Description
Two of the most distinctive names in independent watchmaking have joined forces: Ming, the Malaysian-founded design-led brand of Ming Thein, and J.N. Shapiro Watches, the Los Angeles atelier of Josh Shapiro, the leading figure in the revival of American engine-turning. The 37.06 Lightning puts a hand-guilloché Grade 2 titanium dial — cut on traditional rose-engine lathes in a jagged, brand-new lightning-bolt pattern — into Ming's 38mm 37-series case, then subjects it to Ming's proprietary heat-colouring process. The result is a one-of-one gradient on every dial, at CHF 6,250.
Both founders are founding members of the Alternative Horological Alliance, and this is their second collaboration after the Ming Project 21. First-batch orders open Friday 5 June 2026 at 13:00 GMT at ming.watch and authorised retailers; production continues at roughly ten pieces per month, limited by how many dials survive the making.
Design
The dial is the event. Shapiro engine-turns each Grade 2 titanium blank with lightning bolts radiating from the centre — the first appearance of this pattern in his repertoire — and Ming then applies a handheld butane torch to create natural heat colouration running from orange and yellow at the centre through purple to deep blue at the rim. The crystalline structure of titanium makes the outcome only partially controllable: roughly one in three dials makes the grade, and no two are identical. Indices are luminous HyCeram filled into laser-hollowed cavities on the underside of the domed sapphire crystal, a signature Ming trick that lets the guilloché run uninterrupted, while the hour and minute hands carry Super-LumiNova X1.
The 38mm case (10.9mm thick, 44.5mm lug-to-lug) is 316L stainless steel with brushed and polished finishing, domed AR-coated sapphire front and back, and 100m of water resistance. It wears on a blue Barenia calfskin strap with Alcantara lining by Jean Rousseau, with curved quick-release spring bars and Ming's flying-blade tuck buckle with micro-adjustment.
Specifications
- Reference: 37.06 Lightning
- Case diameter: 38mm
- Case thickness: 10.9mm
- Lug-to-lug: 44.5mm
- Case material: 316L stainless steel, brushed and polished
- Crystal: domed sapphire with AR coating, front and back
- Water resistance: 100m
- Dial: handmade rose-engine guilloché by J.N. Shapiro in Grade 2 titanium, lightning pattern; gradient heat-colouring by Ming; HyCeram luminous indices in the crystal underside; Super-LumiNova X1 hands
- Movement: Sellita SW210.M1, Ming-exclusive execution with skeletonised rhodium-plated bridges and anthracite baseplate
- Winding: manual
- Dimensions: 25.6mm × 3.35mm
- Frequency: 28,800vph (4Hz)
- Power reserve: 42 hours
- Strap: blue Barenia calfskin with Alcantara lining by Jean Rousseau, flying-blade tuck buckle with micro-adjustment
- Limited edition: limited by production, ~10 pieces per month
- Price: CHF 6,250 (excl. tax)
- Availability: first-batch orders open Friday 5 June 2026, 13:00 GMT, at ming.watch and authorised retail partners
What's Exciting
Genuine hand-guilloché — rose engine, human hands, rejection rates — normally lives north of CHF 20,000, in dress watches from Voutilainen or in Shapiro's own Infinity Series at many multiples of this price. Getting a Shapiro-cut dial, in titanium no less, inside a CHF 6,250 watch is a value proposition that simply did not exist before this release. The heat-colouring gamble is what elevates it beyond a collaboration logo swap: a third of the dials die in the flame, and every surviving piece carries a gradient that cannot be replicated, which makes each watch effectively unique at a price where 'pièce unique' is normally a fantasy.
The honest spec is part of the appeal. Ming makes no pretence about the manual-wind Sellita SW210.M1 — it is a reliable, slim base, dressed in exclusive skeletonised bridges — and spends the money where you look: the dial. That is the right trade-off, and few brands have the discipline to make it.
History
Ming was founded in 2017 by Malaysian photographer, designer and engineer Ming Thein and quickly became one of the defining independent brands of its generation, known for layered dials, luminescence and contemporary design language. Josh Shapiro built J.N. Shapiro Watches from making engine-turned dials for other makers into a vertically integrated atelier in Inglewood, California — the spearhead of revived American precision watchmaking. Both men are founding members of the Alternative Horological Alliance, and the 37.06 Lightning follows their earlier joint effort on the Ming Project 21, this time bringing Shapiro's rose-engine work to its most accessible price point yet.
