It started with an email that nearly ended up in the trash. Someone was asking whether Söner could ship 30 watches to Spain before the end of the month – as long as the order went in right away. For Freddie Palmgren, who has spent ten years building the Swedish watch brand, mostly on his own, the first thought was the obvious one: this is a scam.
It wasn’t. The sender was Russell Crowe’s personal assistant.
The email he almost deleted
I’ve been building Söner for ten years now, mostly by myself, and when an email like that lands in the middle of an ordinary day, my honest first thought is: this is a scam. Someone testing whether I’ll take the bait.
Freddie Palmgren, founder of Söner
Freddie googled the sender before replying. After a couple of emails back and forth it was clear this was the real thing – and shortly afterwards an order for 30 watches across several different models was ready to ship.
30 watches for the film crew in Barcelona
The watches went to the crew behind Crowe’s new film The Last Druid, currently shooting in Barcelona. A few days later Russell Crowe posted a video on his TikTok account showing off the watches, talking about Söner and naming Freddie as the founder.
Within just a couple of days the clip had passed 700,000 views – reach that few Swedish micro-brands come anywhere near with their own marketing.
How a Hollywood star found a Swedish micro-brand
According to Freddie, Crowe had read an article about him and Söner – most likely the one in the New York Times, “His Watch World Has Right Angles”, published in February 2025. Around the same time he had seen a clip on TikTok where two watch enthusiasts were talking about the brand. Two trails that met.
Russell Crowe is known for a genuine love of watches. He runs the account @igp366 on TikTok, where he shows off his collection and talks horology with his followers – often with more knowledge and enthusiasm than plenty of people in the industry. He is also known for championing independent entrepreneurs and artists rather than the already-established names.
That’s actually what means the most to me. Not the Oscar, not Gladiator. But that he genuinely knows his stuff, and that he chose to put his attention on a small family business in Halland.
Freddie Palmgren
Söner – named after William and Widar
Söner was founded ten years ago and is named after Freddie’s two sons, William and Widar (söner is Swedish for “sons”). No outside funding, no big backers – just a stubborn idea that someone ought to make rectangular watches properly again. The market was, and still is, drowning in round dials.
The design instead draws on Art Deco and the middle of the 20th century, and the models are built to hold their own against names like Cartier, Longines and Breguet – with better specifications at a lower price. That had already paid off before all this: the New York Times featured the brand in 2025, and in 2026 it won a German Design Award in the Excellent Product Design, Luxury Goods category.
The real goal has never been awards or headlines. It’s to build something my sons can take over the day I’m no longer here.
Freddie Palmgren
Our relationship with Söner – from one of our earliest reviews
We’ve followed Söner for a long time. It was one of the first brands we ever reviewed – we tested the Söner Legacy back in 2022 – and the products have got better every year since. The finish, materials and detailing are on a completely different level today than in those early series. Our original hands-on lives in our Söner review.
We’ve met Freddie on several occasions – most recently we sat next to each other at the Nordic Watch Awards. He is one of the most committed and driven people in the Swedish watch scene, and a lot of Söner’s progress traces straight back to that persistence. The full range is on Söner’s own website.
More Swedish and Nordic brands have found their place internationally in recent years – and Russell Crowe’s watch is a reminder of how far a well-made independent piece can travel.
Product images: Söner Watches (used with permission). Portrait of Russell Crowe: Quejaytee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 – Zurich Film Festival 2025. Still from Russell Crowe’s TikTok: via Söner Watches.
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