When you think about unexpected watch collaborations, most of them make you scratch your head for good reason – they feel forced, or purely commercial, or just plain odd. After the Ming 37.05 Series 2 we wrote about – The Ming 37.06 Royal Selangor is not that. This new limited edition pairs Kuala Lumpur-based independent watchmaker Ming with Royal Selangor, the world’s most recognized pewtersmith, and the more you sit with the idea, the more it makes a kind of quiet, almost inevitable sense.
Two Malaysian Icons, One Shared Vision
At first glance, a high-end independent watchmaker teaming up with a pewter manufacturer might seem like a category mismatch. But zoom out a little and the picture gets much clearer. Ming and Royal Selangor share more than a home country – they share a philosophy. Both brands are deeply rooted in Malaysian craft heritage, both have built global reputations on the strength of their material work and attention to surface finish, and both occupy a space where handwork and tradition meet modern design sensibility.
Royal Selangor has been working pewter since 1885. They are not a novelty gift shop brand – they are a genuine craft institution, known internationally for producing pieces where the texture and finish of the metal is the whole story. That ethos maps onto Ming’s own obsession with dial surfaces, case finishing, and the tactile language of a well-made object. When you frame it that way, the collaboration stops feeling surprising and starts feeling overdue.
Here is a great discussion about the Ming brand on our subreddit r/microbrandwatches
Let us know what is YOUR opinion in this article comments!
The Hammered Pewter Dial – What We Know
4 weeks ago, we introduce you with the Anoma A1 Prehistoric watch, which offers a hand-chiselled beautiful unique case. Now, Ming expose the centerpiece of the 37.06 Royal Selangor is its dial, crafted from hammered pewter. This is not a pewter-colored coating or a printed texture – this is actual pewter, worked by Royal Selangor’s craftspeople to produce a surface that carries the organic, light-catching irregularity that only hand-hammering can achieve. Every dial will be subtly unique, which is exactly the kind of detail that Ming’s audience appreciates deeply.
Pewter as a dial material is genuinely rare in watchmaking. It sits in an interesting space – softer and warmer in tone than steel or aluminum, with a matte-to-semi-matte quality that shifts beautifully under different lighting. The hammered texture adds another dimension, scattering light in ways that a flat or brushed surface simply cannot. On a Ming case – with all the considered geometry and finishing that implies – the effect promises to be something genuinely worth looking at in person.
Full technical specifications for the 37.06 Royal Selangor have not been comprehensively detailed in the initial announcement, so rather than speculate on case dimensions, movement choice, or pricing beyond what has been confirmed, here is what the announcement establishes:
- Dial material:
Hammered pewter, produced by Royal Selangor craftspeople - Edition type:
Limited edition collaboration - Brand:
Ming, in partnership with Royal Selangor - Origin:
Malaysia - Model reference:
37.06 Royal Selangor - Pricing: To be confirmed – check Ming’s official channels for the real time accurate price.
The Ming 37.06 Royal Selangor watch Specifications
Functions
- Hours and minutes
- Automatic winding
Case
- 38mm diameter, 11.05mm thickness, 44.73mm lug-to-lug
- Grade-2 titanium, with an all-brushed finish
- 35.9-gram head weight
- Caseback engraved with “MING” and “ROYAL SELANGOR”
- 100-meter water resistance
- 20mm lug width
Dial & Hands
- Hammered pewter dial made by Royal Selangor in Kuala Lumpur
- Domed sapphire crystals front and rear, both with double-sided anti-reflective coating
- Top crystal engraved and filled with Super-LumiNova X1
- Super-LumiNova X1 coated hands
Movement
- Sellita for MING SW300.M1, 25 jewels
- Automatic winding with approximately 50 hours of power reserve at full wind
- 25.6mm diameter, 3.6mm thickness
- Skeletonized, rhodium-plated bridges with brushed finish and an anthracite-coated baseplate
Strap
- Blue-grey goat leather by Jean Rousseau Paris
- Curved quick-release spring bars
- Flying-blade tuck buckle in titanium with micro-adjustment
2-year warranty against defects
It is worth noting that Ming’s 37-series has historically been one of their more refined lines, characterized by clean case architecture, thoughtful proportions, and dials that reward close inspection. The 37.06 sits within that lineage, and the Royal Selangor treatment appears designed to add a layer of tactile drama without abandoning the restrained aesthetic Ming is known for.
Why This Collaboration Matters to the Independent Watch World
Ming has always been interesting as a case study in what independent watchmaking can look like outside of Switzerland. Based in Kuala Lumpur, the brand has built a genuinely global following not by imitating Swiss conventions but by leaning into their own design language – one that draws from Southeast Asian modernism, material culture, and a willingness to experiment with dial construction in ways that larger brands simply would not.
Partnering with Royal Selangor deepens that identity rather than diluting it. This is not Ming chasing a lifestyle crossover for marketing reach. This is two Malaysian craft institutions doing something that could only come from their shared context. The choice of hammered pewter – a material with centuries of history in the region – as the vehicle for a contemporary limited edition watch feels considered and culturally grounded in a way that purely aesthetic collaborations rarely are.
There is also something worth noting about the material itself as a statement. Watch dial materials have expanded considerably in recent years – meteorite, enamel, stone, wood, and various ceramics have all found their way onto high-end dials. Pewter, despite its long heritage, remains genuinely uncommon. That scarcity gives the 37.06 Royal Selangor a point of difference that is not manufactured or trend-chasing. It is just an unusual, well-justified choice that opens up new aesthetic territory.
For the broader independent watch community, releases like this one are important because they demonstrate what the indie space does best: creative decisions made for craft reasons rather than commercial ones, executed with genuine material expertise, and produced in limited enough numbers to remain meaningful. Ming consistently delivers that, and this collaboration suggests they are not slowing down on that front.
How to Get One – and What to Watch For
As with most Ming limited editions, availability is expected to be tight. Ming has historically released limited pieces through their own website and a small network of authorized dealers, often with significant demand relative to supply. If the 37.06 Royal Selangor follows that pattern, moving quickly when pre-orders or sales open will be essential.
For confirmed pricing, production numbers, and release timing, the best sources are Ming’s official website and their social media channels. Royal Selangor’s channels may also carry details about the collaboration given their equal standing in this partnership.
Keep an eye on both brands directly. When the full details drop, they will be worth reading carefully – Ming’s spec sheets tend to reward attention.
Collaborations in the watch world range from genuinely exciting to transparently cynical, and it is usually pretty easy to tell which is which. The Ming 37.06 Royal Selangor lands firmly in the former camp. Two craft-serious Malaysian brands, a dial material that almost nobody else is using, and a design lineage that earns the right to try something new – that is a combination worth paying attention to. However the full specs shake out, this one is already on the shortlist.
Thanks for reading.