The centerpiece of the new MING 37.06 Royal Selangor is a hammered pewter dial, made for MING by Royal Selangor in Kuala Lumpur, the pewter house founded in 1885 and a fourth-generation, family-owned independent producer. The case around it is brushed titanium, a deliberate contrast. It's hard not to get excited about it. Ming Thein's creations tend to cause a stir, as much for their consistent desirability as for their unique and thoughtful design language, but this 88-piece limited edition is something slightly different, and Thein has tapped into his own roots in Kuala Lumpur to get there.
Photo: MING
Photo: MING
Watch enthusiasts love unorthodox materials. Ceratanium at IWC, tantalum at F.P. Journe, even 925 silver at Tudor: the move away from steel, gold, and platinum reliably grabs attention. This isn't the Swiss grabbing a random material and having their way with it, though. It's a brand making a thoughtful and authentic connection. Think less "because we can" and more "because it makes sense."
Pewter is mostly tin, with a little copper and antimony for strength. It resists tarnish and corrosion, and over time it takes on a patina.
Thein explained the choice of material in a brief exchange with Crown & Caliber. "Pewter was a logical choice given both Royal Selangor being arguably the world's leading producer of pewter objects (and the current managing director being a longtime personal friend), and Malaysia's history of tin mining and associated metallurgy. It's long been both a decorative and functional metal, and that fits nicely with the philosophy of our watches."
That friendship started with a camera. A MING patron had asked Royal Selangor to reskin his, then asked Thein to collect it for him in Kuala Lumpur. Thein stayed for a long lunch with Yong Yoon Li, Royal Selangor's managing director, and the watch came out of that conversation.
Though you may not instantly recognize the name, you may well have come across its work. Royal Selangor has designed collections with the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum in London and with the National Palace Museum in Taipei, drawing on those institutions' archives. If you've come across officially licensed Marvel, DC, or Star Wars pewter sculptures, or a pewter chess set, that was likely its work.
Photo: MING
Photo: MING
The firm is still headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and still makes its pewter at its factory in Setapak, supported by more than 200 craftspeople and a design team of around 40, according to MING. Its output covers traditional pewterware, contemporary objects, and design-led collaborations with cultural institutions and international designers.
The 37-series case is grade-2 titanium here, brushed all over, 35.9 grams without the strap. It runs 38mm across, 11.05mm thick, and 44.73mm lug to lug, with a 20mm lug width and 100 meters of water resistance. Domed sapphire covers both sides, anti-reflective coated inside and out, and the top crystal is engraved and filled with Super-LumiNova X1, with the hands lumed to match. The caseback carries both wordmarks.
Inside is the Sellita for MING SW300.M1, an automatic that measures 25.6mm across and 3.6mm thick, runs 25 jewels, and holds about 50 hours at full wind. The bridges are skeletonized and rhodium-plated with a brushed finish over an anthracite-coated baseplate.
Thein was born in Kuala Lumpur and is still based there. As the collaboration took shape, he decided to have the entire run assembled there, on infrastructure MING invested in and built specifically for the project. MING calls it another first.
Asked why, Thein said: "We thought it (...the local assembly) would give us the opportunity to see how much more capability we could develop locally, given we already do some elements here (heat treatment of 37.06 Lightning dials, Polar White production, some servicing, retailer displays, packaging, etc.). It was also nice to discover that some of the things that have been very hard to find were on our doorstep — for example, precision machining suitable for watch dials. Overall, it remains in line with our objective of finding the best suppliers for the component — regardless of where they might be located; being a few kilometers away allows for much better agility than the other side of the world."
Photo: MING
Photo: MING
Much as the delightful texture of the hammered dial grabs my attention, it's the second half of this story that sold me. Plenty of watch brands make a point of telling you their assembly happens in America: Shinola and Nodus come to mind. I'll tip a hat to Thein for taking the same approach in Kuala Lumpur. Watchmaking needs a global footprint to survive, and adding a city outside the usual handful to the production map is a good thing.
Each watch ships on blue-gray goat leather by Jean Rousseau Paris, on curved quick-release spring bars, with a titanium flying-blade tuck buckle that micro-adjusts. The presentation box is hammered pewter, designed by MING and made by Royal Selangor in Kuala Lumpur.
The MING 37.06 Royal Selangor is available today at Royal Selangor boutiques. A small batch will be available online at ming.watch on August 6 at 10 a.m. GMT. Eighty-eight pieces, CHF 5,000 excluding taxes, about $6,125, with a two-year warranty against defects.
