Introducing Donut, the Mysterious Affordable Watch Brand Blowing Up Instagram

This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.Most new watch unveilings take place in lavish surroundings: a bucolic mountainside in Gstaad, say, or inside the VIP lounge at an F1 race, or at least in some fancy hotel or finely appointed convention booth. But I first glimpsed one of my most anticipated releases of the year while holed up in a snug Geneva cafe, hauled out of a nondescript backpack.Back in April, I met up with Logan Baker, a representative for the high-end maker Ming. After touring me through more typical Ming fare—like the $28,000 Peep Show, which boasts a dial that shifts colors as the hands sweep over it—Baker pulled out a quartet of watches worth far less in retail value, but arguably more in internet clout. Recently, a sleek and whimsical watch has been popping up on the Instagram grids of several Watch Illuminati members, from Stephen Pulviernt to Dimepiece. That watch is from a new Ming spinoff brand called Donut, and under $700, it offers plenty of the mothership’s audacious creative energy at a fraction of the price.Only the purple-and-gray “Glazed” Donut has been revealed publicly thus far, but that afternoon in Geneva, Baker showed me three forthcoming versions—set to be revealed in mid-October—that are just as tasty. (One of them, in fact, has topped the original flavor as my favorite.) The “Glazed” was produced strictly as a friends-and-family exclusive, but the three new editions will be made available to the public.I love the constantly revolving pinwheel ”Donut is not a Ming,” says Praneeth Rajsingh, the CEO of both Donut and Ming. But what’s especially exciting about the new model is that it’s also not not a Ming. The first four pieces were designed by Ming founder Ming Thein, who after the drudgery of the pandemic, had an urge to create something “silly and fun,” Rajsingh says. To that end, each watch comes with a small 3D-printed version of the brand’s mascot Snowball, based on a bird that the Ming team encountered on a ski trip. (They all went home with plushie versions so big they required their own airplane seats, Rajsingh jokes.)The new Donut watches borrow some key visual elements from its parent brand. The most noticeable resemblance is in the lugs, a dead ringer for Ming’s signature “flying blade” design, which always reminds me of a turtle’s legs popping out of its shell. The teardrop-style hands are also a match for the ones you’d find on a real-deal Ming. Other flourishes simply have a particular je ne sais Ming: The pinwheel, which is technically a seconds counter, is the type of “fun visual treat” clients expect from Ming, Rajsingh says. The logo, which is meant to look like two hands holding a donut, is also loosely reminiscent of Ming’s mark.The Donuts manage to thread a delicate needle, giving you the flavor of a Ming without offending the folks who’ve spent full freight on one. They represent an olive branch to a growing segment of collectors—people like me, frankly, who are plugged into watches and have admired Ming Thein’s work from afar for ages, but don’t possess the type of fuck-you money necessary to accumulate all their personal grails. Do I wish it came on something other than a NATO strap, which leaves the watch squirmy on the wrist? Yes, but I’ll need to get my money up for that.The team behind Donut doesn’t want the brand to feel like simply a Ming diffusion line. “It’s not like, ‘This is an idea we had for Ming five years ago, we want to bring it into Donut,’” Baker says. Instead, they’re chasing fresh ideas to give the imprint its own distinct identity. Rajsingh compares it to the Volkswagen Group, which owns everything from Bugatti to Volkswagen. (Who’s ready for a new horological-themed version of Punch Buggy?According to the team, the next batch of Donuts will go a long way in differentiating Ming from Donut. After designing the original four models himself, Ming Thein is now ceding much of the creative authority to Sitarah Lakhani, a recent Rhode Island School of Design graduate who started as an intern at the company. There will even be a new, more distinct logo on the next generation, which will land in 2027. Donut may have started as a catch tank for Ming Thein's overflow of creativity, but the idea is for it to become a place where a wide range of new talent can blossom. That includes Lakhani as well as emerging artists or simply someone with “a cool idea,” Rajsingh says.While its design is perhaps a touch too quirky to serve as a true daily driver, the team envisions Donut as a great introductory brand for new collectors. (The one-pager that accompanies the watch includes the line: “If it’s your first time wearing the watch, give it a good shake to start the automatic movement inside.”) Rajsingh imagines giving a Donut to his nephew and niece, a high schooler and recent college grad, or recommending it to some of his early-30s friends who have some money to throw around.In fact, a nod to the intended buyers is baked directly into the design of the original Donut watch. When I asked Rajsingh about the piece’s semi-translucent dial, he recalled “a core memory of getting into watches”—the time he spotted an openworked Orient Star watch and became intrigued by seeing the “spinny bits” inside. The Donut is perfectly named because it’s a lot like kid’s food: Get this watch and one day your tastes might evolve—you’ll learn about balance wheels and escapements, maybe you’ll buy a piece with a tourbillon. But first, start with the spinny bits.See all of our newsletters, including Box + Papers, here.