FEATURED: The MING 17.09

It’s time to bid farewell to the 17 series. Now that the dust settles on the launches in fine watchmaking with Watches & Wonders 2021 coming to a conclusion, it will give us ample time, now, to minutely sieve the watchmaking from the marketing. We do have in mind a few who just got away with a dial change, MING sure went ahead beyond a cosmetic change, with its model 17.09.

So, before we explore the refinements in the aesthetic, let’s peer into what’s new, inside.

MING, together with their long-time technical partners, Manufacture Schwarz-Etienne have developed an independent hour hand adjustment mechanism, based on the Sellita SW330-2. This complication and modification remain exclusive to MING.

The intermediate crown position now advances the hour hand independently to the rest of the gear train, which continues to run. This is both useful for daylight savings time as well as for when travel resumes globally. Both hands can of course be adjusted together in the third crown position, where the movement also hacks.

On the outside, MING brings you, a laser-etched, lume-filled sapphire into their entry level watch.  The indices have now moved to the underside of the top crystal and glow with a new intensity. They reflect the graphic design language first shown on the 18.01 H41 and 27.01, that are complimented by a bold new handset derived from the 20.01 Chronographs.

The dial is now a two-piece construction with a fine Clous-de-Paris pattern in the center and a circular brushed outer portion, creating a very dynamic presentation as ambient light changes. The 17.09 will be available in burgundy and blue dial variants paired with matched straps by Jean Rousseau Paris and they offer two very distinct personalities. The straps are complimented with our flying blade buckle in stainless steel.

The polished and brushed 38mm case in 316L stainless steel, has also received some proportional revisions for greater wrist presence but remains a very wearable to cater for a wide variety of wrist sizes. Lugs have been reprofiled with a continuous twist that extends the brushing continuously from the case flanks through to the underside of the lugs, while retaining our signature flare.

The brand is very aware of the frustration experienced by some collectors due to restricted availability of previous watches and believe they have devised a solution to this. The first batch of watches will be made available to existing customers and deliveries will begin in July 2021; some of these will also be made available to the public. MING will then offer another batch for a fixed period of time, on a deposit basis, with a longer delivery date. To keep their production logistics manageable, the ordering window will be limited to 10 minutes, but they guarantee that all orders placed during this period will receive a watch. Now that’s something!

The MING 17.09 is priced at CHF 1,950 in both variants and includes shipping worldwide. Orders open on 15 April 2021, 1PM GMT and watches are available exclusively from www.ming.watch. Make sure you’re online, as MING will bid farewell to their popular 17-series with the 17.09.