MING Introduces The 37.02 Monolith, An Insider’s Version Of The Minimalist

The first Ming watches were launched in 2017 and since then, until recently, the basic formula has been the same: limited editions, with each having a distinctive execution while at the same time retaining certain specific design cues and embodying a particular philosophy towards watchmaking, in which as much as possible, actual horological content receives as much attention as design per se. This began to change in the second half of last year, when Ming launched its first non-limited edition: the Ming 37.02 Minimalist. The Minimalist featured a number of classic Ming design traits, including flared lugs, a sapphire dial with etched hour markers distributed in a fascinating, regularly irregular pattern, a customized Sellita movement with an anthracite finish and customized rotor, and perhaps most interestingly, a custom-formulated Super-LumiNova filling for the hour markers which glows white (an industry first as various types of SLN, as supplied by Tritec, which makes the material, all glow in different specific colors). Ming has named the pigment “Polar White” and each batch is hand-mixed by Ming Thein.

Ming is also a founding member of the Alternative Horological Alliance, and the company has also announced that for the first time in its history, it will have brick and mortar retail partners, and since the launch of the original 37.02, it has launched its second general release watch, the 37.02 Ghost.

Today, Ming has announced its third general release model. The new 37.02 Monolith is the third version of the 37.02, and while it will be a general release watch, Ming will be producing it in restricted numbers; only 100 will be produced for 2025.

The Monolith is the same dimensions as its predecessors, at 38mm x 11mm, and 44.5mm lug to lug and the movement’s the same Sellita caliber as well. This time around, though, the case has been treated with black DLC, and combined with the black dial you get a sense of an almost continuous surface (perhaps the reason for the Monolith monicker, although it’s also, given Ming Thein’s enthusiasm for scifi, a reference to the enigmatic black monolith from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”)

As with the two previous 37.02 watches, the movement is semi-skeletonized, and anthracite finished, although as with the dial side of the Monolith you get a sense of a single continuous surface, thanks to all that black DLC. The strap, on the other hand, is a bright (and necessary) contrast; a Mango FKM strap with a tuck buckle.  The Ming FKM straps are extremely comfortable – I’ve had a Minimalist in the rotation for about six months and it might be the most comfortable and versatile strap or bracelet I’ve ever worn.

The “inversion effect” as Ming calls it, is very much part of the experience of the 37.02 Monolith, as it is to some extent for all Ming watches; here you get a very pure example of the effect, which is reminiscent of black polished steel; the dial seems to be either pure black, or almost pure white depending on how it takes the light, with a white inversion effect emphasizing the depth of the laser etching. The arrangement of the hour markers is highly unusual as well and shows you just how much unexplored potential there is in dial design. There are basically three possible levels for each of the crescents that make up the hours, and any individual crescent can span either 30º or 60º of arc, but the endpoints of any individual crescent will always lie on a point that corresponds to one of the hours. The number of layers at each endpoint are never on the same level; at 1:00, for instance, a crescent at the outermost level is at the same endpoint as two crescents on the middle and innermost level, so the hour position’s clear, and it’s always clear at every hour on the dial.

Monolith versions of existing models have been launched successfully by Ming in the past and include the 17.06 Monolith, 37.07 Monolith, and the 18.01 H41 DLC, which is sort of the ur-Monolith although it wasn’t actually given the name. As with the other versions of the 37.01, the Monolith is an apparently simple watch, but deceptively so; there is considerable ingenuity in the design, interesting innovation in materials (in the Polar White Lume) and a high degree of practicality. Price is only slightly higher than the standard issue 37.02, which sells for CHF 3250; the 37.02 Monolith is CHF 3500. For more on the 37.01 Monolith, check out Ming.watch.