Daniel Wellington Watch Review | Affordable Luxury Or Cheap Trash?
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Appearances can be deceiving.
Minimalist luxury? Or minimal value?
Let’s find out.
In this article I’m going to be covering my Daniel Wellington honest review. If you stick around until the end, I’ll also share with you some far better alternatives that look great and offer better value for money.
If you’ve followed me on YouTube for a while, you’ll know I’ve mentioned this brand on more than a few occasions. Mainly because this brand is inescapable on social media. If you are at all interested in fashion, you’ve probably been bombarded with a ton of advertisements from Daniel Wellington.
Before I talk about the watches themselves, I’d like to take a second to talk about this brand; as I think it puts the latter parts of this post into context.
Daniel Wellington History
Daniel Wellington was founded in 2011, by a Swedish guy called Filip Tysander. His supposed story for naming this brand is truly hilarious and, in my opinion, fictional. Apparently, Filip travelled the world and had a chance meeting in Australia with an ‘intriguing British gentleman’, whom had a passion for vintage watches; notably a Rolex Submariner on a NATO strap.
This man’s name? You guessed it, John Cena. Not quite, it was Daniel Wellington. Following this moment of ‘inspiration’, he decided to create his own watch brand. I think, his response in a recent interview more accurately portrays what took place back in 2011.
“I realised there was room on the market for preppy watches”. (Interview with Veckans Affarer). Click here to read.
If you put a Rolex Submariner side by side with a Daniel Wellington; they couldn’t look more different. This story is clearly a Daniel Wellington marketing strategy in my mind; as has been the approach this company has taken in the last decade. They have taken the watch world by storm using social media as a springboard to get their brand in front of millennial consumers. A quick skim over their Instagram tells you all you need to know.
The reality is, all this marketing comes at a cost. Luckily for Daniel Wellington, the gigantic mark-up on each of their watches easily covers this. It’s a well-known fact that Daniel Wellington watches are mass produced in China, likely for only a couple of pounds each; to then be sold at a recommended retail price upwards of £150. They used to sell exclusively direct to consumers, however, now sell in regular retail stores.
Objectively, this Daniel Wellington marketing is working. People are buying these watches and buying lots of them. This company was named the fastest growing private company in Europe back in 2017.
However, business model aside, from the customer’s perspective, what are you physically getting for your money when you buy a Daniel Wellington watch?
The watch I’ll be looking at today is their original, flagship ‘Sheffield’ men’s watch; though the feedback here applies to all their watches, which are essentially identical.
Specifications:
Diameter: 40mm
Depth: 7mm
Case: 316L Stainless Steel
Movement: Miyota Quartz
Strap: Genuine Leather
Glass: Mineral Crystal
Lug To Lug: 47mm
Strap Width: 20mm
Model Name: Daniel Wellington Sheffield 40mm
This spec sheet is a perfect showcase of how fashion watch brands cut corners. Across the board, the materials used in Daniel Wellington watches are some of the lowest grades available. Which, on one hand, is surprising given the watches are advertised as ‘affordable luxury’; yet is unsurprising, given the extremely low manufacturing cost of each piece.
Nevertheless, I’d like to start with their design; which is something the spec-sheet doesn’t consider.
Design
When you’re selling products that are heavily promoted on social media, they need to look good. If you’re selling ugly watches, your conversion of viewers to buyers is likely to be terrible.
In terms of pure aesthetics, this design is an attractive one. When choosing it, it’s clear Filip Tysander knew precisely what would appeal to millennials. The dial is ultra-minimalist, featuring nothing outside of the branding and time markers. This Daniel Wellington model doesn’t even feature a second hand. Whilst this could be considered plain, it does contribute to a very versatile, sleek design. You can pair this with a multitude of straps and outfits, and it will still work well. It may lack character, but it appeals to the masses. Realistically, I doubt much time or effort went into crafting this dial design.
The super-slim design is also one of the key reasons people like these watches. At just under 7mm, these are some of the thinnest watches you can get your hands on; sitting flush to the wrist of the wearer. Whilst this not only helps the watch to slip under sleeves, stylistically, this fits the bill for a younger audience. Millennials these days like tighter fitting clothing, such as skinny jeans; which are incredibly popular here in the UK. As these watches sit tighter to the wrist, I could see them appealing to that same crowd.
I know this design works, from personal experience. Around 5 years ago, as a young, broke guy looking for a stylish watch, I was definitely tempted by a Daniel Wellington Sheffield. I looked through the window of my local H. Samuel and loved the minimalist look. In that store, there wasn’t anything else that looked like it and I was totally inexperienced in the world of watches.
This watch also comes in a couple of different diameter variants, to suit different wrist sizes; though I feel the 40mm Daniel Wellington is quite a good size for most men’s wrists.
While the watch looks fashionable, there is one major issue that I have with this design. It’s lack of exclusivity. I don’t just mean that other watches look similar to these…I’m referring to the oodles of ones that look exactly the same. As I mentioned earlier, Daniel Wellington watches are manufactured in China. Unfortunately, they use a generic design, which is also offered by a multitude of other fashion watch brands; as they likely use the same Chinese wholesale supplier. For more information on how this type of business model works, I did a full breakdown in my recent drop-shipping video, watch it here.
This issue is compounded by the fact that Daniel Wellington charge significantly more for their watches, without offering enhanced specifications over those other brands.
Daniel Wellington Leather Strap
The Daniel Wellington watches typically come with a genuine leather strap. Genuine leather is generally considered to be the lowest basic grade of leather available. Whilst I have still seen some impressive genuine leather straps in the past, this isn’t one of them. I have barely used this strap, the watch still has the tags on, and you can already see how the cheap leather is folding. This definitely isn’t the worst strap I have come across, however it’s unlikely to age particularly well and is disappointing when you consider the retail price of well over £100. Sometimes, I can forgive brands for skimping on the strap, if they put their money into other areas of the watch; that isn’t the case here.
Case
The case is constructed of 316L grade Stainless Steel. This is the current industry standard for watches, so is to be expected here. Nevertheless, when popping off the back of the case for another video, I found the rear scratched easily. It’s important to note, the grade of material isn’t always inline with the quality of it, which may be the case here. The Daniel Wellington features a case which is highly polished throughout and features no brushing; which does give it a shine, but also means it is a fingerprint magnet.
Crown
The crown is designed to fit the aesthetic of the watch; rather than practicality. This is certainly the smallest crown I have come across on a men’s watch. This, combined with the lack of grip, makes it hard to turn for those with larger fingers. However, this is minimal in scope and almost gives the watch a fully symmetrical appearance; which may be to the taste of some.
Glass
The glass covering the dial is mineral crystal. This is the lowest grade of glass, being only a tier above acrylic. This should provide some limited scratch protection when compared to plastic but is nothing special. It’s possible to find watches with far better and more scratch-resistant Sapphire glass for significantly less money elsewhere.
Movement
Powering the Daniel Wellington range is a cheap Miyota GL20 quartz movement. On their website, this is simply referred to as a Japanese quartz movement. A quick google search indicated these are available for around £3 when purchased individually and likely a lot less when bought in bulk. I’ve heard in some regions, you may get the Miyota 1L22 movement, which retails for about the same price.
Whilst these are accurate, reliable and should work for a relatively long time, once more they are widely available in watches that are a fraction of the cost. There are also a variety of automatic watches you can purchase for a similar price, if they are more to your taste. It’s clearly another area that this brand has cut costs.
Quality
Overall, I think it’s clear to see what this brand’s tactics are. Go for the lowest quality components you think you can get away with, that should just about scrape satisfying the target market for the brand; and then hike the price up as far as possible, to capitalise on the buyers’ lack of horological knowledge.
I can see how to some people could be totally fine with that. If you like the look of the watch and it physically works that may be enough for you to want to buy one. That’s cool, it’s your money, do with it as you please. Maybe your favourite social media star has endorsed one of these and you want to look like them, that’s okay.
However, I have one question.
Whilst the look of the watch may be of primary importance to you; why would you also want to overpay to get that look? All those specifications can be matched, or beaten, for a fraction of the price of a Daniel Wellington.
Best Daniel Wellington Alternatives
Before I summarise my pros and cons for this watch, I’d like to share with you two alternatives that offer better value for money. Both have stylish minimalist designs, like the Daniel Wellington Sheffield watch , but cost far less and are from more established brands. You’ll find Amazon links to both of these below, purchases made through those links also help to support my channel.
First up is the Timex Fairfield. The American Timex brand dates back to 1854 and has real watchmaking heritage; their Fairfield range delivers minimalist elegance at a low price. I’ve talked about this watch in previous videos, because I really like it.
This piece offers build quality that rivals the Daniel Wellington, for a fraction of the price. It also comes with features like quick release straps and the amazing Indiglo night light, for visibility in dark situations. You’ll normally be able to get one of these for between £40 to £80 on Amazon UK and for between $30 to $60 on Amazon US, which is an absolute bargain.
A newer alternative I have discovered is a hidden gem from Casio. This Japanese brand has been manufacturing watches since 1974. It’s probably most famous for its digital models, however, this Casio ‘sapphire’ LTP analogue watch is fantastic value for money.
The overall design is extremely similar to the Daniel Wellington, with a minimalist dial, a near identical Japanese movement and a stylish, slim case. As the name suggests, this one even features sapphire crystal glass, which provides top-tier scratch protection; better than the Daniel Wellington. Despite the objectively better specifications, you can still grab this one on Amazon for half the cost of the Sheffield. Make sure you’re subscribed to the channel to see a full review of this piece coming up soon.
You can also get other watches from brands like Seiko, however these two better reflect the minimalist design and are lower priced.
Now onto the pros and cons of the Daniel Wellington
Pros:
Stylish appearance – Appeals to millennials, looks nice
Sizing – Case is a good diameter and depth. Easy and comfortable to wear
Cons:
Massively overpriced – Only paying for the DW logo
Poor quality materials for the price – Better alternatives elsewhere
Misleading marketing – Advertised as ‘elegant’, ‘high quality’ and ‘luxury’ when they are objectively not
Resale value – Instantly lose a ton of value, hard to sell used
Generic design – Used by a plethora of other brands
Should I Buy A Daniel Wellington Watch?
As I said before, you can buy whatever you want. That being said, you can buy manure if you want; it doesn’t make it good. In my opinion, with Daniel Wellington, you’re paying a significant amount of money, for not much in return. If, at some point, they decide to substantially upgrade their watches, whilst keeping them at the same cost, they may become a better choice. However, in their current state, as with MVMT watches, I’d say avoid this brand. Those two alternatives I mentioned before are, in my mind, both better quality and cheaper.
The nail in the coffin for me came a few months ago. I ordered a generic, unbranded Wellington style watch directly from China. It arrived in a Daniel Wellington box, with a Daniel Wellington logo on it and was identical to a regular one. If you’d like to see more on that, you can view the video on my fashion channel here.
Overall, Daniel Wellington’s marketing strategy must be commended when it comes to their approach. They utilise social media and influencer marketing far better than most traditional watch brands. When was the last time you saw Seiko sending watches to your favourite YouTuber?
Furthermore, at least this brand is getting people into watches in the first place. Companies like these are inspiring young people to wear a watch, in an age where your smartphone will tell you the time more accurately. It’s clear other traditional watch brands are failing in this regard, so at least they can be commended for that.
If you are still interested in buy a Daniel Wellington watch then please find the link below (affiliate).
