Check out our list of the best Swedish watch brands (in no particular order) that at least have some part of the manufacturing in Sweden.
Although they aren’t as well known as Swiss watches and German watch brands, Swedish watch companies are not internationally famous, but are getting more and more well known.
Sweden has a strong line up of watch brands and I can say with confidence they are an up and coming hot-spot for watch design.
Some of the standouts for me include; GoS who have elevated the watch to high art while still embracing their heritage; BOOM with their modular/component flexible style; and Bravur who are bringing together a retro sensibility with a modern flourish. It amazes me how all these brands express their own unique Scandinavian legacies.
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The Top Swedish Watch Brands
Bravur Watches
Bravur was founded by friends Magnus Appelryd and Johan Sahlin in 2011 in Stockholm Sweden around 3 main principles; Great Design, High Quality wrapped up in an Urban Lifestyle Sensibility. Offering both quartz and automatic watches Bravur’s style is clean and elegant, a touch retro (at least in the automatic line) and full of Scandinavian minimalism. I have to say the 39mm Scandinavia Automatic in Midnight Blue (shown above) is a handsome watch.
The fact that it is sporting a Swiss movement (a Sellita SW300-1 that is 3.60mm thick), gold applied indexes and hands, sapphire crystal and is hand made to order in Bastad Sweden makes the $1000.00 price tag pretty easy to justify.
Daniel Wellington
A watch by Daniel Wellington has a very specific design. Clean, thin, and elegant. Timeless! Held in place by an old-fashioned NATO wristband (made from nylon). And that’s basically it! Yes, they do also offer other types of bands, from leather to metal. Prices range from $100 to $300 and are plentiful on Amazon, here.
A funny story about the name: Founder Filip Tysander got the inspiration to start a watch brand after meeting an old-school English gentleman by the name of Daniel Wellington. Filip liked Mr Wellingtons relaxed and gentleman-like style, and especially his NATO wristband! An idea was born…
Epoch Stockholm
In 2001, the founders of Sjöö Sandström – Mikael Sandström and Christer Sjöö – sold their company to start a new venture; the founding of watch making company Epoch Stockholm. As Sjöö Sandström watches had price tags in the $3000 to $8000 range, they now decided to focus their efforts on making quality timepieces at a lower price. Epoch watches sell for around $600-$1500+. Very resinable considering the elegant design, the careful selection of Swiss movements, and the solid craftsmanship. Epoch manufactures both men’s and women’s wristwatches, from their workshop in Tullinge, Stockholm. Currently they have three lines the President, First Lady and Jubilee Gold. Above is the Jubilee Elegance in solid 18K Gold for $1,500.00 US, too bad its a quartz mechanism.
GoS Watches
GoS stands for the partnership between bladesmith Johan Gustafsson & master watchmaker Patrik Sjogren, who was recently awarded member ship into the GPHG Academy. This unique partnership resulted in an amazing line of handforged Damascus steel cased watches. Each watch from GoS is special as the forging process creates one of a kind pattern for the case of each watch. The model pictured above is the Sarek Trollius with custom engraved accents done in collaboration with Swedish artisan Anders Hedlund. The Sarek Trollius is sporting an automatic Soprod A10 caliber, sapphire glass and bespoke details, all these little details really make GoS watches really stand out. I would personally love to add one of these pieces to my collection, someday.
Halda Watch Co
The brand Halda has a long and glorious history. Halda Fickursfabrik AB was founded already in 1887 by Henning Hammarlund in Svängsta, Sweden. Mr Hammarlund received extensive and thorough horological training in Switzerland and had returned to Sweden to manufacture pocket watches. His first pocket watches was presented in 1889, and they were an instant success, receiving two medals from the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Halda was liquidated in 1920 after the demand for pocket watches had plummeted during World War I.
Why are we talking about a company that went bust for almost 100 years ago? Because the brand Halda has now been resurrected under the name Halda Watch Company by Mikael Sandström (co-founder of both Sjöö Sandström and Epoch Stockholm).
Combining traditional watchmaking with modern technology, Halda Watch Co now makes two high-performance timepieces the Halda Race Pilot and Halda Space Discovery. Both models are based on the idea of an interchangeable head and are manufactured with extreme precision and perfection to meet the extreme demands found in space and on the race track. Each watch comes with two modules and others are available.
Knut Gadd
Knut Gadd is run by the Gadd family in Stockholm Sweden. There men’s watch lines include the Cult Chrono and Decagon which are vintage inspired, sophisticated and unique. They also have two women’s lines the Hexagon and Octagon. All of Knut Gadd’s watches have quartz movements and hover in the 200 euro range.
Larsson & Jennings
Another mass produced watch company very similar to Daniel Wellington, Larsson & Jennings’ fashion-centric brand features thin watches with clean dials with quartz movements. They’ve created empowering, minimal timepieces and accessories since 2012, combining a modern Swedish design aesthetic, British heritage, and good craftsmanship.
The Larsson & Jennings watch pictured below represents the balance of modern and classic and brings together all the traditional aspects of an English dress watch with contemporary Swedish design.
Maen Watches
Maen watches uses only Swiss made movements in all four lines of their men’s watches, the Skymaster and Hudson automatics and the Manhattan and Brooklyn quartz models. All have a clean and elegant look and feel. Based out of Stockholm the watches run from 200 to just under 800 euros.
Schipper
I was recently was introduced to the Schipper brand, these super minimalist watches can be had with a variety of straps, including leather, mesh or NATO/nylon. Schipper watches come with durable Japanese quartz movements. These 40mm wide and super thin (8mm) watchse boast a unique orange marker at five o’clock that is supposed to signify emotion and passion and stands for warmth, determination, amusement and freedom. Priced from $140.00 US on their website, its pretty easy to get into a Swedish watch brand.
Sjöö Sandström
Sjöö Sandström was founded in 1986 by Mikael Sandström and Christer Sjöö. Being both engineers and watch enthusiasts, the two had a very good idea how a prestigious high-end timepiece should be designed and constructed. Their work have resulted in a small-scale operation, focused on superb craftsmanship and traditional design. From the manufacturing facilities in Stockholm, the first model (the Automatic S1) was introduced in 1993. Subsequent models have since established Sjöö Sandström as Sweden’s top watch brand.
Although the movements, along with all other parts, are imported from Switzerland, Sjöö Sandström is still very much Swedish. Design, construction, marketing and quality control are all done in Stockholm.
When the Swedish Air Force needed a new chronograph for their pilots in 2011, they chose a Swedish watch, the Sjöö Sandström UTC Skydiver. It’s a very cool watch!
South Lane
Inspired by fashion and architectural trends in Stockholms artistic Södermalm district, South Lane ethos is Bold Minimalism. As a fashion brand I think South Lane is doing just that. This is not a brand you buy for haute horlogerie but because it looks cool with your favorite jeans. The Avant Diffuse Invert in white is lots of fun, see above. Check out the huge collection on Amazon, starting at $20 and going up to about $350 you can find something to match any style.
TID Watches
TID Watches is another very new brand from Stockholm (founded in 2012). After choosing the Swedish word for Time (Tid) as the name for their company, the four founders – Ola Bernestål, Petrus Palmér, Jonas Pettersson, and John Löfgren – decided to aim for the stars. They wanted to make unique and iconic timepieces that would stand the test of time. Their watch lines are called the No.1 through the No.4. The No.3 I find of special interest with its transparent plastic case. See the No.3 above or more on Amazon here.
TRIWA
TRIWA (acronym for Tranforming the Industry of WAtches) is another independent Stockholm-based brand. Operations started as late as 2007 and they are making both watches and sunglasses. TRIWA has a strong focus on making playful and creative watches. Individuality is a cornerstone in their design philosophy. TRIWA makes quartz watches for both men and women, to get yours go here.
Tusenö Göteborg
One of Sweden’s newer watch brands, starting in 2015, Tusenö is another watch brand started by watch enthusiasts. The brand claims to be the most funded watch in crowdfunding history. The name comes from an old book of charts referring to the Swedish west coast as “the coast with the thousand islands.”
They currently have three watch lines the First 42, the Blackwater and the First 38. I have to say, the Blackwater really stands out for me. I particularly like how they have intergated the heavy metal braclet into the case. The Blackwater shown above starts at 1,400 euros. Their other lines start at 300 euros and go up.
VERK Watches
Another clean, simplistic and elegant Swedish watch company is VERK, which is the Swedish term for the end result of one’s work. This minimalist brand features Swedish design with German manufacturing. They currently have two lines the ETT (or one in Swedish) is there best seller with a simple elegant dial and the TVÅ (or two in Swedish) there newest watch which is a one handed 24 hour dial. Each VERK features a 5 year warranty and free shipping to the US.
VERK is hoping to launch a new watch every year. Hopefully they can pull it off. The TVÅ and ETT are wonderfully simple and elegant watches.
More Swedish Watch Brands
BOOM
Update: We recently noticed an error when we go to the BOOM website (https://www.boomwatches.com/us/). Below is our original review, but we’re not sure if this Swedish watch brand is on the way out.
One of the more fun watch brands out of Sweden. Coming from the fashion world, Niklas Dahlgren started BOOM to give consumers more choices in how they interact with their watches. Creating an interactive system to assemble watches to each consumers wishes with, dial, case, bezel and straps all being separate parts that can be changed at any time. The watches come in 2 sizes and are basic quartz watches. These watches are not high horology, but they are definitely fun and fashionable watches. I really like BOOM’s BOOM BOX idea to present all the pieces of the watch/es you have created.
Miró Watches
Update: Unfortunately, it looks like the Miró Watches website is no longer up. It is sad to think that a company with such beautiful watches could rise and fall so quickly, but I guess that is how it is sometimes in the watch world. Below is our original review.
A clean, simplistic and elegant watch topped off with a leather strap; that’s the distinctive feature of a timepiece from Miró Watches. Founded in late 2012, Miró Watches is one of the newest players in the watchmaking world. Now what about the name? Does it have something to do with the famous Spanish painter Joan Miró? Yes, absolutely! His style has been a great inspiration to the founders of this brand.
I have to say I really like Miró’s tagline from their website “Watches designed to take a peak at even though you are perfectly aware of the time.” The Occasion 38 Sub Seconds pictured above.
We Hope You’ve Enjoyed this List of Swedish Watch Brands
As always, if we missed a brand that you think should be included, drop us a comment and let us know. For other interesting brands, please take a look at our list of the best Scandinavian watch brands.
