Ming - RETROSPECTIVE: 2000 - 2020 Geneva Sunday, November 8, 2020 | Phillips
  • Manufacturer: Ming
    Year: 2020
    Reference No: MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: Diver's watch
    MING 20.01 S1 Concept: Chronograph
    MING 27.02 Concept: Time only

    Case No: MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: P000000
    MING 20.01 S1 Concept: P000995
    MING 27.02 Concept: P001675

    Material: MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: Stainless Steel
    MING 20.01 S1 Concept: Titanium
    MING 27.02 Concept: Stainless steel

    Calibre: MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: Automatic, cal ETA 2824-2 Top Grade
    MING 20.01 S1 Concept: Manual, cal. Agengraphe
    MING 27.02 Concept: Manual, ETA 7001

    Bracelet/Strap: Leather
    Clasp/Buckle: Stainless steel pin buckles
    Dimensions: MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: 40mm Diameter
    MING 20.01 S1 Concept: 41.5mm Diameter
    MING 27.02 Concept: 38mm Diameter

    Signed: Case, dial, movement and buckle signed
    Accessories: Accompanied by a large travelling case and 3 individual wood boxes and travel pouches

  • Catalogue Essay

    MING is an incredibly creative micro brand whose first watch was launched in 2017 and has ever since hit a chord with collectors. Making only a handful of watches in small series each model is sold out within minutes of being released.

    The brand takes the name of one of its founders and core drivers: Ming Thein, a physicist by training. and a world renown photographer. A long time watch collector he decided that he wanted to create his own brand and offer watch impeccably made but at a very competitive price point.

    We are delighted to offer a unique set of three prototypes of watches that were never marketed and that represent the past, present and future of MING, they show where their thinking originated and where it will go.

    Past: MING 18.01 6.39 Concept
    The present watch is one of the three designs prototyped along the path to create the brand’s first dive watch: the Abyss Concept, presented in in 2019 which gave way in 2020 for the brand’s first series production dive watch Ref 18.01 H41 which has been shortlisted in the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve 2020 for best dive watch. Whilst only 13.8mm think the present watch was tested to an impressive depth of 1000m.


    Present: MING 20.01 S1 Concept

    The present watch is a timepiece that doesn’t exist within the MING collection…yet: a chronograph. Using Agenhor’s groundbreaking Agengraphe caliber modified to make it manual winding and no longer automatic. It features four central hands, two for time telling and two for the chronograph functions: the seconds and minutes totalisers. The incredible architecture of the movement is enhanced by its DLC finish.

    This chronograph was to be launched in early 2020 but Covid 19 changed the plans

    Future: MING 27.02 Concept
    This watch is an evolution of the brand’s extra slim model 27.01 launched in early 2020. The apparent simplicity of the watch should not fool you, subtle yet important details create a very interesting visual layering, including the a guilloche ring intelligently placed underneath the sapphire dial, which transitions from completely opaque into completely transparent, depending on the lighting.

  • Artist Biography

    Ming

    Malaysian • 1986

    Ming Thein is the vision behind MING: he has a diverse background that bridges both the creative and corporate, with more than 10 years in strategy and finance and 20 years as a photographer, with seven as a full time professional. Ming was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1986, educated in Australia, New Zealand, and finally graduated with a masters’ degree in theoretical physics from Balliol College, Oxford at the age of 16.

    Somewhere during the mechanical portions of his degree, he contracted the watch bug made worse by a Lange 1815 graduation gift from his parents. It would follow through his early career at KPMG and The Boston Consulting Group, where the generosity of online collector communities allowed him access to their events and watches. His contributions to the community were driven by knowledge (including numerous attempts at movement design) and photography: capturing a personal interpretation of a watch, Ming in a way made them his own and shared a different vision with the collector’s community

     

     
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Ref. MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: Diver's watch MING 20.01 S1 Concept: Chronograph MING 27.02 Concept: Time only
A set of 3 attractive prototype wristwatches: Diver's, Chronograph and Time only

2020
MING 18.01 6.39 Concept: 40mm Diameter
MING 20.01 S1 Concept: 41.5mm Diameter
MING 27.02 Concept: 38mm Diameter

Case, dial, movement and buckle signed

Estimate
CHF40,000 - 80,000 
€37,100-74,100
$43,600-87,200

Sold for CHF81,900

Contact Specialist

Alexandre Ghotbi
Head of Watches, Continental Europe and the Middle East

41 79 637 1724
aghotbi@phillips.com

 

Thomas Perazzi

Head of Watches, Asia
+852 2318 2031

WatchesHK@phillips.com

RETROSPECTIVE: 2000 - 2020

Geneva Auction 8 November 2020