Dear friends,
It would be an understatement to say 2021 has been a big but challenging year for us - we’ve seen significant changes in the watch market in general and MING as a company. I would like to start off by thanking all of you for the continuing support through the year.
There have been even more unexpected hurdles than 2020 - between mechanical challenges, further COVID delays, and just recently, flooding and logistics disruptions in Kuala Lumpur to close off December. I can only once again say sorry to those of you who’ve experienced delivery delays as a result. However, I am confident we have resolved the 17.09’s technical issues, which we back up with an extra year of warranty for all 17.09 customers, and logistics will be back after the holidays.
From 2022, we are also going to revise the way we approach social media. To make responses more personal and to ensure we don’t miss anything intended for us but left only in comments or direct messages; please email us at hello@ming.watch - this allows us to have your buying and communication history on hand. Given we are still a very small team, this means resources will be allocated accordingly and we will be less active on social media; the best way to stay up to date with significant news is always going to be via this mailing list.
Going forward, we have decided to move all pre-orders away from full prepayment; instead we will be collecting a 50% nonrefundable deposit (as we currently do for time-limited and long-delivery batches). We feel this is fairer across the board while allowing us to improve accessibility.
Finally, next year is our fifth anniversary. It seems like a lot of time has passed in the blink of an eye, as well as more than a third of it under some form of lockdown in which potential for even basic things like visiting new suppliers or holding events has been significantly curtailed. We would like to be able to meet all of you in person again soon, but travel in and out of Malaysia is still restricted and will likely continue to be for some time. I suppose on the plus side this means there is more time to design… and I think what we have in the works for 2022 is going to do birthday justice:
- Special projects with some really exotic movements
- Another chronograph
- Something light (which proved a bit more challenging than we expected, but still happening)
- New entry level pieces, including a new case family
- An independent collaboration
…and possibly one or two other things.
In the meantime and on behalf of everyone at MING, happy holidays, stay safe and see you on the other side!
- MT
Published: December 2021