About
First watch review of 2025, and a special one at that. I speak proudly as self-elected president of the McQueen-Newman Wannabe Association that today’s victim is not a tool watch. This is the tip of spear in writing and accomplishing more of… everything else. Education around how watches work. More How Villains Keep Time. Reviews of watches that are not meant to theoretically exist in a perpetual state of rough and tumble.
We’ll see how much “everything else” pans out as the year develops, but I’m going to make good on at least one of these promises today. You have likely heard of AnOrdain, the Glasgow, Scotland-based watch company that specializes in bringing a tear to your eye through the sheer beauty of their enamel dials. AnOrdain has made a name for itself by providing hand-finished dial work at a price point most enthusiasts only thought possible in their dreams.
To me, AnOrdain is the elite small batch (production) whiskey of the watch world, a Pappy Van Winkle in horological form. You know it is well crafted, but there’s an upper bound to the circulable supply each year that does not accommodate public demand. Like many other quasi-mythical watch brands that suffer from scarcity, AnOrdain is unfortunately more apt to exist digitally than on your wrist.
In late 2023, AnOrdain collaborated with fellow Scottish company Method Studio (an artisanal trunk and wood-working outfit) to bring to life their third watch collection, the aptly-named Model 3 Method. Kramer, friend of yours truly and a reader of CSH, was kind enough to lend us his Model 3 plus one other mystery watch that will follow this review. His personal watch represents an opportunity to translate knowledge of AnOrdain from theory to practice, and I’m excited to bring you my thoughts in Part One of this winter review double header.
Dialed In
AnOrdain’s dial process is involved but distillable. The company uses vitreous enamel, colloquially known as porcelain enamel, for the vast majority of its watches. This material is different than regular porcelain and is created by fusing glass to metal; multiple rounds of enamel powder are hand-painted layer by layer to a wafer-thin metal disc before being fired in a kiln at upwards of 830 degrees Celsius. The end result is a sub-1mm thick watch dial with a superb glassy finish.
After the dial is first removed from the kiln, it is inspected for bubbles or other imperfections that are eliminated during subsequent firings. The end result is a dial that should have the correct color depth and height. Feet are then soldered on to the dial post polishing so that it can be attached to the watch movement. Ultimately, these dials are inked with pad printing equipment and then cured for use in watch assembly.
AnOrdain has three collections, all enamel based, with the Model 3 being their most recent portfolio addition. What makes the Model 3 stand out is not the enamel but the metal disc, in this case textured silver, which is based on a hand-carved piece of ashen wood from Method Studio that AnOrdain has scanned and modeled in great detail. The end result is an exceptionally organic visual, reminiscent of roiling ocean waves in this Aqua colorway. I’ve never seen anything like it in my limited experience; Grand Seiko carries the same nature design panache, but whereas their dials radiate surgical beauty, there’s something inherently more human about AnOrdain’s offering.
As you might suspect, this watch is an all-dial exercise. AnOrdain didn’t neglect the rest of the package, however. The Model 3’s heat-treated skeletonized hands are an artful yet restrained choice in complimenting the dial (although they do not reach the minute track which is a minor miss). Its case is slightly more rounded than the Model 1, and gone are the crown guards that were perhaps more visually distracting than functional. The lugs are also slimmer as well and come inwards at the perfect angle. In the aggregate, these are tasteful adjustments that amplify the Model 3’s attractiveness beyond its predecessors.
I love how unobtrusive the Model 3 wears on the wrist. At a mere 10.5mm thick it sits flush like a proper dress watch should, and with the change of a strap can be transformed into something significantly more or less formal. Label me the foremost champion of doubling down on color: wearing the Aqua with AnOrdain’s teal calfskin strap is a statement. With a dial like this, it pays dividends to be bold.
The Model 3’s nucleus is the Sellita SW300, Sellita’s clone competitor to the ETA 2892-A2 (itself of working class 2824 descent). The SW300 is a highly reliable, if plainly adorned, off-the-shelf movement weighing in at 25 jewels and 42 hours of power reserve. You can find it serving honorably amongst many well known brands: Christopher Ward, Farer, Sinn, Bell & Ross, Oris, etc. The SW300 can be readily obtained for between $300 and $400 online, representing a fraction of the Model 3’s MSRP at $4,646. Bear in mind that Sellita offers multiple movement grades all the way up to COSC Chronometer status (+4 / -6 seconds per day). I must now admit a sin of omission: I did not test the Model 3’s accuracy while it was in my grasp. However, we do know that the Model 3 uses Sellita’s second tier Special or ‘Elabore’ grade, which cruises respectably at +/-7 to 20 seconds per day.
If The Price (Opportunity Cost) Is Right
It is probably premature to declare the Model 3 AnOrdain’s magnum opus, but this watch certainly highlights the meat and potatoes of the company’s value proposition. There are a multitude of brands with enamel dial models, but a cursory Google search will tell you most aren’t accessible to the watch nerd proletariat: Patek Philippe, Ulysses Nardin, and Vacheron Constantin, to name a few.
Those companies come with brand cache-appropriate pricing and exclusivity. AnOrdain offers the vast majority of its watches between $2,500 – $5,000 USD. That price range doesn’t equate to “cheap,” but it does represent a quantum that, with enough time, can be saved for and acquired. None of the brands mentioned above are homegrown enamel specialists playing regularly in this zip code.
A scarce Hodinkee LE aside, the Model 3 is not limited production. AnOrdain’s professional mom-and-pop outfit only has seven sets of hands available to craft the dials, however, which introduces another layer beyond cost: time. Finite hands means finite build slots in the near-term: in order to acquire one, you are currently looking at a waitlist stretching into 2028. Kramer jumped aboard in early 2022 with an approximate 10% deposit. Delivery was designated as Q1 2024; Kramer paid the balance in February last year and ultimately received his watch in September. His experience may not be indicative of AnOrdain’s current production expectations, but it should make you reflect on the limits of your own endurance.
For the price that AnOrdain is charging you, the Model 3 elicits a second question of the type that stirs watch lovers’ souls: does most of a watch’s value reside in the dial? As dependable a companion as the SW300 is, I feel confident in saying you aren’t buying the Model 3 primarily on the merit of its internals. In-house movement or not, no one wears their watch inverted in order to stare longingly at the balance wheel.
To be blunt: yes, most of the value of a watch resides in the dial. Truly loving a watch is an exercise in being obsessed with aesthetics, in getting smacked in the face with happiness as you check the time (again) while your friends are left to ponder if you’ve grown bored of their company. Side-note: it is totally and completely normal to check your watch that frequently. No one understands you like I do.
Sitting patiently in line likely means gritting your teeth as you see both existing watch models taunt you while new ones leave you in the dust. Anyone considering a fresh Model 3 can’t possibly escape this quandary. Is it worth foregoing a Spring Drive-equipped Grand Seiko? How about a vintage Datejust, or a new 3861 Speedmaster? None of these watches are directly comparable on price or type, but they are available immediately. Living in a consumer culture built upon instant gratification means the AnOrdain must beat them all on its path to winning your mental gymnastics tournament.
Like any obsession where the product is the hobby itself, investing heavily in a single feature (in this case, the dial) can sometimes be mistaken for hurtling towards a zero sum game: money was put into achieving X, therefore corners must have been cut in regards to Y. That simply isn’t true. A watch is still the sum of its parts and then some, with “then some” being defined nebulously as making your heart sing. I suspect that for many of us, myself included, the dynamism and fluidity of the Model 3’s dial pattern does that.
Here’s my take for anyone in the market for a Model 3: AnOrdain has taken something as simple yet important like a watch dial and elevated it through the yin-yang, oil and water combination that is art and science. They’ve brought to us a watch objectively more memorable than 90% of the offerings at or below this price point (plus a non-immaterial number of watches above as well).
AnOrdain’s Model 3 may be one of a few select watches with the unique potential to become the most unique watch you may ever own. The wait list will sting, as will your wallet plus the opportunity cost of other watches with a markedly higher supply. For a dial this dynamic, however, I think the time spent to acquire it will be time gained back in spades.
The Specs:
- Case Material: 316L stainless steel
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Dial: Transparent vitreous enamel on textured silver (Aqua or Lichen colorway)
- Movement: Sellita SW300
- Power Reserve: 42 hours
- Caseback: Solid (customizable)
- Water Resistance: 50 meters
- Case Diameter: 39mm
- Lug-to-Lug: 46mm
- Lug Width: 20mm
- Thiccness: 10.5mm
- Pricing: $4,646 (excluding VAT)
- Availability: Not Really (Non-Limited, Waitlist Dependent)
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