MING has never been a brand particularly interested in playing it safe. Since launching in 2017, the Malaysian independent has built a reputation for watches that combine distinctive case designs, unusual dials and clever technical solutions, and the new 57.05 Comet is a pretty perfect example of that philosophy.

Celebrating MING's ninth anniversary, the 57.05 Comet takes the triple-stepped stainless steel case first introduced with the 57.04 Iris monopusher chronograph and turns it into something completely different: a worldtimer designed not only to tell you what time it is around the globe, but also to deal with one of the biggest annoyances of international timekeeping — daylight saving time.

And, naturally, MING has managed to make the solution look considerably more interesting than simply adding another hand to the dial.

Credit - Ming

A Worldtimer With a Difference

At first glance, the 57.05 Comet looks like a beautifully executed modern worldtimer, but spend a little more time looking at the dial and you'll notice that there is considerably more going on.

The watch uses two sets of cities, with those that don't observe daylight saving time sitting on an inner rotating bezel, while cities that do change their clocks are displayed on the outer bezel. The clever part is that the outer bezel can be moved by one-hour increments, instantly adjusting the relevant cities when daylight saving time comes into effect.

It's a surprisingly simple solution to a problem that most conventional worldtimers don't really address. While your watch might happily tell you that it's 3pm in New York, for example, it isn't necessarily going to account for the fact that New York has moved its clocks forward or back while another city hasn't.

MING's answer is to make the bezel do the work.

There's even a small visual indicator built into the system, with the bezel revealing either red or silver to show whether daylight saving time is currently active or standard time is being observed. It's the kind of detail that feels very MING: technically useful, but also integrated into the overall design rather than simply bolted on as an afterthought.

The Comet Tail Dial

Then there's the dial, which is probably the first thing you'll notice about the 57.05 Comet.

MING has used a multilayered blue raster construction that changes as you interact with the inner bezel. As the layers move, white areas appear across the dial, creating the impression of a streaking comet tail.

It's another example of MING's increasingly experimental approach to dial design. The brand has spent years playing with light, depth and layered structures, and recent releases such as the Iris and Peep Show have demonstrated just how much visual drama MING can create without resorting to traditional decoration.

The blue colourway works particularly well here, giving the watch a distinctly futuristic appearance while still retaining enough traditional watchmaking cues to stop it becoming overly technical or difficult to read.

The name Comet also has another meaning. MING says it is a reference to the de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner, which makes considerably more sense once you realise that the watch is fundamentally designed for people who spend their time travelling between different time zones.

A Familiar Case With a New Purpose

The 57.05 Comet measures 40mm in diameter, with a lug-to-lug measurement of 47.8mm and a thickness of just 10.33mm. The case is made from 316L stainless steel and uses the distinctive stepped architecture that has become a major part of MING's more complicated watches.

A box-style sapphire crystal sits above the dial, while the case back combines stainless steel and sapphire, giving you a view of the movement inside. Water resistance is rated at 100 metres, which is more than enough to give the Comet some genuine everyday practicality.

MING also offers two different ways of wearing it. There's a cobalt blue Jean Rousseau goat leather strap with the brand's flying-blade tuck buckle, or you can opt for MING's titanium Polymesh bracelet. Given the futuristic appearance of the dial and case, we'd probably be tempted by the Polymesh version.

Sellita Power Underneath

Inside the 57.05 Comet is the MING 330.M2, based on Sellita's automatic 330 platform. It operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour and provides approximately 50 hours of power reserve.

MING hasn't simply dropped an off-the-shelf movement into the case either. The movement features skeletonised, brushed and anthracite-coated bridges over a matching anthracite-coated baseplate, giving the display back considerably more visual interest than you might expect from the movement's underlying architecture.

It's a sensible choice for a watch that is already doing plenty elsewhere. Rather than spending huge amounts on an exotic movement simply for the sake of it, MING has concentrated its attention on the parts of the watch you'll actually interact with.

MING 57.05 Comet Specifications

Case: 316L stainless steel
Dimensions: 40mm diameter × 47.8mm lug-to-lug × 10.33mm thick
Crystal: Box-style sapphire with anti-reflective coating on both sides
Case back: Stainless steel and sapphire with anti-reflective coating
Water resistance: 100 metres
Movement: MING 330.M2 automatic
Frequency: 28,800vph
Power reserve: Approximately 50 hours
Jewels: 25
Functions: Hours, minutes, worldtimer and daylight saving time bezel
Dial: Multilayered blue "Comet Tail" construction with Super-LumiNova X1
Strap: Cobalt blue Jean Rousseau goat leather with flying-blade tuck buckle
Alternative: Titanium Polymesh bracelet
Edition: Limited to 200 pieces
Price: £6,350 on leather / £7,250 on Polymesh
Warranty: Two years

Only 200 Are Being Made

As you'd probably expect from MING, getting your hands on one won't be particularly straightforward. Production is limited to just 200 examples, with sales opening on 27 August 2026 at 01:00 GMT. Pricing starts at £6350 for the leather-strap version and rises to £7250 if you want the titanium Polymesh bracelet.

At those prices, the 57.05 Comet is certainly not competing with the microbrand end of the market. But that's also missing the point of what MING is trying to do. This is an independent watch with a very distinctive design language, an unusual worldtimer complication and a genuinely clever solution to something that most watches simply ignore.

Winding Things Up

The MING 57.05 Comet is exactly the sort of watch that makes the independent sector so interesting. It isn't trying to be another GMT, another integrated-bracelet sports watch or another vintage-inspired diver. Instead, MING has looked at the worldtimer and asked a fairly simple question: what if it actually accounted for daylight saving time?

The answer is a rotating bezel system that is both useful and beautifully integrated, wrapped up in one of the brand's most visually interesting cases and dials yet.

We also really like the fact that the "Comet" theme hasn't simply been used as a name. The layered blue dial actually changes to create the impression of a comet's tail, while the de Havilland connection gives the watch a genuine connection to international travel.

MING has once again demonstrated that you don't need to be one of the traditional Swiss giants to come up with an interesting complication — and, in this case, one that arguably makes more sense than many of the conventional worldtimer solutions we've seen before.

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MING 57.05 Comet: A Worldtimer With a Very Clever Trick