A follow up to its thin 27.01 watch from earlier this year, Ming has just released a promisingly beautiful-looking follow-up in the aptly titled 27.02. Limited to 200 pieces, the 27.02 brings along the same case and movement of its predecessor while debuting a new “Gradient Guilloché” dial. The minds at Ming clearly have a keen understanding of when to innovate and when to refine. When the brand learned that some more ETA Peseux 7001 movements became available, they immediately scooped them up and took the opportunity to refine and reimagine the unique case of the 27.01.

What Ming did here is replace the bronze dial with one made of sapphire, and added a blue Clous de Paris guilloché ring around the outer edge of the movement. I really can’t wait to see this watch in the metal, as I have a feeling this second new step just needs to be seen to be appreciated. In addition to doing a gradient finish on the sapphire dial, the team at Ming also did laser etchings filled with white for the markers. About these choices, the brand says:

…This causes the guilloché to appear to fade not just in depth and spatial frequency but also saturation. It transitions from an inky black center to prominent guilloché at the edges and exhibits our trademark inversion under certain angles – with the markers appearing to float over a uniform mirror.

Again, I can only go on the press shots at the moment, but my expectations for the 27.02 in the metal are reasonably high.

This is the same thin 38mm-wide, 6.9mm-thick steel case with Ming’s recognizable hand-set and “flyblade” shaped lugs. I have handled the 27.01 and want to note that the case finishing is pretty damn solid when you consider this price point and how small the batches are. Oh, and it has 50M of water resistance, which is decent enough, all things considered.

The aforementioned ETA Peseux 7001 is heavily reworked by Ming and its partners at Schwarz-Etienne who focused on the bridges and plates. The view into this Cal. Ming 7001.M1, with new bridges and baseplate, isn’t huge but it is still thoughtfully conceived and excellently executed (based on seeing the 27.01 in person). The black chrome of the bridges and plates against the barrel and escapement gives off a contemporary mood that is really very brooding in a lovely way. The movement is adjusted to five positions and has a 42-hour power reserve.

I have high hopes for both the Ming 27.02 and the brand itself. The gradient guilloché sapphire dial is inspired, and I can’t wait to start seeing shots of it and, hopefully, try it out. The watch comes on a calf blue-gray leather Jean Rousseau Paris strap with “flying blade” steel buckle, and it comes with a handmade leather travel pouch by Studio Koji Sato. Limited to 200 pieces and with a justified premium over the 27.01 of ~CHF 1,000, the Ming 27.02 is priced at CHF 4,950, and deliveries are expected to begin in November of this year. You can learn more at ming.watch.