Do you remember that scene in The Ten Commandments when Charlton Heston’s Moses walks down the mountain with those giant stone tablets? I’m pretty sure the first commandment on his list was “EVENTUALLY, ALL WATCH BRANDS MUST MAKE AN INTEGRATED BRACELET SPORTS WATCH!” Does that sound right? I could be misremembering some of the finer details of the film, but I’m pretty sure that’s a thing that happened. Because eventually, as we continue to discover month after month, year after year, all brands do try their hand at an integrated bracelet sports watch. Even the ones you might not expect. Like Ming.
Today, Ming introduces the 56.00 Starfield, their first integrated bracelet sports watch. Perhaps it’s a little shortsighted of me to suggest that we couldn’t have expected something like this from Ming. In a lot of ways, it’s exactly the kind of watch we should expect, because one of the ideas that really seems to drive the brand is solving big design challenges. Integrated bracelet sports watches have a natural aesthetic appeal in the way form a continuous line all around the wrist. The challenge is in making them feel special and unique. The “good” integrated bracelet sports watches tend to all have a somewhat similar appearance simply because there are only so many ways you can accomplish the most basic goals of a watch like this without going completely off the rails.
Ming’s stated goal with the Starfield was to make a watch more comfortable to wear than any traditional watch design on a bracelet or strap. That’s a lofty premise for any watch, let alone one with an integrated bracelet. According to the brand, they set out to accomplish this by really focusing on the bracelet, and developed a design with progressive curvature across multiple axes, along with curved links and a higher pivot point. They say this results in a bracelet that can conform smoothly to any size wrist without gaps.
As you’d probably expect from a brand that only months ago introduced one of the most ingenious bracelets we’ve ever seen, there’s quite a bit of Ming-exclusive engineering at play here, and the brand actually has multiple patents pending on the fine adjustment mechanisms available on board the new bracelet. First, there’s a tool-less adjustment system for adding and removing links. Each removable link has a slider on the back of it that can be actuated to easily detach it from the bracelet. Ming claims that once the links are locked in place they are there to stay, and can’t be unlocked unless a “deliberate motion” is applied. Second, and this is really table stakes for a new bracelet design at this point, Ming has developed a micro-adjustment system on the clasp for on-the-fly adjustments during the course of a day of wear. Ming says they have developed their thinnest pushbutton clasp to date for the Starfield bracelet, and that adjustments can be made on either side of up to 2.5mm, for 5mm total of adjustability (in 1.25mm increments). This level of adjustability negates the need for half links entirely.
The Starfield case measures 40mm in diameter and 9.7mm tall, and has many design hallmarks of previous Ming watches, while also being a clear and necessary departure given the nature of any watch with an integrated bracelet design. The familiar flared lugs found across the Ming lineup are still here, kind of, just in a slightly less pronounced shape. Ming has also included a HyCeram luminous insert in the case itself where you’d normally find a strap, which is a nod to their 19-series cases.
The dial is sapphire and features an updated spin on their much admired Mosaic design. Indices are set directly into the crystal and lumed with Ming’s proprietary white emitting lume compound. The hands are lumed with Super-LumiNova X1 for contrast. The watch is powered by the Vaucher for Ming 3002.M1 caliber, an automatic movement with 50 hours of power reserve when fully wound. It’s partially visible through a series of apertures in the caseback, and a lume treatment has been applied that gives the watch its “Starfield” name.
The 56.00 Starfield is part of Ming’s Special Project series, and is limited to just 20 pieces. The retail price is CHF 19,500. Watches that are designated “Special Project” often feature design elements that trickle down into more approachable and affordable Ming watches later on down the line, so we’ll be very curious to see if any of the new design work here, particularly as it relates the bracelet, makes its way to future Ming projects. Ming
Zach Kazan
2026-02-09 14:00:00