The 19.02 is set to ship at the end of the year
A year and a half in, and a pattern is forming for Malaysian watch microbrand MING. Its debut 17.01 led to the new 17.03, which was very similar in terms of size, shape, and overall design philosophy—but sported a new complication, automatic movement and subtle visual changes. The same can be said for the upcoming 19.02.
The watch it evolves from is the 19.01, which was the first of MING’s flagship series and shortlisted for a 2018 GPHG award. It was a minimalist time-only two-hander with a near-unmarked dial, while the real pleasure lay in the details. The sapphire dial sported a smoky gradient that left the centre opaque while gradually clearing at the edges, allowing tantalising glimpses of the movement underneath. And what a movement it was: a gorgeously laid-out one from Swiss manufacture Schwarz-Etienne—and displayed in full through the borderless case-back.
Much of this character remains in the 19.02. The most notable addition is a world time complication, expressed as a titanium disc rotating within the static city marker ring. The somewhat idiosyncratic array of cities includes Kuala Lumpur proudly occupying the GMT+8 slot.
The case dimensions have changed very little—the 39mm diameter is preserved, though the new watch is a hair thicker at 0.3mm. The new automatic movement, still from Schwarz-Etienne, sports a tungsten micro-rotor that preserves its visibility through the case back. It is now finished in rose gold, and the dial is smoked black instead of blue; this gives the watch a warmer aesthetic that the modern coolness of its predecessor.
The MING 19.02 is available for pre-order from 12 January 2019 for RM42,000 (early bird pricing) exclusively at the MING website. Deliveries are expected to begin by the end of the year.
