COMPANY: Miang Copenhagen
WEBSITE: http://miang-copenhagen-2.myshopify.com
ABOUT:
The story of Miang Copenhagen begins on a day in 1970 with a young boy receiving a fine Seiko chronograph watch from his father, who had just returned home from the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. The mechanical watch made a great impression on the boy, sowing the seeds of what would grow into a passion for watches.
Founder Jens Ole Miang has now spent more than 20 years working with watches as corporate gifts, supplying countless customized logo watches to companies around the world. As a watch enthusiast and collector, Jens Ole Miang’s work has always been accompanied by an unwavering dedication to each individual watch. He travels far and wide to experience original pieces first hand, staying at the forefront of the latest trends and witnessing every detail up close. Miang’s deep professional and passionate insight into the universe of watches led him to wonder why people did not have the option of designing their own watches. By founding Miang Copenhagen, Jens Ole Miang set out to provide such an opportunity for other watch enthusiasts. His knowledge of the industry and direct contact with quality suppliers around the world has eliminated the need for costly middlemen and made such watches possible at a reasonable price.
Focusing on the unique quality of every single detail, Miang pledged to avoid simply changing the colors and graphics of standard components. He then commissioned Jan Egeberg, one of Denmark’s leading industrial designers, to specially design the watch from scratch.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Watch case
Made from 316L stainless steel that is either polished or polished and coated in gunmetal PVD. In addition to the two colors above, the crown is also available with rose-gold PVD coating. The watch is pressure tested to 5 ATM.
Glass
Sapphire glass on the front with anti-reflective coating on the interior glass surface. The case back is equipped with a tempered mineral glass exhibition window.
Movement Cal. 2551, decorated
Watch strap
Italian calf leather, suede or salmon skin. Tone-on-tone or contrast stitching. Buckle in 316L stainless steel.
Hands
Chrome-plate, rose gold-plate or colored. Hour and minute hands available with luminescent material to match the watch dials with dial markings in the same material.
Guarantee / warranty
Every Miang Copenhagen watch comes individually numbered with a 2-year guarantee and warranty.
Who doesn’t like options and choices. Let’s face it there will always be details on a watch on our wrist that we think “if this was different, if these hands were a different color, etc.. Well the masterminds at Miang knows us well and they give us the chance to make the choices ourselves through their customization process. There are so many different combinations that it’s addicting to try them all out on their website. I highly recommend trying as many combinations as you can to find what you like best. Technically there is about 400,000 different combinations possible.
I spent a lot of time trying all the different choices for each detail of the watch. For the case I went with the polished stainless steel. The finish on this watch is honestly like a mirror. I was surprised high nice it looks. I usually gravitate towards brushed stainless but this is a refreshing change from the norm. The shape on this case is very unique and cool. It’s 43mm by 13mm. It wears thicker due to the rounded shape of the case. The dial circumference is smaller than the case back circumference this gives the GMT a unique shape. It’s a fantastic profile.
The lugs are quite unique in their own right. The lugs are short and rounded but what makes them truly unique is how thin they are from the top view. What this does is from the side profile view they lugs look rounded wide, then from the top view the thinness allows the dial to be the main focal point. The crown is hard to ignore though. A crown is a detail that can really add so much to a watch if it’s done correctly. The crown on the GMT adds some great detail to the profile and overall look. The crown screws and it is also signed with a simple raised M. But that’s not what makes it add to the aesthetics of the watch, it’s the size and location of the crown that does. The crown tube is quite wide and extends out into view from the case even when the crown is fully screwed down. I love this detail. The crown’s circumference is proportionate to the case but what makes this crown great is how wide it is making it easy to grip & nice to look at.
If you have read my other reviews, you know that my personal preference is solid case backs. The GMT has an exhibition case back. But Miang ensured that they will give you something worth looking at through the case back. The first thing you will notice is that it’s an automatic winding movement by the lovely blue rotor that’s signed with a grey M. Throughout the movement you can see matching blue screws. That beautiful blue color of the screws is achieved from a long process of heating the steel screws to a very high but specific temperature. The color throughout the movement gives you something pleasing to look at instead of just a plain stock movement. The movement itself is manufactured by Seagull.
The dial is where you can really get creative with your customization choices. Dial color, hand color, indexes, lume vs no lume etc… It’s great having choices. The dial on the review piece here has the blue sunburst dial. The blue is deep and beautiful. It reminds me of the ocean and how the water changes color with the lighting of the day. I can’t express how nice this color is and how truly beautiful it makes the dial. Now the dial wouldn’t be complete without hands and hour indexes.
The hands on the GMT are nice and long extending out to the indexes with perfection. A detail on a watch that I appreciate. It makes timing more precise and it just looks better when the hands reach the edges the dial. The hour & minute hands and the indexes are chrome. The chrome set against the blue is magnificent especially when catching the light. A splash of color variation can add nicely to any dial. That splash comes in the form of the long red GMT hand and the white small seconds hand located at the 9 o’clock position.
There are other splashes of color on the GMT dial. Located just under 12 o’clock and above 6 o’clock, the text is printed in white “Miang Copenhagen and GMT”. The GMT hours,minute track and small seconds track. The color combination works together in perfect harmony. This dial is a real stunner. Even the date window located at the 3 o’clock hour is unobtrusive and blends into the dial. I actually forgot that there was a date window on this watch. That’s how nicely it blends in. So many times a date window can distract or disrupt the flow of a dial.
There are plenty of choices when it comes to the strap. For the GMT here for review, a simple black leather strap. There is something that is quite beautiful about simplicity. The strap is smooth and soft from the get go. The black stitching adds to the simplistic nature of this strap. Armed with a simple tang style buckle that singed with a simple M. The tan wrist side of the strap is stamped with Miang Copenhagen. I really like this strap because of its simple, unassuming nature.
Miang has really made watch wearing a custom experience. Allowing the wearer to choose their wrist candy’s destiny. What’s impressive about the whole Miang GMT experience is that is can be done for under $350. You not only get a plethora of great design detail choices but you get a solid made watch. And it’s not just your typical designed watch. You get a very unique case. The shape of this case is just awesome. I love the way it sits on your wrist. The case size and shape gives the GMT great wrist presence.
There are so many different combinations possible to make your GMT truly personal and truly your own. It’s hard though not to think of getting another one to see what it would look like with other combinations. The customizing interface is really easy to use and it’s awesome to see what your choices look like. It’s not until the watch is in your hand when you can see how awesome your choices look. And to tell you the truth it’s just fun to mess around on the Miang website to customize. I spent a lot of time just doing that. There’s no wrong choice. It’s like critiquing art, you can’t really do that because it’s all about the artist’s vision when creating that piece of art. Miang gives you the canvas, and it’s up to you to create the masterpiece.
I would definitely recommend the GMT watch to anyone looking for a unique experience to customize your own watch. A watch with a unique case, one that can be dressed up or dressed down, that all depends on what style you choose. You can play around on Miang’s website to see what I mean at: http://miang-copenhagen-2.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage
My only nit picking complaint is because it has so much polished surface it’s very easy to show smudges and fingerprints. I would love to see this exact watch with a brushed stainless steel case.
I want to personally thank Jens and the Miang team for this opportunity to go through the custom experience.
Thanks for reading.
Wrist 7 1/2″ for reference:
Time to Blog Watches 