37,500 for the 20.01 Series 5. That is, of course, a great deal of money, but there’s also a great deal of manufacturing ingenuity baked into the product here that Ming has developed largely on their own. A watch like this is also so unique it’s tough to find comparison points, meaning if you acquire one of the 25 20.01 Series 5 watches that will be produced, you have something genuinely unique in the watch box. Ming
