Danish watch brand Skagen

Established in the late 1980s, the Danish brand Skagen
manufactures watches and accessories. Although their catalog does not include mechanical watches, Skagen can be seen as a watch brand, since they focus more on watches than accessories. Skagen has gained strong brand recognition with their minimalistic and clean-cut design, traits found in other Scandinavian brands. Skagen has been recognized for their high level of perfection by winning the “Red Dot Award” for two years in a row. Skagen was acquired by the Fossil Group, the largest watch company in the US and a major manufacturer with fashion watch brands that include Emporio Armani, DKNY, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and the tradition-rich Zodiac, as well as STP, the movement manufacturer that also makes mechanical
caliber.

Features

The Skagen Falster automatically displays time in the world
time-zone you are in. There's no need to reset the time, no matter where you go for business or travel. The smartwatch can be used to access smartphone notifications, control music on your phone and display weather and health information. The watch screen lights up, transforming the watch into a flashlight. The watch has many other useful features, but the best has to be the smartphone location tracking feature. This is a lifesaver for anyone who easily misplaces their phone. The phone screen lights up when you lift your arms up to look at the time, which is another feature that shows the state of the art technology applied to this smartwatch. Out of all the watches I've introduced in my columns, the Skagen Falster probably offers the most abundant features to date. However, because the smartwatch is synced with the smartphone is so many ways, and thus used so frequently, the 24 hour power reserve is not enough. Even with fully recharged batteries in the morning, after using some features, I was down to below 30% battery life by the evening. I would have been out of battery if I had worked all night. Fortunately, Skagen offers a wireless charger; all you have to do is place your smartwatch on the magnetic pad for an easy recharge. The charger is as small and light as a USB cable and easy to carry around. Battery life would not be a major problem if you are able to purchase another charger at an affordable price. The charger currently sells for $25 in the official US Skagen website.

The hardware

The retail price for Skagen Falster is $295 in the US, and is
currently sold for $199 since the introduction of its next-generation smartwatch, Falster 2. Falster was first sold in the Korean market for ‎₩490,000 and now sold for ‎₩343,000, which is still ‎₩100,000 higher than the US. I go into detail about the price because the finish of the watch is okay for a $295 watch, but unacceptable for a ‎₩490,000 smartwatch. Smartwatches in this price range usually comes in a more sophisticated case. The case does not look like it was made with stainless steel, but made with plastic, then wrapped with a thin steel plate. The material is not even good enough to be classified as a "finish". With ‎₩490,000, I can buy an entry-level Swiss mechanical watch. Mechanical movement watches are much more expensive than quartz watches. The small computer chip embedded in the smartwatch will probably cost as much as a mechanical movement. Therefore, this sort of direct comparison is somewhat logical. Swiss watchmakers would never use a case like this for watches with mechanical movements.

The bezel may look like an extension of the screen, but it
doesn't do anything. The smartwatch would have looked more luxurious if the bezel was made with the same stainless steel material as the case. However, the material looks more like glass than steel, making the watch look like an electronic watch and nothing like a luxury product.

On the other hand, the mesh bracelet is quite sophisticated. The bracelet glistens beautifully, as if to proclaim that it is not a cheap watch. What's interesting is that the Skagen Falster has wire lugs that were common in watches made in the 1930s. Straps are attached to wire lugs, which looks like early designs of lugs where thick wires were welded onto the case. Straps had to be replaced by tearing off the backstitch on the old strap and backstitching the new strap to the watch. No modern brand uses this old method anymore. The traditional iron lug has been adopted as a design element
and has been coupled with a quick change system, which is a great idea. However, the watch is uncomfortable due to the buckle's poor quality and because a small tool is required to adjust the length of the bracelet.

Conclusion

This watch has more pros and cons than other smartwatches. To summarize, this watch is ideal for anyone who wants the abundance of features offered in a smartwatch. Those who expected a smartwatch made by an
internationally renowned watch company will be greatly disappointed. The watch's strong IT identity, considering the fact that it's made by a watch brand, will confuse many. I sure was confused.