SKAGEN DESIGNS, LTD. - It is an international design company based in Reno, Nevada, that produces designer watches, clocks, jewelry and sunglasses.

The company was founded in 1989 by Henrik and Charlotte Jorst, who had moved from Denmark to New York in 1986 when Henrik Jorst was appointed US sales manager for Danish brewery Carlsberg. In 1989 the couple decided to establish their own business, as US representatives for a Danish manufacturer of corporate branded business gift watches and for exclusive Jacob Jensen designer watches.

Having found a Danish-owned clock and watch manufacturer, Comtech Watches,that could manufacture watches at a lower price through its factory in Hong Kong,the Jorsts designed a few corporate watches of their own,which they showed at a corporate gift fair in New York 1991. However,at the fair they were encouraged by several retailers to market the watches under their own brand instead of chasing the corporate gift market. Thus the brand Skagen Denmark was born, taking its name from the Danish fishing villiage of Skagen.The company logo symbolizes the meeting of the Skagerak and the Kattegat Seas at the tip of Skagen.