We analyse the poorly-studied open cluster King 1 in the second Galactic quadrant. From wide-field photometry we have studied the spatial distribution of this cluster. We determined that the centre of King 1 is located at α 2000 = 00 h 22 m and δ 2000 = +64 • 23 ′ . By parameterizing the stellar density with a King profile we have obtained a central density of ρ 0 = 6.5±0.2 star arcmin −2 and a core radius of r core = 1. ′ 9±0. ′ 2. By comparing the observed color-magnitude diagram of King 1 with those of similar open clusters and with different sets of isochrones, we have estimated an age of 2.8 ± 0.3 Gyr, a distance modulus of (m − M) o = 10.6 ± 0.1 mag, and a reddening of E(B − V) = 0.80 ± 0.05 mag. To complete our analysis we acquired medium resolution spectra for 189 stars in the area of King 1. From their derived radial velocities we determined an average velocity V r =-53.1±3.1 km s −1 . From the strength of the infrared Ca ii lines in red giants we have determined an average metallicity of [M/H] =+0.07±0.08 dex. From spectral synthesis we have also estimated an α-elements abundance of [α/M] =-0.10±0.08 dex.