Paulin is all about family, design and a creative community, both from within and surrounding the brand. Founded by the Paulin sisters in 2013, the initial premise was designing and assembling simple, high quality, design-led watches. In the meantime, in addition to an ever-growing range of timepieces, Paulin has expanded into leather goods, released a best-selling wall clock and an upcoming floor lamp.
The Paulin story begins with George Henry Paulin, sculptor, painter and great-grandfather to the Paulin sisters. His work can still be seen around Scotland and in Glasgow, which is where Paulin is firmly rooted. Our flagship location along Great Western Road houses our workshop, a multipurpose creative space acting as a shop, office, studio and leather workshop. In both our Glasgow and Edinburgh locations, you can try on all of our timepieces, browse a curated selection of goods from local designers, artists and makers and chat to us about all things Paulin.
Quality, affordability and sustainability are the orders of the day at Paulin. Our parts are sourced from around the world but where possible, British manufacturers are supported. Quality is never compromised on and all of our movements are Miyota movements from Japan, with the upcoming watch featuring a Seiko movement. Our practices are eco-conscious, as is our packaging and we provide our customers with personal and attentive service, in-store and online.
Paulin is fully embedded in the Glasgow creative community, working closely with creatives from the region on a variety of projects, such as Art on the Subway: advertising space is used to highlight local artists and designers which align with the Paulin philosophy and vibe. Some recent examples include Gregor Wright, a multidisciplinary artist showing regularly at the Modern Institute and all over the world and Psyche Publication, focusing on psychological issues married with artistic interpretations, conceptualised in Glasgow and printed in Edinburgh.
Additionally, our Stockbridge location in Edinburgh will begin serving as a curation space for local artists, as a way to showcase local talent and give people an accessible platform, similar to Art on the Subway, while connecting the community to Paulin. Part of this will include the introduction of workshops and hands-on events with local artists and specific themes.
Paulin was founded on the principles of family and design by Elizabeth, Charlotte and Eleanor Paulin. The premise was simple: designing and assembling simple, high-quality watches. Our first range of watches, the C200s, S75s and C50s, was released.
2014 saw the release of the Commuter, one of our most popular models to date.
This year saw the opening of the first Paulin space on the Trongate in Glasgow. This initial experience face-to-face with our customers was invaluable as we were able to get tangible feedback, which informed the process of expanding and updating our watch and product range.
We introduced a range of small leather goods; we sourced vibrant Italian, full-grain vegetable tanned leather from the Tempesti Tannery in Florence which would later influence our 12mm Geo Mini straps.
More expansion meant more space, so we moved to a new flagship concept store on Great Western Road in Glasgow’s West End which was larger and featured an updated layout.
2017 also saw the introduction of the new Geo Mini watch and our first bespoke font, ‘Geo’. This font was also used in the update of our Commuter and the creation of our first mechanical watch, the Commuter Automatic.
At the end of the year, our wall clock was first released and would go on to become a runaway success.
The Geo Mini was stocked in the iconic MoMA Design Store in New York for a limited period.
In 2018, we also opened our doors to Edinburgh for the first time with a brand new concept store in Stockbridge.
Art on the Subway was launched, a collaboration between Paulin and creatives local to Scotland. Advertising space on the Glasgow subway is used to highlight local talent and connect us to the creative community around us.
2019 also saw the release of the first non-leather straps at Paulin with the launch of the sought-after mesh straps.
2020 is taking Paulin to new heights. We are greatly expanding our creative footprint by transforming the Stockbridge location into a curation space and gallery, giving local creatives the opportunity to showcase and share their art with people coming through the store.
This also informs our newest watch, the Neo, a collaborative effort between Paulin and anOrdain. The watch features anodised aluminium dials from a factory near Ayr, which are hand-dyed by a Glaswegian jeweller specialised in working with aluminium, in several eye-catching colours, a first for Paulin.
