Skagen

Skagen was founded in 1989, not in Denmark but in New York City, by Danish expatriates Henrik and Charlotte Jorst. The couple had moved to the US in 1986 after Henrik was posted there as sales manager for Carlsberg. They began by acting as American representatives for Danish manufacturers of corporate gift watches, and in 1991 found a way to produce slim, minimalist watches at lower cost; when the pieces drew attention at a corporate-gift trade fair, the Jorsts decided to sell them under their own name instead. They called the brand Skagen, after the town at the northern tip of Jutland known for its light and its 19th-century painters' colony, and used a matching Scandinavian design language - thin cases, brushed steel mesh straps, uncluttered dials - as the brand's signature. The first watches went on sale in 1992, made at a factory in Hong Kong, and the company expanded into the UK and the rest of Europe by 2000. Skagen Designs Ltd. was acquired by the American company Fossil Group in 2012, in a deal reported at roughly $237 million. Fossil now oversees global operations from its Richardson, Texas headquarters, while Skagen keeps regional offices in Denmark and Hong Kong, with production having shifted to Fossil's Chinese manufacturing base after the acquisition.