After releasing yesterday the review of the 27.02, MING Watch amazes us with a new watch, the MING 20.11 Mosaic. Going further into the sapphire dial territories, the independent brand plays with the accumulated experience and delivers a unique high-tech design. Turning the watch, we notice the familiar face of Schwarz-Etienne ultra-modular movements, well personalised for MING. Please find below the integral press release.
Last year, we previewed the MING Mosaic, a new 3D lasering process in sapphire crystal.
Today it becomes production reality in our latest flagship: the 20.11 Mosaic.
All you can eat plus a whole chicken
We took everything we have in the design arsenal and threw it into our new flagship and daily wearer: it is the kind of watch you can and want to wear almost all of the time, but also projects something a little bit special. It debuts design tweaks reflecting our Special Projects Cave logo at 12, sapphire hands and Barenia leather straps. The Mosaic dial required a case with a bit more wrist presence, plus we wanted to address the numerous requests for bigger and used the larger, more intricate case from the 20.01 Concept Chronographs as a starting point.
The Mosaic: a 3D chessboard
Of course, the star of the show is the Mosaic dial itself: 2,650 squares of varying opacity, each formed with a linear diffraction pattern and etched with a high-power femtosecond laser on three different levels within the sapphire crystal dial. This process was developed in collaboration with DM Surfaces SA of St. Imier and has been in the works for the better part of two years.
Actual production is tricky as the process is very sensitive to crystal quality and not all sapphire is equal. Tiny, near-invisible inclusions within the crystal structure can cause the entire dial to shatter as a large amount of energy is being focused on a very small area during lasering.
Though we use a 1.30mm thick optical grade crystal as the base blank; yield remains low and limits this dial to flagship applications only.
Depending on ambient light, the Mosaic can turn from invisible to a prominent chessboard and we chose to use a dark movement finish to provide a contrasting background, whilst adding visual texture. At night, light from the fully charged HyCeram in the sapphire dial will reflect off the Mosaic and result in a soft glow.
Micro-rotor, rebooted
The MING 20.11 Mosaic is powered by the Schwarz-Etienne for MING Cal. ASE 200.2, with micro-rotor winding and a unique configuration previously seen in our 19.05. While we’ve retained the skeletonized bridges, the finishing is now matte-blasted with a black DLC coating and contrasting diamond-cut anglage. It has a power reserve of approximately 86 hours and is wound bidirectionally by a micro-rotor made of sintered tungsten. The signature MING skeletonized barrel cover allows for easy determination of the state of wind, and as with our other ASE powered watches, the movement is adjusted in five positions and tested for an extended period prior to delivery.
Attention to the little details
For the first time on any MING, we use sapphire crystal hands with HyCeram for legibility in all light conditions. The same HyCeram is used on the luminous indices of the dial sapphire. To add even more visual texture to the rear, the inner bezel surrounding the movement is made of titanium and machined with a Clous-de-Paris pattern and DLC coated.
The 20.11 is completed with a pair of handmade straps from Jean Rousseau Paris, a leather travel pouch by Studio Koji Sato, and a 700-lumen Nitecore LED torch for charging the HyCeram.
Availability, pricing and deliveries
The MING 20.11 Mosaic is priced at CHF 14,500 with orders being taken on a deposit basis and deliveries commencing February 2022. A public batch of 50 watches will be offered, in addition to an existing customer batch that is time-limited from 5 July to 9 July 2021. It will be available exclusively at www.ming.watch.
MING 20.11 Mosaic Technical Specifications and Price
Functions:
- hours and minutes, micro-rotor automatic winding
Movement:
- Schwarz-Etienne for MING Cal. ASE200.2
- Partial skeletonization with bicolour bridges
- Hacking function
- ~86h power reserve at full wind
- Bidirectional automatic winding with high-mass tungsten micro-rotor
- Movement adjusted to five positions
Case, dial & hands:
- 41.5mm diameter, 14mm thickness, grade 5 titanium
- Double domed sapphire crystals, with multilayer double-sided anti-reflective coatings
- Sapphire dial with 3D laser mosaic and ceramic Super-LumiNova X1
- Sapphire hands with ceramic Super-LumiNova X1
- Polished bezel and hollow flying blade lugs
- Matte blasted DLC caseband
- 50m water resistance
- 22mm lug width
Strap/ bracelet:
- 2x straps by Jean Rosseau Paris, with quick release fitting and signed pin buckle
Price:
- Priced at CHF 14,500 including insured shipping, excluding local taxes
Travel pouch handmade by Studio Koji Sato
700-lumen Nitecore torch for charging luminous material
2-year warranty against defects
Made in Switzerland
MING continually aims to improve product where possible to improve aesthetics and functionality; to this end we reserve the right to make minor changes prior to final delivery.
