ing, Fleming and J.N. Shapiro held a joint showcase of their latest watches under the Alternative Horological Alliance (AHA) banner, as well as selected pieces from their archives, at this year’s Geneva Watch Days.

"We formed the AHA not only to multiply our collective strengths, but also simply because we enjoy working with each other. By pooling resources, each brand can achieve things beyond its individual constraints. For example, we might have J.N. Shapiro make cases for us or for Ming to serve as an Asian reception point for future servicing for Fleming. We want to take an openly collaborative approach - for instance, the joint exhibition is a much stronger incentive for collectors to visit us in person during Geneva Watch Days than any one of our brands alone,” said Ming Thein, founder of Horologer Ming.

“We have known each other for a while now and there is a lot of mutual respect for the work each of us are doing. We have our own unique approach to watches, but we share common ideals – and being collectors ourselves, we know there’s far less risk of cannibalism than additional temptation! The AHA provides a platform for brands like us to come together and work on shared projects, such as our new tantalum bracelet,” shared Thomas Fleming of Fleming Watches.

The three founding members of AHA also announced their first collaboration: a tantalum bracelet made by J.N. Shapiro and based on a Ming design, available in 21mm, 20mm and 19mm versions to fit watches from all AHA member brands. A prototype was available for viewing at the AHA suite during Geneva Watch Days.

“The AHA tantalum bracelet will be made to order with either a satin brushed or polished finish and in curved or straight end links. The end links are interchangeable so collectors owning multiple watches need not also purchase multiple bracelets,” added Fleming.

“The development and prototyping of a tantalum bracelet from scratch in under four months demonstrates the kind of things we can do together under the AHA umbrella," said Joshua Shapiro, founder of J.N. Shapiro.

He continued, “The design was originally conceived by Ming but pushed by our curiosity and machining expertise at Shapiro to produce. Due to the shape and number of links in this bracelet, it is exponentially more challenging to do in tantalum versus more generic and less organic bracelets It would have been much more difficult to do this as individual brands and the economics would not have worked. But now our customers benefit from a rare tantalum bracelet that is easily adaptable to different watches.”

While membership of AHA is currently limited to Ming, Fleming and J.N. Shapiro, the three brands agree that future members are welcome, subject to unanimous agreement by the founding members. “We would love to expand the group, but it is critical that all members of AHA share the same philosophy and values otherwise it would be counterproductive,” explained Thein. “I think any brand principal will agree it is challenging enough just to manage one brand!”

“The idea of the AHA is not so much of an exclusive club, but rather it’s a forum for smaller, independent watch brands to support each other in our own aims and to collaborate to bring something new to market that we might not have been able to do alone. The new AHA tantalum bracelet for example, was a result of a lot of back-and-forth discussion between us. But it’s really satisfying to feel the heft of a physical prototype in hand and be able offer it for sale through our individual brand e-commerce sites soon,” added Fleming.

Shapiro concluded, “At the end of the day we know that what we are trying to do is a little different from most conventional watch brands out there. We put a piece of ourselves out there; our names are on the dials. It can be a little isolating to feel that you are alone in this. Through the AHA we have found kinship with like-minded founders and friends. This is probably just the first of many things we find ourselves doing together."