Recently, a watch with a translucent gray dial, reminiscent of a Ming watch, started popping up on my social media feeds. I quickly learned it was a new brand called Donut Watch Co., a lower-priced spinoff that is indeed brought to us by the folks at Ming. When I arrived at the 2026 Windup Watch Fair in NYC (where I sold straps for the Windup Watch Shop), I found myself sharing a booth with them. One of the brand representatives wore that gray watch, which I learned was for friends and family and not released to the public. However, the brand was releasing a new red-and-pink model, the Jelly Run, at the show.
After thinking about it, I decided I wanted one and bought it the morning of the second day of the show. Donut had only 50 watches available each day of the show, with 50 more available online through the Windup Watch Shop the day after. I believe they sold out quickly each day of the show, and I heard that they sold out online within 30 minutes. I enjoy wearing my Ming, and with only 200 Jelly watches being produced, I figured I would get one while I could.
Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run First Impressions
The Jelly Run comes in a plush donut case, packed in a cardboard box that resembles a food container, plus a napkin. It also includes a 3D-printed Shima Enaga bird named Snowball, the brand's mascot. The brand also gave away matching edible donuts at the show. While the colors are fun, I don't see a strong visual connection to donuts beyond the brand logo and frosting-like colors.
Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run Details
The Donut case uses Ming’s signature flying lugs, albeit chunkier and less sculpted. While my Ming features multiple finishes, the entire Donut case is polished.
The 37.07 is also about 3mm wider than the Donut.
It’s only about 1mm thicker on paper, but the case looks more slab-sided, and the boxed sapphire shows its thickness more than the Ming's domed crystal. Both watches use a similar crown design.
Under the tall crystal, a raised, white chapter ring features black indices and red numerals in 5-minute increments. A pink hour track is recessed below it, with pink hour markers and the brand logo hidden in the track at 12.
A reddish dial sits above that. It has no markings other than a rotating black seconds disk at 5 o’clock. The black hour and minute hands are a modified version of my Ming's hands, filled in white.
At night, the hands, hour track, and markings under the seconds disc glow with greenish-blue Super-LumiNova. The pink hour track also glows a darker shade of blue.
Wearing the Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run
At 35mm wide by 44mm lug-to-lug, the Jelly is a bit small for my taste, but the smaller size makes this funky watch a little less “in your face.”
It’s quite comfortable to wear, but the thick case sides combined with a pass-through strap make it look a bit tall for how narrow it is. A manual-wind movement would have allowed the watch to be thinner without adding cost.
The hands are a bit thinner than Ming's, which slightly hurts legibility, but it’s still easy to read for a watch that clearly puts form over function.
Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run Original and Replacement Straps
The Jelly Run comes on an unbranded black-and-red nylon seatbelt-style pass-through strap. At the show, and in my email and Instagram DMs, customers have already asked about upgrade options.
Fixed lug bars and 18mm lugs limit your options, but luckily StrapHabit has a solution. Just last week, we added an 18mm version of our popular Hook and Loop strap. It’s available in 9 colors, a number of which look great on the Jelly Run.
I like the fixed bars on my Tudor Pelagos FXD and Prevail Onward, since both are tool watches. It’s not my favorite choice on the Donut watch, since it limits strap combinations. Before I learned it had fixed lugs, I planned to swap on a black or burgundy Deployant Sailcloth strap to dress it up a bit.
Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run Movement
Donut’s website says that it uses a Japanese automatic movement. According to our friends at ABlogToWatch, it is a Miyota 8N40. This makes sense, as it sounds like it has a slower beat rate (21,600 vph), and I can often hear the rotor spinning freely. Donut doesn’t state the accuracy, but this movement is rated at +40 to -20 seconds per day and provides 42 hours of power reserve. It also has hacking and hand-winding.
Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run Conclusion
Donut's brand strategy seems to draw inspiration from MB&F and its more affordable MAD Editions lineup (like the MAD1S and MAD2). Both offer a more affordable way to access the higher-tier brand's DNA, and both launched with a teaser model that wasn't available to the public. Ming's entry price is a fraction of MB&F's, so the Donut watch can't match the build quality of a roughly $3,000 MAD Edition watch.
For under $650, you can buy watches with better finishing and movements from other small brands such as Nodus, Islander, and Héron. It’s not for the bargain shopper, but for someone who appreciates the playful design and/or wants a more affordable connection to the Ming brand. It’s also the brand’s first model, so I look forward to seeing how it develops its identity in the future.
Specifications:
Name: Donut Watch Co. Jelly Run
MSRP: $649
Diameter: 35mm
Lug-to-Lug: 44.6mm
Thickness: 11.8mm
Lug Width: 18mm
Case: Polished stainless steel
Movement: Miyota 8N40
Crystal: Box sapphire
Water Resistance: 50m
Strap: Nylon
Packaging: Pink plush donut travel case with Snowball the bird