AnOrdain Model 1 Porcelain: Glasgow's Finest Gets a Custom Font and a Fired Porcelain Dial

AnOrdain has been one of the most consistently impressive small brands in the industry for years. The Glasgow-based team built its reputation on handcrafted grand feu enamel dials, and now it's expanding that dial craft into porcelain territory with the Model 1 Porcelain.

A quick note on the naming: yes, this is actually the brand's second porcelain dial watch. Last year's Model 2 Porcelain came first, which is a little confusing, but here we are. The Model 1 Porcelain is the newer piece, and it brings something the Model 2 didn't have: a completely custom typeface designed in collaboration with Iranian-Scottish graphic designer Kia Tasbihgou.

That font is the real story here. It's not just a new dial material on an existing design. AnOrdain has rethought the numerals from scratch, and the result is worth paying attention to.

What's Actually New

The dial is fired porcelain, produced by hand in AnOrdain's studio. Porcelain and grand feu enamel are related but distinct techniques. Both involve high-temperature firing, but porcelain has a different texture and finish, slightly more matte and opaque compared to the glassy depth of enamel. It's a traditional dial material, the kind you'd find on fine antique pocket watches, and AnOrdain is one of the very few contemporary brands doing it at this level.

The numerals are where the Model 1 Porcelain steps away from anything the brand has done before. In-house typography designer Imogen Ayres worked with Kia Tasbihgou to create a custom font that takes Breguet-style numerals as its starting point and pushes them somewhere new. The result is refined but has its own personality. It doesn't feel like a copy of anything.

Who This Watch Is For

If you already know AnOrdain, you probably don't need much convincing. The brand's enamel dial watches have earned a devoted following among people who care deeply about how a dial is actually made, not just what it looks like in a press photo.

The Model 1 Porcelain is aimed at a buyer who wants something at the intersection of traditional craft and considered modern design. This isn't a tool watch, and it's not trying to be. It's a dress watch with serious credentials behind it.

• Porcelain dial made by hand in Glasgow
• Custom numeral typeface designed with Kia Tasbihgou
• Follows the Model 2 Porcelain as AnOrdain's second fired porcelain piece
• Typography developed internally by designer Imogen Ayres
• Continues AnOrdain's positioning as one of the UK's most craft-focused independent brands

How It Compares

AnOrdain's enamel dial watches are already considered some of the best value propositions in independent watchmaking. The porcelain pieces sit slightly differently in the lineup. Porcelain dials require their own specific process and skillset, and the Model 1 Porcelain reflects that.

If you're comparing this to other porcelain dial watches, your reference points are mostly going to be vintage pocket watches and a handful of very expensive modern pieces from established Swiss houses. AnOrdain is doing this at a scale and price point that most of those brands aren't interested in. That's a genuine gap they're filling.

The custom font also separates this from the Model 2 Porcelain. That watch established the technique; this one pushes the design language further. If you're choosing between the two, the Model 1 Porcelain is the more visually distinctive piece.

AnOrdain keeps proving that genuinely interesting watchmaking doesn't require a Swiss postcode. The Model 1 Porcelain is a serious piece of craft work, and the custom typeface gives it an identity that's entirely its own. If you've been watching this brand, this one is worth your full attention.