Light Bright: Meet the New 20.01 Series 3 Chronograph from Ming

Whenever watch enthusiasts gather in large numbers, be it at a watch fair or a local get-together, you’re almost guaranteed to spot a Ming in the room.

That’s because the brand always delivers something to talk about, whether it’s the world’s lightest watch (the Ming LW-01) or the 20.11 Mosaic with a dial composed of 2,650 squares of varying opacity, each formed with a linear diffraction pattern and etched with a femtosecond laser, and placed on three different levels within the sapphire crystal dial (a design that, depending on which angle you looked at it, could turn almost invisible).
 

These specific innovations are both results of Ming’s Special Projects Cave. A special series of watches that allow for customer participation in developing new technologies, releases from the Special Projects Cave daring combination of design and mechanics has brought the brand many accolades, including the Horological Revelation Prize at the 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
 

Now, Ming is giving us another conversation starter with a timepiece featuring a borosilicate dial and 600 glowing cavities created by an advanced femtosecond laser technology and made in collaboration with FEMTOprint SA. Meet the 20.01 Series 3!

For those who didn’t excel in science class, borosilicate is a type of glass (made from silica and boron trioxide) with low coefficients of thermal expansion, making it more resistant to thermal shock than standard glass. As a result, borosilicate glass is often used to make bottles and flasks in chemistry labs, lighting, electronics, and cookware (think Pyrex).
 

However, as far as we can tell, borosilicate glass is rarely used in watchmaking.

Like the 20.11 Mosaic, the 20.01 Series 3’s unique dial was machined using a femtosecond laser. Femtosecond lasers use short bursts of energy within a single laser pulse to create crazy-angled etchings. On the 20.01 Series 3, Ming describes these etchings as voids.
 

In this case, 600 voids form a radially symmetric circular pattern. The rippling effect can be compared to a wave surging in thickness depending on which angle you view it from.

While Ming couldn’t have created the 20.01 Series 3’s dial without the expertise of FEMTOprint SA, a Swiss company specializing in cutting-edge glass laser microfabrication, its hypnotic design is firmly rooted in the watch brand’s can-do Kuala Lumpur spirit.
 

For example, all 600 lasers-etched cavities have been individually hand-filled with a liquid Super-LumiNova X1 mixture to create an intense glow that appears to float in space, creating a sense of movement that recalls the energy of Kuala Lumpur by night.
 

More lume also fills the indices and secondary scales on the underside of the top crystal. But the 20.01 Series 3 is more than just a party trick.

As far out as the 20.01 Series 3 looks, it is powered by the AgenGraphe chronograph movement made by Agenhor. So, it will definitely offer a feast of haute horology touches to satisfy traditionalists.

Why? Because this manual-wind movement features a proprietary horizontal clutch mechanism, Agenhor’s signature backlash-free gears, jumping minutes, snailed reset cams, and a proprietary regulation mechanism.
 

Moreover, the AgenGraphe features 5N rose gold-coated bridges and plates and polished anglage. It also has a hard winding stop to let you know when the mainspring is fully wound.

Available exclusively via the brand’s website, with the first shipments going out in October 2024, the 20-piece limited edition Ming 20.01 Series 3 has a 41.5mm 18-karat 5N rose gold and DLC titanium case and is priced at CHF 43,500. 
 

For more information, check out the Ming website.