Although they fly under the radar among luxury watch brands, independent horologist MING treats every watch release as an event, a momentous occasion that pushes boundaries rather than working within an existing form. It’s intoxicating, especially when one considers the ultra-minimal new MING 37.02 Ghost Watch.
The MING 37.02 Ghost Watch bolsters the company’s commitment to “refined aesthetics paired with innovative materials, mechanics and engineering,” a fitting focus given founder Ming Thein’s design, photography and business background. Like the rest of the covetable MING watch lineup, the new titanium wrist game upgrade is minimal and striking in form: This handsome timepiece boasts a difficult-to-perfect all-titanium build (grade 2, to be specific).
Between its facilities in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and Kuala Lumpur, the horologist focuses intensely on the properties of color and light when building out its watches, and the ultra-sleek Ghost Watch speaks to that focus in a statement-making way on the wrist. The 35-gram watch manages to be highly water-resistant, but its build comes from more mystical beginnings: The Ghost Watch was born from “the idea of ethereal light playing off a forest of architecturally finished metallic surfaces.”
That approach informed the decision to use grade 2 titanium, otherwise known as pure titanium and a departure from the watchmaking industry’s typical use of grade 5 titanium. Somewhat incredibly, the entire case, dial and buckle are crafted from the difficult-to-machine, highly flammable material. As MING notes, the watch (boasting 260 meters of water resistance), “is lighter and looks thinner and more ethereal on the wrist than its dimensions suggest.”
The pursuit of a watch with a look at once industrial and elegant was a tall order for MING, but as the horologist noted, “given how many of our design inspirations are architectural, it would be remiss of us not to try.” Consider this mission accomplished handily, and in stylish fashion, at that.
The super-sleek 38mm watch ticks along thanks to an all-anthracite Sellita SW300 movement made exclusively for MING, while its watch hands and indices pop nicely on the crisp dial through blue Super-LumiNova X1 finishing. A grey goat leather strap gives the elegant and technically savvy MING 37.02 Ghost Watch an even more polished and refined appeal.
Just 250 units of the latest groundbreaking MING watch are hitting the market, priced at about $4,200 (a relative steal given the precise machine work, engineering and design used to craft the grey-and-silver stunner). The ultimate mission of MING (“pieces that dynamically reflect their environment”) continually offers up new avenues in build, design and inspiration, and the impressive MING 37.02 Ghost Watch again makes the case that the independent horologist isn’t one to overlook.
