By Dian Pasquinal Kaur
The 57.04 Iris features a multiphasic colour-shift dial, moving through turquoise, purple, blue and green.
High horology has always attracted brilliant minds, craftsmen who obsess over precision, aesthetics and the expression of mechanical beauty. But every so often, a talent emerges who sees the watch not simply as an instrument of time but as a playground for curiosity and invention whilst redefining the rulebook entirely.
Ming Thein, born in Kuala Lumpur, is one such individual. He’ll be the first to admit he isn’t a formally trained watchmaker, designer or engineer, yet the man with a past life in top-tier consulting handles all the design and engineering himself, guided by an instinctive command of physics, aesthetics and a photographer’s eye for light and detail.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Introduced in 2017, his eponymous label MING — which he co-founded — has grown into an independent watch brand with a cult following, where each new release sells out almost immediately. He calls it a “selfish” brand, one that explores ideas that excite its creators first, while inviting a global community of collectors to come along for the ride. That spirit infuses the brand’s signature play with optical depth, transparency and unexpected materials.
“MING has become even more ‘selfish’ over the years simply because… out of all the relatively easy things, we chose the more complicated ideas that require a lot more development. You decide on a path and stick to it, and that kind of focus means making certain decisions without compromise. In many ways, this is how we protect the path we’ve chosen,” he says unapologetically, when met last October, fresh from the launch of its newest, groundbreaking Polymesh, the world’s first 3D-printed titanium bracelet-strap hybrid.
METAL MORPHOSIS
The Monolith inverts with the light, shifting from mirror-bright reflections to a dark sapphire abyss.
“We confused a lot of people – it’s not a strap; it’s not a bracelet. We have two prototypes which went to New York and Dubai Watch Week. The other one is here…,” Ming Thein remarks, as he slips the Project 21 watch from his wrist and hands it over for us to examine.
We’re floored because the Polymesh moves like fabric yet feels undeniably solid. We understood what he meant by confusing the market. Each bracelet is a marvel of micro-engineering.
“There are 1,693 individual elements,” he explains. “They may look identical, but every link is slightly different in geometry. The whole structure is laser-sintered from grade-5 titanium powder in layers only tens of microns thick.
“The machine has a build area roughly the size of a sheet of paper, so we can only make three Polymesh bracelets per day. And with hundreds of ultra-thin layers forming each bracelet, it takes a full day just to complete the sintering process for every piece.”
The complexity wasn’t part of the original plan. It began when Ming Thein saw a video of what appeared to be a titanium mesh fabric, something he initially hoped could be sourced and adapted as a strap. But the material proved impractical as it couldn’t be stitched or cut. Welding also restricted its movement and every workaround introduced new limitations.
In the end, designing a solution from scratch became the only way forward. The result is a bracelet that moves in ways you wouldn’t expect. “I like that there’s always some cognitive dissonance in what we do,” states Ming Thein.
“This isn’t the first version,” he adds. Early prototypes were 3D-printed in small sections and scaled up to study how each link moved. “We went through seven or eight completely different geometries; some worked but didn’t look right, some looked right but wouldn’t stay together, and some looked right and stayed together but didn’t move properly.”
Refining the mechanics became a marathon of iteration, trial and engineering stubbornness.
Beyond the technical feat, the bracelet is designed for everyday wear. It features an integrated tuck-buckle system with 20mm curved-end quick-release spring bars. The response has been immediate and overwhelming. The first production run sold out instantly.
INGENIOUS CRAFTSMANSHIP
Sculptural stepped lugs give the 57.04 Iris its bold look, each surface finished with deliberate contrast.
That fascination with how materials behave drove MING’s other major releases over the past year, too. Launched in August, the 57.04 Iris monopusher chronograph debuts the brand’s fifth-generation design language and a truly breathtaking dial that transitions between green, purple, blue and even red — a result of an entirely new multiphasic coating the team developed.
“A modern take on Art Deco, the case is made of nine separate components, each with its own distinct finishing. The tops are polished; the sides are satin brushed. Together with Sellita, we developed a unique configuration and movement finish — a destro with hand-winding, central seconds and a 30-minute counter at 6 o’clock.”
Built on 3D-printing advances, refined through seven redesigns and tested to 1000N, the Polymesh is over-engineered by design.
Then there’s the Lunatic, a Moonphase unlike any other, sporting a partially metallised sapphire dial that appears opaque at first glance. Look longer, and the moon’s display comes alive through a dynamic interplay of transparency and reflection.
“We appeal to customers who are a little further along in their collecting journey, who know what they want. They’re less bothered by what other people think or they’re willing to try something new without the weight of social baggage” – Ming Thein
In October 2024, the brand released its proprietary, in-house developed MING Polar White lume compound: a breakthrough as one of the first luminous materials designed to glow truly white to the human eye.
“Not being a designer actually helps. Not having any formal training helps too, because I don’t come in with any preconceptions. As a photographer, I see a watch as a three-dimensional composition, something that has to look good from every angle and in every kind of light,” he explains.
A TOAST TO EXCELLENCE
The groundbreaking MING Polymesh is engineered to fit wrists from 155mm to 206mm.
In just eight years, MING has earned two major prizes at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) and a devoted international following not by repeating the traditions of Swiss watchmaking but by reimagining what modern mechanical watches can be. This year marks its fifth year as a GPHG finalist with shortlistings in two categories – Time Only (Project 21) and Chronograph (20.01 Series 5).
MING Project 21 – Souscription was a GPHG finalist.
The idea for Project 21 was sparked during a dinner in Singapore, where Ming Thein was challenged to design a watch entirely for himself, free of constraints. The result is a piece built around the ultra-thin and historically significant Frédéric Piguet 21 movement. He chose a 35mm size for a vintage-meets-modern profile, encased in heavy, solid tantalum engineered together with Joshua Shapiro. The watch features a multilayered dial and restored vintage movements fitted with newly made bridges.
The brand’s signature optical play — layering transparent materials, manipulating light and exploring unconventional alloys — is always met with a respect for traditional craft and a belief that innovation should be felt on the wrist, not just observed under a loupe.
A MOMENT OF REFLECTION
The MING 37.05 Lunatic represents a futuristic interpretation of the moonphase.
Despite his success, Ming Thein admits the journey hasn’t always been easy. “Sometimes it feels like we’re in the wrong part of the world to be running a watch brand because the infrastructure isn’t here, the ecosystem isn’t here. And Asian customers in general — especially Malaysians and Singaporeans — tend to be very conservative in what they buy.”
“We appeal to customers who are a little further along in their collecting journey, who know what they want. They’re less bothered by what other people think or they’re willing to try something new without the weight of social baggage. We sell a lot in markets that are more adventurous, like Hong Kong and the US. I think there’s no point doing something that everybody else has already done.”
To date, the brand has delivered more than 15,000 watches to over 8,000 collectors and friends around the world, nearly 80 references across several evolving design languages, two GPHG wins and countless innovations that didn’t exist in watchmaking before.
Yet numbers only tell part of the story. What truly defines MING is a refusal to stand still: a belief that curiosity is a craft, that radical engineering drives its most meaningful breakthroughs, and that true progress lies in balancing it all with commercial viability.
