Skagen Ancher Watch Review - Are They A Scandinavian Scam?
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237 million dollars. That’s how much Fossil paid for the Skagen brand back in 2012. Was it a good purchase? Well, in this post, I’m taking my first look at one of their watches, to work out whether they’re worth buying, or if they’re just another Daniel Wellington clone in disguise.
I’ve been meaning to review these watches for a while, as I have had a few requests off viewers. So, when Amazon reached out offering to send me some watches, it was a no brainer to make this one of them.
Funnily enough, this watch arrived with a tag featuring an RRP of €159 (EURO) on it. Not to spoil it, but I don’t think you should EVER spend close to that on one of these basic fashion watches. Amazon UK currently has this listed at a much more reasonable £85, which I’ll link to in this article.
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History
I was surprised to find out that this brand had been around for decades before the Fossil acquisition, first selling watches in the early 90s. Looking at the progression of this brand, it feels like a bit of a precursor to the modern-day social media fashion watches. I remember occasionally seeing them in department stores when I was a kid.
Watch Sizing
So, that’s the brand, let’s talk about the watch. This is the reference code SKW6082, also listed as the ‘Ancher’. I’m assuming this refers to the famous Danish artists Michael and Anna Ancher. Visually, it instantly reminded me of some of the Bauhaus Braun designs; but even slimmer.
This one comes in at a mere 8.3mm deep, which includes the domed glass. Without it, you’d be looking closer to 6.5mm, which is incredibly thin. This ensures the watch lies extremely flat on-wrist, something bound to appeal to many of you out there. Online, Amazon has this listed as having a 45mm diameter, which isn’t the case, it’s actually a more reasonable 40mm, with a short 45.7mm lug to lug size. If you’re someone with a skinny wrist, but want a watch with a large dial, this one will give you that, without having to opt for the chunkiness that typically comes with it. At this price point, this is only one way this is achievable and that is by utilising a quartz movement, which we’ll discuss later.
Case
Outside of the size, the case is done to a reasonable standard. It’s constructed of 316L stainless steel and features a lightly brushed finish across the majority of the surface. There are one or two indicators that this is a budget watch, you’ll notice little nicks here and there. The finishing on the lugs, in particular, is inconsistent. Overall, for their target market, it works.
Form over function is the deal when it comes to the crown. Due to the quartz movement, you won’t be touching this often and thankfully so, given the absence of any grip whatsoever. It’s also incredibly small, to fit the minimal look of the piece; which, I guess it does.
Flipping the watch over reveals the glossy snapback case, which provides a small amount of water resistance. They’re claiming 30m here, which is essentially just splashproof or rain-resistant. I’d keep this out of the water whenever possible.
Watch Lugs
Before we discuss the dial, I have to cover the lugs while we’re here.
You’ll notice 4 tiny screws on the rear, but this time they aren’t holding the case back in place. They’re there to secure the straps, which is something I’ve never seen before. You can unscrew them and slide the strap straight out; it appears the screws fasten straight through the leather, which is left with two small holes in it. While this is peculiar and somewhat interesting, I’m hesitant to praise it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I question how this method would affect durability in the long run. Those holes are set very near the end of the strap material, I wonder if this could start ripping at some point. Secondly, it’s going to be more difficult to replace. As with the Swatches I covered a few weeks ago; you aren’t going to be able to reuse your existing, traditional lug straps unless you fancy slicing the ends off them. Also, I don’t like the open sides on these. Maybe they’re there for practicality’s sake, so you can slide the strap out easily? Either way, these don’t look particularly attractive, almost like a snake has bitten hold of your strap.
Dial
Luckily, the dial takes all the attention here. As I alluded to earlier, it’s wide and open, with a crowd-pleasing minimalist design that is reminiscent of other popular wristwatches I’ve covered before. It’s very simple yet not completely boring, giving you a versatile aesthetic that looks great with a variety of outfits. This has a very standard chapter ring with familiar numbers at each hour. The logo is also printed to the surface, in the typical central position. There’s a small date window sitting just above the 6 o’clock marker, featuring a little black border; which I like. It’s diminutive nature suits this watch rather well.
When you look closely, you can tell it’s a budget watch. The inked areas are really glossy and the white dial looks very plain and smooth. The hands also fall short of the perimeter markers by a notable amount, which highlights some areas that are cut to keep costs down. However, I like the shape and colour of the second hand, the blue is quite nice and suits the piece.
Glass
Nevertheless, upon receiving this watch, I was surprised to discover that the mineral glass covering the dial is lightly domed. I assumed this would just be flat, so during the unboxing, I wondered why the light coming off it had some curvature. I took a look against a dark surface and sure enough, the crystal was domed. This is a tiny bit more expensive than the simple flat glass used in Daniel Wellingtons and many other low-cost watches and while it doesn’t provide any additional performance, it sure looks good. It’s very subtle with this Skagen, which means it doesn’t spoil the slim design either. It doesn’t provide any major distortion and should give you the typical mild scratch-resistant properties of mineral crystal.
Watch Movement
Unfortunately, I was unable to verify the movement within the watch. I tried both of my removal tools and the rear simply wouldn’t budge, I even scratched the rear in the pursuit. The movement isn’t listed anywhere that I could find online. I’d hazard a guess that this is likely a Miyota quartz or possibly a higher-end Chinese one. It’s fairly quiet and seems accurate enough though, as with many quartz watches, this one isn’t aligned very well, meaning the second-hand usually ticks between the markers, rather than on them; which is frustrating.
Strap
The only thing left to talk about is the strap. This leaves a lot to be desired and honestly is quite poor. It feels cheap, plasticky and scratches very easily. The stainless steel buckle emblazoned with their logo is rather nice, though it doesn’t change my opinion that this will not wear well over time. The genuine leather is rather supple, so it’s fairly comfortable on-wrist, just don’t expect it to look particularly good after a few months of usage. That, combined with the weird screw lugs we mentioned earlier, show that this is another area where costs have been cut.
Are they giving you a bad strap so it wears out quickly, forcing you to buy replacements from them? Perhaps. To be clear, I’d say this is slightly better than those I looked at from MVMT and probably on-par with that of Daniel Wellington, despite the styling differences. If you’re only thinking of wearing this occasionally, that may not be of importance, but for regular usage, it’s not great.
Are Skagen Watches Any Good?
It’s clear to me that most of the decisions made here align with it’s intended purpose as a fashion accessory and nothing more. The watch looks good but isn’t highly-specced or super practical and that makes sense. If you are really into horology, I’d be surprised if this ticked your boxes.
As a fashion watch, I think you could do a lot worse. This watch does feel a tad better than the likes of a Timex Fairfield, which you’d expect that given the retail price, yet it still costs about 20% less than most DW watches, which are currently £100 to £150 on Amazon. It feels less cookie-cutter than the latter option and I think is a slightly better watch overall, despite its flaws. It’s a real shame Casio discontinued that Sapphire model, because in situations like this I would have just pointed you in that direction, given the looks and specs.
If you like the look of it, it might be worth picking up but I think £85 is the very highest you should be spending on something like this; frankly, the RRP is ridiculous. Currently, there’s another very similar Skagen on Amazon, which is about £12 cheaper. If that also appeals to you, I’d just get the cheaper one, as they look the same outside of the chapter ring. If not, I’d recommend saving up a tiny bit and go for something like the quartz Sternglas Naos or one of the lower-end Junkers models, which are really affordable when on discount. The white Orient Bambino is also a good choice, but it certainly feels bigger on wrist.
