Ming 27.01 Ultra Thin

MING 27.01 Ultra Thin

The MING 27.01 is the spiritual successor to the very first watch we produced – the 17.01 – and significantly advances the concept of a versatile, collector-centric and accessible daily wear piece. Appropriately, 27.01 also debuts our second-generation design language. It is actually the first of our watches created using 3D CAD (instead of traditional 4-side view, then translated).

We applied the experience of the past 15 model releases to further distil down our core design elements to include radial symmetry; legibility; the 0 marker; flared lugs; mixed finishes; and visual dissonance in layering to make watches seem much deeper or shallower than their physical dimensions might suggest.

The overarching brief of reduction has been carried through to the case which now incorporates flying blade lugs, a feature new to design language 2 and a challenge to machine given their thinness and integration with the monobloc caseband. At just 6.9mm, the 27.01 is the thinnest watch we have made to date. It could have been made thinner, but we elected to balance rigidity and durability against absolute dimensions. The case is in 316L stainless steel to provide the right tactile feel.

The 27.01 is the most formal piece in our range, and as such also our first watch without any luminous material. However, the dial side features a contrasting mix of matte and brushed surfaces in four different shades of silver allowing for exceptional legibility, while creating visual depth despite lacking physical thickness. The way 27.01 interacts with light still makes it very much a MING.

The watch is powered by an ETA Peseux 7001 that has been so heavily reworked that we probably should have started from scratch. Only the gear train and escapement has been retained; we redesigned the bridges and plates, produced with assistance of Manufacture Schwarz-Etienne. It retains the same aesthetic as the 19-series: a solid baseplate with maximal opening of upper bridges to put the moving components on display. The movement is a continuation of our belief that a display back must be accompanied with something worth looking at.

The 27.01 is assembled by La Division du Temps (a division of Schwarz-Etienne, who also manufacture our 19 series watches) with final checks on every watch performed by the MING team in Kuala Lumpur. The package is completed with a handmade strap by Jean Rousseau Paris and leather travel pouch by Studio Koji Sato. At a retail price of CHF 3,950, we believe the watch offers superior engineering and a unique aesthetic and represents a modest achievement for our young brand.