This week marks a significant turning point for one of Sweden’s most recognized brands. Daniel Wellington, the Stockholm-based watch company that revolutionized influencer marketing a decade ago, announced that American watch giant Timex has acquired a 51 percent stake in the company.
For the Swedish entrepreneurial community, it’s a milestone worth celebrating. A homegrown success story that started with $15,000 and an Instagram account is now partnering with a 170-year-old American icon.
The Instagram Watch That Changed Everything
Filip Tysander started Daniel Wellington in 2011. The concept was elegantly simple: minimalist watches with interchangeable NATO straps at accessible price points. But the real innovation wasn’t in the product; it was in how Tysander marketed it.
Before every brand and their mother discovered “influencer marketing,” Tysander was already playing chess, pioneering a marketing strategy that would become the playbook for an entire generation of direct-to-consumer brands. He sent free watches to micro-influencers, created hashtag campaigns like #DWPickoftheDay, and watched as his minimalist timepieces became the most-tagged brand on Instagram.
While the rest of the watch industry was still figuring out what a hashtag was, Daniel Wellington was becoming a global empire, one Instagram post at a time.
The strategy worked spectacularly. By 2014, Daniel Wellington had sold over one million watches with $70 million in revenue. By 2016, revenue hit $230 million with $111.5 million in profit. Not bad for a brand that started thanks to a chance encounter between a Swedish traveller and a dapper British gentleman. Turning a conversation into a quarter-billion-dollar business is the kind of networking ROI we can all aspire to.
Growing Pains and Strategic Lessons
But here’s the thing about being a trailblazer: sometimes the path gets rocky.
In 2018, when CEO Tianhao Liu oversaw operations in Asia, Daniel Wellington pivoted from wholesale to build a direct-to-consumer retail network, including opening 300 new stores in China. It was bold. It was ambitious. And then 2020 happened, because the universe has impeccable timing.
“2019 meant heavy investments in retail and offices around the world. And when Covid came, we took the whole beating ourselves, in all markets simultaneously,” Liu explained in an interview with Europa Star.
The brand, which once peaked at 2 billion SEK in annual revenue, faced significant challenges through 2020 and 2021. But here’s what’s remarkable: instead of folding, they pivoted. Again.
Enter the 170-Year-Old Watchmaker
Enter Timex, an American watchmaking legend that’s been “taking a licking and keeping on ticking” since 1854. That’s 170 years of knowing exactly how to survive everything from World Wars to the Macarena to the Apple Watch.
In late 2022, as Daniel Wellington rebuilt its strategy, the two companies formed a strategic partnership. Timex provided a convertible loan as part of the deal. Now, that loan has converted into a 51 percent stake, officially making Timex the majority owner.
“They are the perfect partner to take us into the next growth phase and lift Daniel Wellington to new heights,” Tysander said in the announcement.
Timex is acquiring both new shares and existing shares from Tysander, who until today owned 100 percent of the company he founded.
A Match Made in Watchmaking Heaven
Daniel Wellington has spent the past few years rebuilding, returning to wholesale partnerships, with about 90 percent of former partners coming back, diversifying into jewelry and accessories, and expanding its retail presence.
And let’s talk about Timex for a moment: This is a company that knows a thing or two about survival. The same company that once produced bomb fuses for the U.S. military and manufactured Polaroid cameras has navigated bankruptcy, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the quartz crisis. If you need a partner who knows how to navigate rough waters and conquer new markets, that is the kind of battle-tested longship worth boarding.
Stockholm Stays Home
Despite the American majority ownership, Daniel Wellington will keep its headquarters in Stockholm. By now, we all know Swedish companies like to keep their headquarters in the motherland. Can’t blame them; some things Swedes just do better, and knowing the difference between a real cup of coffee and brown water is one of them.
What’s Next?
For Daniel Wellington, the Timex partnership opens doors to new distribution networks in key markets like the United States and India, access to world-class manufacturing expertise, and 170 years’ worth of institutional knowledge about staying relevant in an industry that’s constantly evolving.
The minimalist watches that conquered Instagram a decade ago are entering their next era with one of America’s most enduring watchmakers. When a Swedish Instagram success story joins forces with an American watchmaking icon almost as old as the wristwatch itself, that’s not just a business deal – that’s a power couple.
