19.02 Worldtimer

MING 19.02 Worldtimer: The Global Companion

The MING 19.02 builds on our 2018 GPHG-preselected 19.01 by adding two important features for the connoisseur with international interests: a world time complication, and wear-readiness thanks to a microrotor automatic movement. As with all of our watches, it was born of a need within the team: with increasing travel and international coordination, we felt a world time offering was due.

19.02 retains our signature sapphire dial with gradient transparency, now in black with a masked section to display world time on a 0.30mm thick titanium disk. Ming Thein’s eclectic city selection is printed on the underside of the dial to minimize parallax and create the impression of a seamless display; the 24-hour disk rotates as numbers are easier to recognize at a glance. The 19.02 is also probably one of the few world time watches with Kuala Lumpur on the dial, a tribute to our home.

Though our 19.02 shares much with 19.01, including a 39mm grade 5 titanium case, the feel of the watch is substantially different due to the 5N rose gold coated movement peeking through the edges of the dial. It is warmer, more classical and intended to present collectors with a counterpoint to the cooler-toned 19.01. The additional thickness required for the world time complication is accommodated by a slightly increased radius to the front crystal box, evocative of vintage Plexiglas – though both external crystals carry multilayer and double-sided anti-reflective coatings. The hands are bead blasted and loaded with Super-LumiNova X1 for legibility under all conditions, and a luminous ring inside the bezel projects a unique nocturnal signature.

We have once again partnered with Manufacture Schwarz-Etienne, powering the 19.02 with the MSE220.1, an exclusive configuration of their in-house microrotor automatic movement. It features skeletonized bridges, with hand-polished anglage and 5N rose gold coating, and power reserve is 70 hours with bidirectional winding using a tungsten rotor. Our skeletonized barrel cover allows for easy determination of the state of wind simply by viewing the mainspring directly. As with the 19.01, the movement is adjusted in five positions and tested for an extended period prior to delivery.

The 19.02 package includes handmade straps in alcantara and calf leather by Jean Rousseau Paris, a hand-sewn leather travel pouch by Studio Koji Sato and is presented in a unique mechanical wooden box – an ideal match for a mechanical watch.