Product Review - The Daniel Wellington Watch

Craig of That Dapper Chap reviews the Classic Warwick watch by Daniel Wellington.

PRODUCT

Daniel Wellington were kind enough to gift me the Classic Warwick watch, this will be the focus of this review. 

Established in Uppsala in Sweden, just an hour’s drive from Stockholm, there is a story about how the watch came to be and their website states: “Filip Tysander, the founder of Daniel Wellington, met an intriguing gentleman from the British Isles. The man had the inspiring ability to be gentlemanly but still relaxed and unpretentious. He had an impeccable style, and loved to wear his watches on old weathered Nato straps. His name? Well, Daniel Wellington, of course. A strong friendship emerged between the two, and our founder was inspired not only by the man’s many great life stories but also by his class and timeless style of fashion”. 

I’m not sure how true this is as is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby story. A part of me likes to think it is, but only the people at Daniel Wellington know the truth about that one.

The Classic Warwick by Daniel Wellington

Daniel Wellington watches are manufactured and sent from Sweden and they are available at a few outlets but they do sell from their main website. They offer a range of mens and ladies watches and most come with interchangeable straps. Others are fitted with a leather strap and each watch is available in silver or rose gold.

The men's watch measures 40mm by just 6mm, making it a very thin watch. They are also water resistant, but they recommend that you avoid all contact with water.  All of the faces are in eggshell white which gives a very clean and crisp look.

The ‘Classic’ range are named after British towns, and mine is the Classic Warwick with a green and blue Nato band in rose gold. They also now have a new collection called ‘Grace’ which has Roman numerals at the 12 and 6 and a slightly different strap consisting of leather and cotton.

The DW Grace Collection

PRICE

Prices range from £149 for a Classic with a nato band to £179 for one with a full leather strap. The Grace collection are also priced at £179. 

As we all know, we can buy a watch for as little as £20 with the top end being stratospheric. So, if you’re a guy on a budget, as I am Daniel Wellington may be a good choice for you. 

For me the price is reasonable. I’d see it as gift level, birthday, Christmas or maybe a wedding gift. It depends on how much you have in your wallet, but in my opinion the price is good for the quality of the watch.

Some of the range of Daniel Wellington Watches

PACKAGING & PRESENTATION

I love the Daniel Wellington packaging. Mine arrived in a beautiful leather gift box which makes it feel like a real luxury item. In the box there is a manual, instructions and a 2 year guarantee. It also has replacement pins should you misplace yours.

The beautiful Daniel Wellington leather presentation box

PERFORMANCE

With its preppy look, the Daniel Wellington watch is thin, I agree with their description in that it is 'elegant' and is suitable for every occasion.  The one thing that a watch should do is tell the time, and I found that it has impeccable timekeeping, in fact I use my Daniel Wellington to set the time on my other watches and clocks.

Being thin the watch is also light and easy to wear. I find that it doesn't get in the way and it's a watch that you don’t ‘know’ you are wearing i.e. it isn't cumbersome and heavy.

The strap is good quality too with the hardware matching the gold colour of the watch.

This is a simple watch with lines instead on numbers, no frills, no dials, no buttons or other fancy bits which distract from its minimalistic design.

PERTINENCY

This watch is very ‘now’ the preppy style is very on trend as are watches with interchangeable straps. Since Timex introduced its Weekender with its selection of different straps other brands have latched on. 

If you’re a trendy guy who cares about the details in his daily look this may be one for you to consider. There are many many different styles of strap on the market that fit this watch. This gives you the ability to match the watch to whichever outfit you put together.

As I stated earlier, the watch is light and easy to wear, it’s not a watch that shouts ‘look at me’ it's way more discrete and subtle than that, so if you’re looking for a statement watch, this isn’t it.  However, your friends, colleagues and family will notice when you match the strap to your outfit. I often get comments to that effect.

 

My DW with a blue themed outfit

PRO’s AND CONS

As previously mentioned, the watch is lightweight and easy to wear. It doesn’t get in the way and it’s easy to forget that you’re wearing it. For me that’s a big plus.

I would like to have a choice of face colour, the same way as you do with the Timex Weekender, maybe a cream, grey or black face. The interchangeable possibilities with that would be huge and I for one would be tempted to get all the colour faces!

Instead of numbers the Daniel Wellington has markers in the form of gold lines. I'm okay with that, but some people may find it difficult to read the time, having said that I've never had an issue.

Another enhancement may be a light. Unlike other watches it doesn't have one, so on occasion I have had to refer to my phone for the time as I couldn't see my watch. It’s a simple function and one that I think may enhance it.

The very fact that you can change the straps to match any outfit and even make your own straps or have one-off straps made is a huge bonus as it makes it very personal to you.

PEOPLE

I often get comments on the watch, this is usually more to do with the strap due to the more sedate design of the actual watch face, as the strap is most noticeable part.

The vast majority of people were complimentary of its appearance using words such as “clean looking” and “classy”. One person did say “It’s a little boring” and for some people it will be.

 

Another picture of my DW as posted to Instagram

PRECIS

Overall I’m a fan. The Daniel Wellington watch is cool, trendy and classy and the whole strap thing will get me every time. Its simplicity makes it appealing and it’s as noticeable as you want it to be. Play it down and wear it with a plain brown leather strap or get it noticed by popping on a bubble gum pink Nato band. Your choice!

PROMOTION