The polymesh looks amazing on the new Ming x JN Shapiro Lightning. I received the first piece allocated to Sydel & Sydel and ask Jonathon about polymesh vs bracket. He said both work really well on the Lightning but we both felt the polymesh really drove more of a Ming vibe. You may have seen my piece during the event you did with them a few weeks ago. Thus far I haven’t had any fit issues, but I agree the pin/clasp is tricky until you get the hang of it. Very innovative and super comfortable.
Saw the pairing when we were there a few weeks back, agree it's a great look! I think it works really well on many Ming watches. Also saw it on the Ghost there, which looked killer.
Matching the polymesh to watches has been an interesting exercise.
Keeping within the Ming catalogue,I think it goes best with the Ghost (my current combination), Lightning, Project 21, or the Massena-Ming collab.
Outside of Ming, I thought the Ochs & Junior watches would be a great fit, but alas they are all 22mm lug width. I think anything with a brushed case and a guilloche dial would visually match. The titanium Speedy mentioned in another post is a good one.
Rick, I handled the Ming polymesh bracelet at DWW when it was not attached to a watch (perhaps with you?), and in that situation it is unique even revolutionary in its ability to be twisted and bent and still feel supple and tension-free.
How do you feel that flexible tactile quality translates to wearing the bracelet on the wrist when clad onto a watch?
Thanks in advance for your reply, and congrats on that early acquisition.
Ron, yes we may have been together at DWW when we first saw the polymesh. The polymesh bracelet is just unique. I’d consider it more of a strap than bracelet, or perhaps hybrid strap/bracelet. Those thinking they’re buying a bracelet (in traditional sense) might be surprised or disappointed. But if you think in terms of a titanium strap I believe you’ll be impressed. I find it exceptionally comfortable. Others (including Tony) have noted two possible drawbacks; 1) it doesn’t “work” with many watches in your collection, either because of case aesthetics, lug spacing or curved vs straight spring bars. I don’t care about this as I purchased the polymesh specifically for the Lightning. And, 2) the hole spacing on the polymesh might prevent getting the perfect fit. I did not have that issue and found a great fit wearing the polymesh very slightly loose. I’ll also note I have that strap hole spacing issue on leather or rubber straps on occasion, even custom made straps from JR or Alex Crown, it’s just hard to get that spacing right for everyone.
Bottom line I love the polymesh. But of course your mileage may vary.
I too have trouble with hole spacing on many straps! Sometimes that ~2mm or so between holes is either too little or too much and the next hole up or down can't rectify the situation.
A real life finding with the polymesh for me is that it's a little "grippy" on skin and has no body to it and so drapes on skin (unlike how a strap tends to hold itself off the skin due to its inherent stiffness).
Thus being off by a few mm if you are between holes matters a lot less with the polymesh.
I've had one for a bit over a month now and think it's great but also a bit hard to justify price wise unless you have a number of watches that it works well on. I primarily bought it for an Apollo 11 45th anniversary Speedmaster (Titanium case with Sedna accents) and think it works great on that. It's also good on my Sinn EZM2 and surprisingly on my Habring Top Seconds.
One thing to note is that because of the thickness of the "endlinks" it won't fit on watches if the lugholes are too close to the case.
This is exactly the watch I thought of when it was released. I don’t own any titanium watches but that Speedmaster LE, with its brushed case and unique dial, seem like they’d be a good match.
Honored and flattered, of course! You got it exactly right, Tony, when you said "Polymesh feels like V1 of something important." And while we can all dicker about this, that or the other aspects of fit or design, the blessing and the curse of additive manufacturing is an utter lack of economies of scale. Two pieces take twice as long as one piece, ten pieces take ten times as long, and there's no advantage whatsoever to serial production. This means there is no penalty for the atelier to measure your wrist six different ways, write down your preferences, send your parameters to the printer and add your custom band/case to their run for delivery in a week. Customization is total, so long as the ebauche fits. It also means, of course, that you're paying for bespoke whether you're using it or not.
From a horological perspective, an additional blessing/curse is "requires ridiculous amounts of finishing if you don't want it to look 3d-printed" - Bugatti famously 3d-printed a brake caliper for a Chiron in 2018 that took 45 hours to print, then 11 hours of machining, then undisclosed hours of hand-polishing to make something newsworthy. If you like the 3d-printed look, you've got it. If you want something else, be prepared to pay an artisan.
Breitling published an hour long video inside their factory about ten years ago. Aside from the image quality and scale, it is beat-for-beat the same movie Elgin shot in 1931. 3D-printed components, on the other hand, are something truly new under the sun and because of the thunderous capital expenditures necessary they level the playing field between indies like Ming and leviathans like Rolex. Renishaw did a great write-up of their client, Holthinrichs, who I believe were first out the gate with 3d-printed watch cases: https://www.renishaw.com/en/making-time-for-holthinrichs-watches--42646
I struggle to love Ming's watches, but I do love this bracelet. This seems an area of metals manufacturing ripe for exploration by larger companies with bigger R&D budgets. In other industries I have seen small companies purchased by larger ones just to obtain the rights to such an innovation.
Very fair and balanced take on the Ming bracelet. The looks don't offend me, but I don't love it either. The key is, as you said, what the future will bring for the additive manufacturing market.
If you don't mind sharing, what do you attribute your early growth of subscribers to? Was it your Instagram following? Substack network effects? The numbers seem incredibly impressive.
Newsletter growth has been basically slow and steady since the beginning. I've had an email list since 2020. Got a good bump of a couple thousand when I left Hodinkee in '24, but beyond that, it's just been consistent growth month over month.
According to Substack's metrics, referrals are pretty split one-quarter each across:
-Substack 'network', referrals from other publications
-Instagram (my own social posts)
-Organic direct/Google traffic
-Referrals in from other features in other publications (e.g., being quoted, or other work I've done for GQ, Collectability, Hairspring, etc.)
One interesting footnote, I wrote one article for Watches of Espionage, and it drove the most subs from any contribution post I've done to any other publication.
Oh for sure. The first 1,000 took about almost all of 2020. The second 1,000 took about 6 months. When I started it as a full-time endeavor in Jan 2025, the next 1,000 came in about 3 months. And now I've added 1,000 over the last ~2 months.
I've been on the fence about adding one. I have no problem spending $1800 on a watch but when it comes to straps, I do think twice. For a bracelet that doesn't taper, isn't perfect for any of my watches (looks wise), and is version 1 of something more to come... I struggle with jumping in early. So I haven't.
Lack of taper, overall length and the lug hole spacing are the three reasons I haven’t looked at this closely at all. The price is high but not when you consider that a single 15202 link costs 50%. Stuff’s just expensive.
However, at $1800, I won’t compromise when vintage NSAs, which are remarkably thin and supple, with spring loaded clasps are sub $200.
Direct to Tony: Please consider offering canvas straps in 105x75. I’m happy to wait if it were custom - even pay a bit more. 110 is too long for my 6.75 wrist and I don’t like to see tail when viewing the time.
The polymesh looks amazing on the new Ming x JN Shapiro Lightning. I received the first piece allocated to Sydel & Sydel and ask Jonathon about polymesh vs bracket. He said both work really well on the Lightning but we both felt the polymesh really drove more of a Ming vibe. You may have seen my piece during the event you did with them a few weeks ago. Thus far I haven’t had any fit issues, but I agree the pin/clasp is tricky until you get the hang of it. Very innovative and super comfortable.
Saw the pairing when we were there a few weeks back, agree it's a great look! I think it works really well on many Ming watches. Also saw it on the Ghost there, which looked killer.
Matching the polymesh to watches has been an interesting exercise.
Keeping within the Ming catalogue,I think it goes best with the Ghost (my current combination), Lightning, Project 21, or the Massena-Ming collab.
Outside of Ming, I thought the Ochs & Junior watches would be a great fit, but alas they are all 22mm lug width. I think anything with a brushed case and a guilloche dial would visually match. The titanium Speedy mentioned in another post is a good one.
probably the only bracelet that's good enough to buy a watch for, instead of vice versa
100% agreed.
Rick, I handled the Ming polymesh bracelet at DWW when it was not attached to a watch (perhaps with you?), and in that situation it is unique even revolutionary in its ability to be twisted and bent and still feel supple and tension-free.
How do you feel that flexible tactile quality translates to wearing the bracelet on the wrist when clad onto a watch?
Thanks in advance for your reply, and congrats on that early acquisition.
Ron, yes we may have been together at DWW when we first saw the polymesh. The polymesh bracelet is just unique. I’d consider it more of a strap than bracelet, or perhaps hybrid strap/bracelet. Those thinking they’re buying a bracelet (in traditional sense) might be surprised or disappointed. But if you think in terms of a titanium strap I believe you’ll be impressed. I find it exceptionally comfortable. Others (including Tony) have noted two possible drawbacks; 1) it doesn’t “work” with many watches in your collection, either because of case aesthetics, lug spacing or curved vs straight spring bars. I don’t care about this as I purchased the polymesh specifically for the Lightning. And, 2) the hole spacing on the polymesh might prevent getting the perfect fit. I did not have that issue and found a great fit wearing the polymesh very slightly loose. I’ll also note I have that strap hole spacing issue on leather or rubber straps on occasion, even custom made straps from JR or Alex Crown, it’s just hard to get that spacing right for everyone.
Bottom line I love the polymesh. But of course your mileage may vary.
Thanks for the reply, Rick.
I too have trouble with hole spacing on many straps! Sometimes that ~2mm or so between holes is either too little or too much and the next hole up or down can't rectify the situation.
A real life finding with the polymesh for me is that it's a little "grippy" on skin and has no body to it and so drapes on skin (unlike how a strap tends to hold itself off the skin due to its inherent stiffness).
Thus being off by a few mm if you are between holes matters a lot less with the polymesh.
I've had one for a bit over a month now and think it's great but also a bit hard to justify price wise unless you have a number of watches that it works well on. I primarily bought it for an Apollo 11 45th anniversary Speedmaster (Titanium case with Sedna accents) and think it works great on that. It's also good on my Sinn EZM2 and surprisingly on my Habring Top Seconds.
One thing to note is that because of the thickness of the "endlinks" it won't fit on watches if the lugholes are too close to the case.
great points, and always appreciate hearing on owner's POV. A lot of Sinns came to mind as potentially great pairings. The EZM2 is rad!
This is exactly the watch I thought of when it was released. I don’t own any titanium watches but that Speedmaster LE, with its brushed case and unique dial, seem like they’d be a good match.
I SAID WHAT I SAID
Honored and flattered, of course! You got it exactly right, Tony, when you said "Polymesh feels like V1 of something important." And while we can all dicker about this, that or the other aspects of fit or design, the blessing and the curse of additive manufacturing is an utter lack of economies of scale. Two pieces take twice as long as one piece, ten pieces take ten times as long, and there's no advantage whatsoever to serial production. This means there is no penalty for the atelier to measure your wrist six different ways, write down your preferences, send your parameters to the printer and add your custom band/case to their run for delivery in a week. Customization is total, so long as the ebauche fits. It also means, of course, that you're paying for bespoke whether you're using it or not.
From a horological perspective, an additional blessing/curse is "requires ridiculous amounts of finishing if you don't want it to look 3d-printed" - Bugatti famously 3d-printed a brake caliper for a Chiron in 2018 that took 45 hours to print, then 11 hours of machining, then undisclosed hours of hand-polishing to make something newsworthy. If you like the 3d-printed look, you've got it. If you want something else, be prepared to pay an artisan.
Breitling published an hour long video inside their factory about ten years ago. Aside from the image quality and scale, it is beat-for-beat the same movie Elgin shot in 1931. 3D-printed components, on the other hand, are something truly new under the sun and because of the thunderous capital expenditures necessary they level the playing field between indies like Ming and leviathans like Rolex. Renishaw did a great write-up of their client, Holthinrichs, who I believe were first out the gate with 3d-printed watch cases: https://www.renishaw.com/en/making-time-for-holthinrichs-watches--42646
thanks for the thoughts seth - the bugatti analog is an interesting one, easy to squint and see how it could apply to watches
I struggle to love Ming's watches, but I do love this bracelet. This seems an area of metals manufacturing ripe for exploration by larger companies with bigger R&D budgets. In other industries I have seen small companies purchased by larger ones just to obtain the rights to such an innovation.
100%, when i saw the bracelet one of the first thoughts was, why haven't other brands been trying this for years?
Very fair and balanced take on the Ming bracelet. The looks don't offend me, but I don't love it either. The key is, as you said, what the future will bring for the additive manufacturing market.
If you don't mind sharing, what do you attribute your early growth of subscribers to? Was it your Instagram following? Substack network effects? The numbers seem incredibly impressive.
Newsletter growth has been basically slow and steady since the beginning. I've had an email list since 2020. Got a good bump of a couple thousand when I left Hodinkee in '24, but beyond that, it's just been consistent growth month over month.
According to Substack's metrics, referrals are pretty split one-quarter each across:
-Substack 'network', referrals from other publications
-Instagram (my own social posts)
-Organic direct/Google traffic
-Referrals in from other features in other publications (e.g., being quoted, or other work I've done for GQ, Collectability, Hairspring, etc.)
One interesting footnote, I wrote one article for Watches of Espionage, and it drove the most subs from any contribution post I've done to any other publication.
Did you find that growth became exponential at a certain point? Like the first 100 taking longer than the first 1000?
Oh for sure. The first 1,000 took about almost all of 2020. The second 1,000 took about 6 months. When I started it as a full-time endeavor in Jan 2025, the next 1,000 came in about 3 months. And now I've added 1,000 over the last ~2 months.
Appreciate the insight
Always interesting to get some insights how the newsletter is performing!
Looks particularly smart on the Explorer. I am hoping someone will produce one at a much lower price point.
i'm glad you like it - i posted it on social media a few days ago and was getting
HATE!
I've been on the fence about adding one. I have no problem spending $1800 on a watch but when it comes to straps, I do think twice. For a bracelet that doesn't taper, isn't perfect for any of my watches (looks wise), and is version 1 of something more to come... I struggle with jumping in early. So I haven't.
Polymesh …Too big for you. Too small for me. 😜
my wrists are not adequate 🧸🐻
I asked Sydel to lobby for me lol
Lack of taper, overall length and the lug hole spacing are the three reasons I haven’t looked at this closely at all. The price is high but not when you consider that a single 15202 link costs 50%. Stuff’s just expensive.
However, at $1800, I won’t compromise when vintage NSAs, which are remarkably thin and supple, with spring loaded clasps are sub $200.
Direct to Tony: Please consider offering canvas straps in 105x75. I’m happy to wait if it were custom - even pay a bit more. 110 is too long for my 6.75 wrist and I don’t like to see tail when viewing the time.