Introducing The MING 37.06 Royal Selangor

The 37 series from MING has a strong personality in its own right, based on the accessible MING 37.02 Minimalist, the first watch to come out of the brand's new Swiss manufacture back in 2024 as its entry-level reference. Today the collection is fast establishing a reputation as a minimalist canvas for artisanal dial art. Back in June, we were treated to the evocatively named 37.06 Lightning, where Ming Thein personally torched hand-guilloched J.N. Shapiro dials into vibrant multicoloured artworks. Today we have the first dial I have ever seen rendered in pewter, each one unique with a hand-finished take on Malaysian craft.

The dial itself comes from an unlikely partnership between the Kuala Lumpur/La Chaux-de-Fonds brand and Royal Selangor, a fourth-generation, family-owned Malaysian house founded in 1885 with strong international links. This is a brand that specialises in pewter, which Royal Selangor has turned into everything from bespoke whisky cases to home décor.

Pewter is a tin alloy (over 90% of the alloy is tin), which at Royal Selangor is sourced sustainably from Malaysia Smelting Corporation, listed as a conformant smelter by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI). True to Ming Thein’s photography roots, the initial inspiration came when one of his friends and MING patrons approached Royal Selangor to reskin the body of his Leica camera. Ming collected the camera himself, resulting in a long lunch and conversation with Royal Selangor CEO Yong Yoon Li, sparking the idea for the MING 37.06 Royal Selangor we see today.

The MING 37.06 Royal Selangor comes in a light, grade 2 titanium suit, and is all-brushed to allow the satin surface of the pewter dial to shine, keeping its recognisable and wearable 38mm silhouette. This matte take on the 37.06 focuses attention on the hammered look of the pewter dial, cast and finished by hand in Kuala Lumpur, with a surface that catches light differently from every angle.

It vibes similarly to the unique chiselled case of the Anoma A1 Prehistoric, which we covered last month, but has a warmer appearance thanks to the alloy’s soft, malleable nature. The 11.05mm thickness is impressive, knowing it houses an automatic movement, the Sellita-for-MING SW300.1, with a comfortable 44.73mm lug-to-lug stretch and an everyday-secure 100 metres of water resistance.

The domed sapphire crystals front and rear offer double-sided anti-reflective coating, and the front crystal is engraved and filled with Super-LumiNova X1, paired with lume-coated hands in a deep blue. The caseback is engraved with both the MING and Royal Selangor wordmarks, exhibiting the automatic movement with its 25 jewels and roughly 50 hours of power reserve. The SW300.1 comes dressed in a rhodium-plated finish with skeletonised bridges over an anthracite-coated baseplate, modern and resoundingly MING, and the watch ships on a blue-grey goat leather strap by Jean Rousseau inside a hammered pewter presentation box made by Royal Selangor.

The entire 88-piece run will be assembled locally in Kuala Lumpur, a first for MING, using infrastructure the brand developed specifically for the collaboration, and it is priced at CHF 5,000 excluding taxes. Additionally, each watch ships in a custom Royal Selangor pewter case.

At first glance, this seems like a 37.06 with a unique dial, just like the Shapiro-sourced and flame-treated guillochéd Lightning. But have a closer look, and you will appreciate how Ming Thein’s appeal lies in the subtle, honed details unique to each reference, which include the discreet lume-filled markings on the crystal’s reverse side, here quietly redesigned to feature parallel circles with 5-minute marks tied together with the usual MING logo at 12.

The dial itself lives with a light-catching texture of cast, hammered-effect pewter, offset by deep blue hands that juxtapose the dynamic surface. The 88 dials might be cast with the same hammered pattern, but pewter takes on a discreet patina which will render each one differently over time. This is an alloy that deserves better than its reputation, and Ming Thein proves it; Royal Selangor will surely see more collabs off the back of this. The tin-based alloy is strengthened with small amounts of copper and antimony, has been worked by hand for centuries, and Royal Selangor’s cast version runs to nearly 97 per cent tin. Unlike showier metals, it does not tarnish or corrode easily, instead developing a soft patina over years.

Pewter is warm, tactile, quietly durable, and an artisanal material that has been undervalued precisely because it used to be everywhere. To me, nothing works better than a minimal, modern approach set in contrast to an artisanal detail like this, and it is the kind of release that underlines the approach of the ever-creative Ming Thein. The brand treats the dial as the event, and pewter is a genuinely inspired choice. It is an honest material with real cultural weight, highly unusual in the watch industry and set against the cool technical precision of brushed titanium. The contrast is tinged with the warmth of pewter against the vintage-sized but modern 37-series case and plays directly to MING’s strength for dials that shift in the light and reward a second look.

What elevates the MING 37.06 Royal Selangor is the authenticity of the partnership. This is not a Swiss brand borrowing an exotic texture, but two Malaysian-rooted houses building something from a shared origin, right down to bringing final assembly home to Kuala Lumpur.

Brand: MING
Model: 37.06 Royal Selangor
Diameter: 38mm
Height: 11.05mm
Lug-to-Lug: 44.73mm
Lug Width: 20mm
Case Material: Grade-2 titanium, all-brushed finish (35.9g head weight)
Caseback: Titanium, engraved with MING and Royal Selangor wordmarks
Crystal: Domed sapphire front and rear, double-sided anti-reflective coating; front engraved and filled with Super-LumiNova X1
Dial: Cast in pewter with a hammered effect, made and hand-finished by Royal Selangor in Kuala Lumpur
Lume: Super-LumiNova X1 in engraved crystal markings and hands
Water Resistance: 100 metres
Strap: Blue-grey Jean Rousseau goat leather, curved quick-release spring bars, flying-blade tuck buckle

Calibre: Sellita for MING SW300.M1
Functions: Hours and minutes
Power Reserve: Approximately 50 hours
Winding: Automatic
Jewels: 25
Movement Dimensions: 25.6mm diameter, 3.6mm thick
Finishing: Skeletonised, rhodium-plated bridges with brushed finish; anthracite-coated baseplate

Price: CHF 5,000 (excluding taxes)
Availability: Via Royal Selangor boutiques from 30 July 2026; limited numbers via www.ming.watch from 6 August 2026
Limited Edition: Yes, 88 pieces
Warranty: 2-year limited mechanical warranty

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