The news from Scotland’s very own, anOrdain watch company;
Presenting a brand new iteration of our seminal watch – the Model 1 Precious Metal Series. In collaboration with Windup Watch Shop, an online watch boutique founded by Worn & Wound, the dials of the Model 1 Precious Metal Series offer the more subtle design features of our first watch space to breathe upon the dial.
When the first lockdown of 2020 hit, enamel production at anOrdain halted for the first time in two years.
Making a watch without enamel wasn’t something we’d done before but, unwilling to stop creating, we began racking our brains about how best to proceed.
With a team comprising of typographers, silversmiths, jewellers, watchmakers and people from an array of design principles, we knew we would be able to explore other creative avenues.
Working with one of Europe’s leading dial makers in Germany, we experimented with various precious metals and techniques such as milling, polishing and galvanic dipping to develop a miniature series of our first watch, the Model 1.
We were careful to ensure any new iteration of the Model 1 maintained a distinctly anOrdain aesthetic, transferring the numeral and hand design from the enamel version onto the metallic dials.
TOUCH OF GOLD
The stripped-back dials of the Model 1 Precious Metal Series – galvanically plated in red gold, white gold and black rhodium – allow room for these elements to breathe.
Unusual in their construction, the dials are bowl-shaped. The chapter ring around the edge of the dial curls upwards towards the edge of the gently domed crystal, with a brushed finish contrasting with the sand-blasted flat surface to create a tantalising play of light. The numerals, pad-printed onto the dial, are compellingly accentuated by the mixed textures below.
The Hands
Just as intertwining the design and making processes is an integral part of what we do here at anOrdain, these separate elements can sometimes also weave their own webs to create a tapestry of narrative continuity throughout each part of the watch.
The various design elements of the Model 1 – and now the Model 1 Precious Metal Series – borrow from one another. The cartographic influence permeates everything from the numerals to the indexes and hands.
Polished and finished in a white lacquer, the hands of the Black Rhodium perfectly match the bold white of the numerals and indices and pop spectacularly against the black dial.
The Result
The Model 1 Precious Metal Series is a new direction for us, but each watch still feels and looks thoroughly anOrdain.
We’ve kept the inner workings of the Model 1 Precious Metal Series as they were in the original model, with an ETA 2824-2, regulated and modified in-house by our team of four watchmakers, still working to power our latest iteration.
To commemorate the project, the brushed case backs are laser engraved with the Windup Watch Shop logo and individually numbered.
The price is $1250, from the Windup Watch Shop website.
