Hands-on with the MING × J.N. Shapiro 37.06 Lightning
Heat, Restraint & Lightning
The MING 37.06 Lightning is here — and we mean that literally. It's with us in Ventura, and we've gone hands-on with one of the more genuinely collaborative watches we've handled in a while: a joint project between Horologer MING and Josh Shapiro of J.N. Shapiro.
A Collaboration Between Friends
The Lightning isn't a marketing exercise dressed up as a partnership. MING and J.N. Shapiro are two of the founding members of the Alternative Horological Alliance, and the watch is the product of a long-running friendship between Ming Thein and Josh Shapiro. The two have worked together before — on the AHA tantalum bracelet and the cases for MING's Project 21 — but the 37.06 Lightning is the first watch they've put their names to together.
The premise was simple: what happens when two independent makers each bring their own form of handwork to a single dial?
Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur
Although the 37.06 Lightning is billed as a MING creation, its signature dial begins life in Josh Shapiro's Los Angeles workshop. There, he personally engine-turns each grade-2 titanium dial on a traditional rose-engine lathe, hand-cutting a pattern known as "Lightning" guilloché — hence the watch's name. It's the first time Shapiro has used this specific pattern on a wristwatch, and the result is a hypnotic, dynamic texture that feels right at home in a MING.
From California, each dial travels to Kuala Lumpur, where Ming Thein takes over. Using a handheld butane torch, he heat-colors every dial by hand, drawing out the polychromatic field of deep blue, rich purple, and vibrant orange-yellow you see here. There's no paint, no lacquer, no coating — only heat, timing, and restraint. Titanium is very deliberately the material of choice, precisely for what it does under the flame.
Both processes demand practice, and both carry a high failure rate. A few seconds too long or too short with the torch can ruin a dial outright, and even with perfect control, the guilloché can expose variations in the titanium's crystalline structure that compromise the result. When all is said and done, only about one in three dials makes it into a finished watch — and no two that survive are exactly alike. Lightning, after all, never strikes twice.
That high attrition is exactly why Josh and Ming personally work on every dial, and why each caseback carries the engraving: "DIAL HAND MADE BY J.N. SHAPIRO & MING THEIN."
Familiar Case, Classic MING Wearability
In terms of material, dimensions, and feel, anyone who's handled a MING 37-series watch — the Minimalist, Ghost, Bluefin, or otherwise — will find the Lightning immediately familiar. Rendered in 316L stainless steel, the case measures a modest 38mm in diameter, 10.9mm thick, and 44.5mm lug-to-lug. A narrow bezel lets it wear visually larger and thinner than those numbers suggest, while the sculpted lug profile flows cleanly from the case flanks into the lugs. On a 6.75-inch wrist, it wears easy.
Up top sits a domed sapphire crystal with laser-hollowed cavities filled with luminous HyCeram, serving as the indices. The hour and minute hands take multiple applications of Super-LumiNova X1 for an even, long-lasting glow, with their non-luminous portions anodized blue to echo the dial beneath. There's no seconds hand — keeping the display focused and uninterrupted.
Movement and Strap
Behind that thin case is the manually wound Sellita for MING Cal. SW210.M1, finished uniquely for MING with skeletonized, rhodium-plated bridges and an anthracite-coated baseplate. Power reserve is roughly 42 hours, and the watch is sealed front and back with domed, double-AR-coated sapphire crystals, good for 100 meters of water resistance.
Tying it all together is a blue Barenia calfskin strap with Alcantara lining from Jean Rousseau, pulling the blue tones out of the dial and handset. As always, it's quick-release, and can be swapped for any 20mm MING or third-party strap.
More Than Just Another Collaboration
The watch industry is awash in collaborations, but this one lands because the effect of the dial is so visceral. The engraving, the pattern, and the heat treatment combine into something that feels fresh and has a clear reason for being. Without intellectualizing it too much: this is what a collaboration should do — create something neither maker could have made alone, where both hands are not just evident but combine into something more.
The MING × J.N. Shapiro 37.06 Lightning is available here at Collective. Thanks as always for reading and supporting independent watchmaking.