Yahoo Lifestyle The 7 Best Watch Boutiques in Copenhagen
Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, may be a bucket-list dining destination, one of the world’s most livable cities according to some, as well as home of the best modernist, mid-century Scandinavian design. It’s also a fairly small capital with only 1,4 million people, which is surprising, considering there is as much to see and do as there is to eat and drink (we’re looking at you smørrebrød and those disturbingly red hot dogs). But if you love your watches—from Rolex to Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, and wonderful vintage, neo-vintage, and pre-owned pieces—Copenhagen is like a small dog with a big dog mentality.
That’s not a bad thing: Danes are a stylish people who demand quality in everything from their home furniture to their bed room lighting (most locals won’t blink at prices above 1,000 dollars for a PH-lamp or 3,000 for The Spanish Chair, made by Børge Mogensen in the 1950’ies). This obsession with craftsmanship repeats itself in Danes’ growing fondness for mechanical watches, which means you can find a handful of retailers in the old part of town, the Indre By (literally the inner city), with a lot to offer.
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Even if brands like Patek Philippe, Omega, Breitling, Tudor, IWC and Cartier have all opened their own boutiques in recent years, a few family-run businesses make watch hunting an even more enjoyable experience. None of this comes cheap, but you’ll find boutique-editions, quality pre-owned and Danish brands like Ole Mathiesen, that combine Scandinavian minimalism with Swiss Made manufacturing. It not only makes a nice souvenir, it’s easier to transport than that Spanish Chair. And, you’ll even find some insane vintage pieces, like the Patek Philippe 3700 that blew our minds during a recent trip to Copenhagen, and pieces that are sometimes hard to see in person due to their scarcity, like the amazing Patek Philippe 5226g Calatrava we gawked in Copenhagen, as well.
Below is our guide to the best watch boutiques in Copenhagen.
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Hvelplund Watches & Jewlery
Hvelplund, a family-owned business with second-generation Paul Hvelpund at the helm, was founded in 1971 and earned a reputation as a boutique for serious watch collectors. It served as an official Patek Philippe retailer for half a century (until Patek Philippe opened their own store on the opposite side of the street), and they still carry both new and older Pateks, and has the knowhow to service most timepieces you can throw at them. Hvelplund offers brands from Omega and Cartier to IWC, and Chopard in an environment that combines old-world charm with stucco and a massive solid oak counter, as well as different lounges that cater to their many brands. Hvelplund also offers the best selection in town of pre-owned timepieces, with a 2-year guarantee. “We like to think of ourselves as the blue-chip of the pre-owned market,” says Andreas Rosenberg, Head of Marketing and manager of their pre-owned watch department, WatchClub. They also make a mean espresso.
Østergade 15, 1100 København K
Ole Mathiesen
Ole Mathiesen has been making watches and clocks in Copenhagen since 1919, and descendants of the original watchmakers still run the company. It’s a wonderfully quiet place with an almost sedate atmosphere, equipped with elegant Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs and old wall clocks. Like coming home to one’s well-to-do grandparents for dinner. Ole Mathiesen are known for their mid-century modern designs at reasonable prices (their prize-winning Classic designed by Ole Mathiesen in 1962 starts at 1,000 dollars). The ground floor is dedicated to a discrete collection of Danish design watches, including chronographs and divers, but head up the mahogany winding staircase—designed by the current owner Christian Mathiesen who is a trained architect—and you’ll find watches from Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Longines and Girard-Perregaux. Since the 1950s Ole Mathiesen has been a Patek Philippe representative in Denmark and recently opened the first Patek Philippe boutique in Scandinavia—right next door. Ole Mathiesen has a nice, albeit limited, pre-owned section on the upper floor, equipped with watches from A. Lange & Söhne to Cartier CPCPs.
Østergade 8, 1100 København
Patek Philippe
It’s like walking into the Art Deco lobby of the Waldorf Astoria in New York, only infinitely smaller. The brown and white marble and the crystal chandeliers almost take away from the timepieces in Scandinavia’s only Patek Philippe boutique. It’s worth admiring just for the interior design.
Østergade 6, 1100 København
Klarlund
Don’t let the white gloves and the somewhat stiff upper lip put you off. Klarlund, once a family-owned business bought up by Bucherer in 2023 (which again was bought up by Rolex), offers a dizzying range of exclusive watches and jewelry. The company has been an official Rolex partner since the 1950s, but since then they have also built up an impressive portfolio of brands such as TUDOR, Hublot, Panerai, Glashütte Original, Omega, TAG Heuer and Grand Seiko. The top floor has a good, if pricy, pre-owned department, where you can admire watchmakers in white lab coats do their thing.
Klarlund Strøget is centrally located on Østergade 22 and the smaller Klarlund Axel Towers is on Vesterbrogade 2X.
IWC Copenhagen
IWC is the latest addition to the Copenhagen mono-brand boutique trend, and is located next door to Klarlund. In fact, you could be excused for thinking it’s part of Klarlund as there is a corridor connecting the two, but it is apparently aiming for independence. Boutique Manager Nicolai Andersen, formerly in charge of Panerai at Klarlund, knows his watches.
Ny Østergade 3, 1100 København
Omega and Breitling
British retail giant Watches of Switzerland recently opened an OMEGA and Breitling boutique next to each other—they even share the same address, Østergade 61. Go left and you enter the brightly lit world of OMEGA with red carpets, golden pendant lamps and watches from the Speedmaster, Seamaster, De Ville and Constellation collections (and yes, boutique-only editions like the Aqua Terra inspired by Olympic Champion ‘Mondo’ Duplantis). Go right and you find yourself in Breitlings darker industrial-loft aesthetic, housing the brand’s full collection of watches, including collaborations like the Chronomat 36 Victoria Beckham.
Østergade 61
Franz Jaeger & Me
If Hemingway was into watches, he’d hang out in this tiny shop with enough stuffed décor on the walls to make a vegan uncomfortable. Before you let the big water buffalo taxidermy piece scare you back onto busy Gothersgade, make sure to check out the curated vintage pieces in the window. Or sit in the velvet chairs and take in this funky man cave (which also sell women’s watches). Even if Rolex is clearly their thing, you’ll find a handful of Audemars Piguets, Vacheron Constantins, Patek Philippes, Omegas and Panerais, as well as lesser known brands like Danish Linde Werdelin. The owner, trained watchmaker Per Henriksen, has worked with Ole Mathiesen in the past. On the wall is a collection of photos of celebrity clientele, including the Danish King.
Gothersgade 31, 1123 København K
Jens Olsen World Clock, Copenhagen
You won’t get to purchase this one, let alone try it on for size, but since you are in town, why not drop by City Hall and see the Jens Olsen’s World Clock? It’s considered one of the most accurate astronomical mechanical clocks in the world, deviating by only 0.4 seconds in 300 years. It was designed by Jens Olsen, a trained small-smith and watchmaker, who dreamed up this behemoth consisting of 12 works which together have 14,448 parts. Truly a machine of extremes, the fastest gear rotates one revolution in 10 seconds, while the slowest rotates one revolution in 25,753 years.
In addition to time, the clock shows lunar and solar eclipses, the position of the constellations, and a perpetual calendar. It’s gilded with four kilos of gold, and has rhodium coating on all metal faces, making it resistant to corrosion. For the most part, though, the surfaces consists of brass parts derived from melted down kitchen utensils from Danish households of the 1940’ies. The clock was started on December 1955 by King Frederik IX and Jens Olsen’s youngest granddaughter. Jens Olsen was long gone by then, but his masterpiece remains.
Free admission via the main entrance at City Hall, Rådhuspladsen 1, 1553 København
