An extraordinary chronograph without subdials.
The Special Projects Cave was launched by the company MING three years ago as a space for experimental models, where the brand steps outside the comfort zone and uses innovative solutions and materials.
The latest novelty it welcomes is the 20.01 Series 3 — a chronograph with a revolutionary AgenGraphe movement by Agenhor. This watch engine makes the chronograph the star of the show.
It continues to excite the public, even though it's already been used by pioneers Fabergé and Singer Reimagined, and even Moser & Cie. The dial of MING's 20.01 Series 3 is made of fused borosilicate glass — the first time this material has been used on a watch.
We're familiar with borosilicate glass being used in kitchen and lab glassware — it probably won't even shatter if you take a cup out of the freezer and begin heating it, and even if it does, it'll shatter into large fragments that are easy to sweep up.
It's hard to see how practical an application these specs would have in a watch, but borosilicate glass is the material MING has used to create their watch's 3D dial.
The 600 cavities that form a vortex-like pattern on the dial have been filled with liquid Super-LumiNova X1. The same mixture used in the MING 37.08 Starlight, only this time it covers a far greater surface area, creating the impression of a luminescent vortex, swirling in the air.
MING 20.01 Series 3, the dial
The watch houses a MING 6361.M1 movement based on the AgenGraphe developed by Agenhor for MING, where both chronograph hands (minutes and seconds) have been moved to the center of the dial with the regular hour and minute hands.
The size of the movement forced MING to increase the case size for the 20 series to 41.5 mm — an unusually large size for the brand with Asian roots.
The case of the 20.01 Series 3 with the brand's typical flying-blade lugs combines precious metal (rose gold) with light DLC-coated titanium on core components.