This Ultralight Watch Just Set a New Record

The Ming LW.01 is interesting on a few levels aside from its ethereal weight. For one thing, when a tiny brand that’s been around for less time than This is Us can command as much clout as august Swiss makers with centuries of heritage, it’s confirmation that we are now living in a golden era of indie watchmaking. With pieces by niche makers like F.P. Journe sharing top billing with Rolex and Patek Philippe at auction, and Louis Vuitton putting its money behind little-known names like Daniel Roth and Rexhep Rexhepi, it’s apparent that a major shift is underway in the world of high-end watches.

Enter Ming, a brand founded in 2017 by Ming Thien, a Malaysian child physics prodigy-turned-professional photographer with a longstanding timepiece obsession. Ming and a group of like-minded pals started the brand as an antithesis to the elitism and exorbitant prices they found in the upper tiers of the watch-collecting world. Ming aimed to create watches that were as interesting as they were (relatively) accessible, and over the last six years, he has amassed a loyal following of collectors who are eager to snap up each new limited-edition release. Unlike the big Swiss brands with eight-figure marketing budgets and state-of-the-art production facilities, Ming doesn’t make any of its components in-house and doesn’t operate a single retail store, but that hasn’t stopped the brand from conceiving and executing some of the most interesting watches of recent years—including the superlative-grabbing Ming LW.01.

The Ming LW.01 is limited to just 200 pieces (100 in manual-wind and 100 in automatic) and available exclusively on Ming’s website as of 1 pm GMT today. Given the popularity of Ming watches in general and the hype around this one in particular, it is guaranteed to sell out faster than Taylor Swift tickets despite its roughly $22,000 price. If the past is any indication, however, other watch brands are paying close attention, and it won’t be long before another ultralight ticker comes for Ming’s crown.

*Probably. As with any superlative, the closer you look at the nitty-gritty details, the more difficult it becomes to make a definitive ruling. For example, at just 1.75mm thick, Richard Mille’s RM UP-01 holds the title as the world’s thinnest watch. Because it requires a separate key to wind the mechanism, however, some folks (including, perhaps, the makers of the 2mm thick Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept) see it as a bit of a cheat. In light of this, there’s no arguing that the Ming LW.01 is one of the lightest watches ever made, but without weighing every other watch ever made, how can you be sure? For that reason, and being the good sports they are, Ming Thien and his compatriots are leaving it an open question for now.