Disclaimer: this video/review was not sponsored by MING or any other entity.

Video

Review

At this point, I’m not going to bother introducing the 37 Series family of watches from MING, since I’ve already reviewed at least half a dozen of them here, and you’ve more than likely encountered one of these watches already if you’re even remotely interested in the brand. This watch, however, is a pretty refreshing take on that family of designs and gives the 37 style a complete titanium makeover. The 37.02 Ghost indicates that it belongs to the same sub-family as the 37.02 Minimalist I reviewed a while ago, but even as a self-proclaimed MING fanboy, I couldn’t tell you why these two watches are 37.02s while the Aventurine and Sand are labeled 37.08s instead. Maybe it has something to do with the movements? I’ll have to wait for the next MING book to help me better understand that.

The 37.02 Ghost is a limited run of 300 pieces and was launched in April of this year, priced at $4,150 USD if you bought it from their authorized dealer in the US, Collective Horology. After owning a few 37 Series watches in the past, I had decided to avoid this design family and wait for something different… but when I saw this piece, I couldn’t help myself. The all-titanium aesthetic was something I could not resist, and I had to have one. So I’ve had this watch on my wrist for almost two months at the time of this review, and I’m very pleased with my decision.

Let’s check it out!

Case

I measured the case to be 37.75mm in diameter, 44.25mm from lug tip to lug tip and 11mm in overall thickness which includes the curved sapphire crystals on the top and bottom of the case. The case is made entirely of Grade 2 titanium, which includes the mid-case, bezel, crown and case-back.

The design of this watch is identical to the 37 Series watches that have come before it, but the fact that it is made entirely of titanium is a very refreshing take on what I think is a somewhat stale design at this point. The design is quite simple but it is executed well with the usual excellent build quality that MING delivers on their cases.

The case has no contrasting finishing by way of matte or polished surfaces, and I think that’s OK and adds to the somewhat sterile aesthetic that I find particularly attractive. MING states that they didn’t add contrasting finishing on the case because Grade 2 Titanium cannot be polished. I believe that is not entirely true since plenty of watches have well executed polished surfaces on Grade 2 titanium cases and bracelets – the Christopher Ward Lumiere and Halios Seaforth IV Ti are examples of this from watches that I own personally.

There is a comfortable 6.5mm push-pull crown at the 3 o’clock position that is very easy to grip and operate, and if you flip this watch over you’ll see an exhibition case-back that is attached to the mid-case by means of four screws. The case-back states a water rating of 100m, but MING are proud to state that this watch is actually rated for up-to 260m of water resistance which is an incredible achievement for a watch without a screwed down crown or case-back. They state that they went with 100m on the case-back because of an inside joke, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the truth was that the watch ended up being far more pressure resistant than they initially planned for.

Dial

When thinking about this dial, I find myself most impressed by the fact that both the case and dial materials are so closely color-matched. I don’t imagine this was easy to achieve, considering most brands use entirely different suppliers for cases and dials, and trying to finish and material-match between the two sounds like a significant logistical challenge. The dial is a multi-finished titanium slab, featuring sunray-style radial brushing just below the floating hour rings and a circular brushed center section. The outermost raised rehaut section is actually part of the case, even though it convincingly looks like a dial element.

As with many MING watches, you have a HyCeram-infused sapphire crystal, with the ceramic luminous material bonded to the inner etched surface of the crystal, forming a circular marker ring. The design closely resembles the layout of the 37.09 Bluefin. While it appears nearly identical to that design, it is in fact different – this one is spaced further from the center of the dial and closer to the bezel, making the watch appear larger than the Bluefin. These floating markers cast beautiful shadows on the sterile titanium landscape below, which is one of my favorite aspects of MING watches in general.

The hands are not made of titanium, but MING has done a commendable job color-matching them to the case and dial. Upon close inspection, you can tell they are made from a different material. The hands follow the same design used in other 37 Series watches like the Minimalist, Aventurine, and Sand. They are close in length but easily distinguishable by their shapes, aided by a high-contrast application of white luminous material.

For a dial made entirely of brushed titanium, this watch is shockingly dynamic… almost to a fault. It attracts light like no other and can take on a wide variety of appearances throughout the day. I think the legibility is excellent in about 95% of lighting conditions, but I’d be lying if I said I never encountered situations in bright sunlight where the white hour ring was washed out by the dial catching some direct rays.

Lume

In terms of lume, the Ghost is nearly identical in luminous signature to the Starlight I reviewed a few months ago. It features a HyCeram-lumed crystal that glows quite brightly and has good longevity, along with a handset that has a much better-executed lume application compared to watches like the 22.01, 37.07, and 37.05. The minute hand design does not allow for much lume material to be applied, so it ends up being the faintest element in the dark. However, even with that design choice, the watch remains fairly easy to read well into the night. This isn’t the best-lumed watch from MING, and it’s not the best-lumed watch in this price range, but it is still sufficiently good given expectations and represents a much-needed step up from the intermediate years of poorly lumed MING watches.

Movement

The Sellita SW300 in the Ghost and many other MING watches now is, in my opinion, one of the best available off the shelf automatic Swiss movements you can get. The winding operation is excellent, it keeps good time, it is notably slimmer than the ETA2824/SW200, and just appears to have a lower failure rate in comparison.

MING went with a slightly atypical version of the Sellita SW300 featuring an anthracite finishing and plenty of skeletonization of the bridges and plates. I think this adds a nice touch, and makes the whole modern design of the watch come together a bit more cohesively. But like I’ve said in other MING reviews, if it were up to me I would ditch the exhibition case-back and have an interesting case-back design instead. MING regulates their movements pretty well and most MINGs I’ve owned have run within +/- 5spd, and I experienced the same with this Ghost.

On The Wrist

The 37.75mm diameter and 44.35mm lug-to-lug distance result in a wrist presence that is very comfortable on my 6.75″ wrist. The 11mm overall thickness wears slimmer than you would expect from a watch with these dimensions, and the overall wrist presence is extremely comfortably given its shockingly lightweight case head. Excluding a strap, the watch weighs only 34g, and practically disappears on your wrist.

The watch ships with a light grey leather strap from Jean Rousseau, which I did not wear even once. I don’t like the tone-on-tone aesthetic that they went for with this pairing, and much prefer to add a bit of contrast with the strap as I think it really brings out the color of the titanium. I’ve mostly worn this watch on one of MINGs latest rubber straps or one of my many curved Delugs straps.

Wrapping Up

I’ve reviewed a lot of 37 Series MINGs here already, so while this may be getting a bit repetitive with not a lot of new facts, I think this might be the first 37 Series in a long time that actually delivers something new, beyond just a different dial or similar minor changes. So if you’ve been experiencing 37 Series fatigue and love titanium, this might be the perfect MING watch to add to your collection.

There is something quite special about this piece that is hard to capture in photographs or videos. It feels like a product that has come together cohesively, rather than a somewhat inert combination of dial and crystal, which is what a lot of 37 Series watches feel like to me at this point. This watch reminds me of the 27.01 in many ways, even though that watch was perhaps more intentionally designed, considering that whole design family did not extend beyond the 27.01 and 27.02.

I hope MING preserves this familiar feeling by not releasing a dozen more iterations of titanium-cased 37 Series watches. And if you’re looking for an everyday MING watch that offers a different experience from everything that has come before it, in a package that isn’t entirely inaccessible, this is the one for you.