MING is a horological collective formed by six individuals a few years ago. Massena LAB collaborates with other watchmakers on design concepts.

MING has issued a 17.09 model on its own, but this collaborative model with some design differences came out before those and was more limited (150 with black dials and 50 with honey dials).

Diameter: 38.1mm

Lug-to-lug: 42.5mm

Thickness: 10.2mm

Lug width is: 20mm

The watch has 100 meters of water resistance.

Looking at the face of this watch the first thing one notices is the honeycomb pattern on the dial. Arabic numerals are laser-etched on the reverse side of the sapphire crystal, which has a double-sided anti-reflective coating. Exceptions to the Arabic numerals are the “O” at the 12 o’clock position, MING listed at the 3 o’clock, and Massena LAB at the 9 o’clock. The watch hands are skeletonized and there is no seconds hand on the watch, just the hour and minute. The hands are edged in lume, which is quite bright when charged. The etched crystal elements are filled with lume but are quite faint compared to just how bright the hands are.

The case is stainless steel. The bezel is polished and the rest of the case is brushed. The crown has an M on it and is not a screw-down; it consists of three positions. In position zero the watch can be wound. This is a very smooth-winding movement and I can barely feel it when I wind. I’d say this is probably the softest wind of any watch I’ve had other than the Tudor Black Bay Bronze. In position one the hour hand can be jumped independently, but only forwards. Position two is for the general time-setting.

The watch has a closed caseback. It has the honeycomb pattern again here along with information about the watch. The watch came on a honey calf strap with brown Alcantara lining. The band is very comfortable and feels cushioned.

This watch features the 330.M1 movement from Schwarz-Etienne. This is based on the Sellita SW330-2. The notable change-up is the independent hour hand. The SW330-2 by default has a 24-hour GMT hand. On the 17.09 the hour hand is actually on the GMT hand’s location, and the 330.M1 modification has that move around the dial in 12 hours (like the hour hand position would) but also allows for it to be jumped forward when the crown is in position one as I mentioned earlier. I assume the other specifications remain the same so this is an automatic movement with 25 jewels, a 56-hour power reserve, and beats at 4 Hz.

According to my timegrapher I got an average gain of 4.5 seconds per day across six positions, with a range of -4 seconds/day to +12 seconds/day.

My overall thoughts:

The positives:

• Very creative design with the flared lugs

• Easy-to-read dial

• Comfortable strap

The negatives:

• Lume could be brighter on the crystal

• Be aware if you’re getting one that has been upgraded or not

This watch retailed at $2,595 for this version with the black dial and $2,795 for a version with the honey dial. The black run was limited to 150 and the honey to 50, and these sold out instantly so you would only be looking on the used market at this point.

A lot of this watch follows the MING style which is very different to any other watch I’m aware of, and is what drew me to the piece. I liked the Massena LAB touches versus MING’s standalone 17.09 watches (the extensive use of Arabic numerals and the honeycomb dial pattern specifically). 

The watch is comfortable and light and subtle and more of a dress piece though with the robust water resistance I think it is well suited to everyday wear.

While I wish the lume was stronger on the crystal I assume the challenge there is the application method and just how much they can fill in those laser-etched numbers, and to me isn’t a deal-breaker but it is worth noting.

The main thing is many of these watches experienced issues when they left the factory, mine included. I have a video on my YouTube channel showing what my issue was related to the hour-hand slipping, and there were a number of similar reports immediately upon receipt. MING did service the watch and the solution was to upgrade two components: the retaining spring for the hour gear and the cam and jumper spring profile for the independent hour setting mechanism. It took a few months for all that to happen.

So if you are looking into this watch second-hand you’ll want to know if the upgrades have happened or not. I ultimately got rid of this watch because the crown gouged into my wrist in a painful way (the only watch I've ever had that did it too, pity because I like the design otherwise).