The Legendary Skagen Watches Company Began In New York}
Friday, October 1st, 2010Coming to New York to represent another watch company found two immigrants marketing Danish watches. It was original an expansion of another brand, but it became much more than what each of the immigrants expected. The Danish brand was nice to have and that was what these two found out quickly, but the Skagen ladies watches Company was soon to begin.
The couple who introduce this design to the American market found that the brand was likable by the public, but would not become popular because of just the logo and name recognition. Quality and affordability had to go with the name recognition.
Because of this, the immigrants ordered four designs and over eight-hundred time pieces from the Danish company and branded them as Skagen. The order shortly sold out as did another order. This is when the new company took off.
The couple worked on 30 more models and designs for the next year. The two had a distinct idea of what Americans may buy and were looking to purchase. These models were designed with this in mind and it worked. The models began to sell and the company was slowly beginning to grow.
The watches were handcrafted and reliable with a Scandinavian flavor as well as being reasonably priced in order to satisfy the average person. An unexpected meeting with a local catalogue producer would put the Skagen line on the map. The catalogue placed one of the designs on the back of the publication.
From their New York apartment, the couple earned a staggering $800,000 from the catalogue advertising. Every bit of stock was sold and additional orders had to be filled. The catalog watch was a woman’s design that the immigrants from Denmark had developed themselves.
With this success, the designers approached Bloomingdale’s and convinced them to place their line in the store on a trial basis. By the end of the first day, all the watches were sold and Bloomingdale’s had to make a rapid repeat order. This launched the brand and made it one of the new stars in the watch market by 1998. The next market would be the world, which included Denmark.
The Denmark office was launched and several dozen stores were opened. The company then expanded to Germany, England and other European nation. With over 250 designs and 5,000 stores, the Skagen brand is now being sold throughout the known world. The little investment and the idea of the original four designs made this into a worldwide company that continues to expand.
The little apartment where the first designs were launched from has turned into a 170 employees, all being involved in designing and developing new models. The passion of just two individuals has made it back to their home country of Denmark and now the rest of the world.
The first ideas that brought the Skagen ladies watch to be the nice ones to have are still being kept by the rest of the company. A mission statement from the Skagen company concentrates on a unique men’s wrist watch at prices that can be afforded by everyone and used in almost every situation.