^^^^
so let's have a one watch per sale rule. Then scalpers will make very little in aggregate and maybe not bother.

That would seem the fairest option

H0rati0 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:20 pm ^^^^
so let's have a one watch per sale rule. Then scalpers will make very little in aggregate and maybe not bother.

Not a good idea, I initially bought 2. Then a 3rd after the heat died down. If no one was after the 3rd, why shouldn’t I buy it if I wanted.

What’s wrong with that!

I hope your comment was tongue in cheek, in response to an obvious scalper?

TheBeatles wrote:

H0rati0 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:20 pm ^^^^
so let's have a one watch per sale rule. Then scalpers will make very little in aggregate and maybe not bother.

Not a good idea, I initially bought 2. Then a 3rd after the heat died down. If no one was after the 3rd, why shouldn’t I buy it if I wanted.

What’s wrong with that!

I hope your comment was tongue in cheek, in response to an obvious scalper?

Speaking of The Beatles, I spent the afternoon yesterday at a brewery in Fruita, Colorado and they played several Beatles albums while I was there with my wife. I had never thought about it, but Sgt. Pepper’s is the only album of which I know every single word of the lyrics. I had a lot of fun singing along. I listen to electronic and chill music only now, so it was a nice throwback. Loved every minute of my time there yesterday.

TheBeatles wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:26 pm

H0rati0 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:20 pm ^^^^
so let's have a one watch per sale rule. Then scalpers will make very little in aggregate and maybe not bother.

Not a good idea, I initially bought 2. Then a 3rd after the heat died down. If no one was after the 3rd, why shouldn’t I buy it if I wanted.

What’s wrong with that!

I hope your comment was tongue in cheek, in response to an obvious scalper?

In truth, I don't have strong feelings on the matter, but I do have a slight preference for seeing ordinary "fans" get a chance to buy from limited stocks. I would agree that if nobody wants an item, why shouldn't it be sold to someone who has already bought? Maybe a one watch limit during the preview?

My musings are irrelevant however, it must come down to what makes sense for CWL.

I will confess to a slight peeve, I ordered a Moonphase (just the one) right at the off, which is still showing as "Being prepared for despatch" 6 days later while a scalper got his shipped and on ebay pronto! C'est la vie

tikkathree wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:26 pm Well done CW.

Well done on keeping the sale page up and running, I didn't really detect any slowing during the day.

Well done on being firm with the fourteen. It sounds like they were hoping for honesty rather than jigging the shopping page to impose a maximum number of items in the shopping basket: I have no concept of how feasible that might have been.

It can't be hard to just count orders shipped to a single account, or even a post code - and just treat them as bad, not ship them. I suppose determined flippers could have multiple addresses, pay some with credit cards, and others with pay Pal.

In general it would be very easy to pick out the buyers involved.

There only seemed to be about 30 watches at most on eBay showing as brand new, so it looks like most of it was caught.

Renton wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:08 pm I was one of the 'evil 14' who fell foul of the new 5+ limit!

I'd ordered some for me and some to sell.

I'm both a long term fan/collector and a flipper.

Of the watches I had cancelled, I've since managed to buy three of them via eBay sellers.

One of those is the C60 Mk2 'parts bin' special with the black case and dark blue face. I'd bought it last week for £373. Now I've just paid £500 to buy it again from a flipper! There's one more from another seller at £595 in case anyone else wants one!

So what has Christopher Ward actually achieved with this new rule?

I'd say they've placated a few people who cried "I've missed out because of those f*****g flippers". But in reality, CW has sold over 3,000 watches in the last few days (based on order numbers) and only 14 people attempted to buy more than 5, so even with those cancelled watches added back into the pot, you're still just as likely to miss out to flippers who bought <5!

I'd say the three people who have just made a nice easy £100-£150 profit on a sale watch, will be even more keen to scoop up sale watches next time, making it even harder for others to get a look in!

So in the grand scheme, I'd say the 5-watch rule has achieved very little! Apart from some extra admin work at CW Towers!

Hopefully I've bought some pleasure to a few people with the knowledge that I've had to pay a bit more to get some of the watches I wanted and that someone else has made a profit instead of me!

Credit for admitting it. How many did you try to buy then and what was the ratio between CW fan and profit?

Maybe the 3 who made a profit selling on to you will also get greedy later and have their orders cancelled in future sales too.

Maybe greed will hopefully take all the flippers down eventually, slowly but surely one by one

Attempt at balanced view.

• You have waited for months if not longer for a particular watch to appear in the sale at 30%, 40% or 50% off. It appears. You miss it. You see it advertised at a mark up on eBay before the seller has even got the watch in his hands. You are hacked off. I understand and sympathise. I would be too.

• You have waited for months if not longer for a particular watch to appear in the sale at 30%, 40% or 50% off. It appears. You miss it. Don’t forget there have been several points in the last few months or longer when you could have bought the watch quite safely for £100 off or 15% off. You chose to take a gamble on the sale. Unlucky.

• You are one of the naughty so-called scalpers. Tut tut. Shame on you. I don’t suppose that the fruits of your ill gotten gains are quite lining the marina at Portofino yet...or are they? It’s not something I would choose to do myself, but there we go.

Yes, I would rather that the watches went directly from CW to people who are going to wear them. But the real world doesn’t always work like that.

I was ready and checked the website twice daily since 1/2/21 for the start of the sale. I purchased the C60 Trident Chrono “Beast” less than 2 minutes after receiving the sale email from CW. Been waiting for it to come up for over a year and pounced. It’s friggin fantastic and I’ve worn it non stop since getting it yesterday.

CWL is free to manage their business as they see fit and if they choose to limit the number of watches an individual can buy at one time at certain times then so be it. I belong to a whisky club and they cancel memberships if members are caught flipping bottles onto auction sites so CWL are not alone in trying to manage their customers.

Customers will either accept the practice and stay customers or move on to brands. So far CWL seem to have picked the right strategy.

Having said my piece I really wish they would ship my two purchases as I want to wear them!

The C60 Chrono is an absolute beast of a watch, well worthy of its name.

The C5 is quite different. Both perfectly wearable for me and I love their different philosophy to getting the job done.

Jkpa wrote:The C60 Chrono is an absolute beast of a watch, well worthy of its name.

The C5 is quite different. Both perfectly wearable for me and I love their different philosophy to getting the job done.

I have that little C5. I still have never worn it, but it’s a keeper for when I am wearing gray or black office attire again. Someday...

I'd be ok worth one per customer per day. That's probably because Mrs O cut me off after I snagged a C65 AM GT.

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:18 pm Attempt at balanced view.

• You have waited for months if not longer for a particular watch to appear in the sale at 30%, 40% or 50% off. It appears. You miss it. You see it advertised at a mark up on eBay before the seller has even got the watch in his hands. You are hacked off. I understand and sympathise. I would be too.

• You have waited for months if not longer for a particular watch to appear in the sale at 30%, 40% or 50% off. It appears. You miss it. Don’t forget there have been several points in the last few months or longer when you could have bought the watch quite safely for £100 off or 15% off. You chose to take a gamble on the sale. Unlucky.

• You are one of the naughty so-called scalpers. Tut tut. Shame on you. I don’t suppose that the fruits of your ill gotten gains are quite lining the marina at Portofino yet...or are they? It’s not something I would choose to do myself, but there we go.

Yes, I would rather that the watches went directly from CW to people who are going to wear them. But the real world doesn’t always work like that.

Perfect summary....

What I would love to know is how many people that moan about missing out due to ‘scalpers’ have actually put their own money/remortgaged their house etc... and had the ball5 to set up and run a business and make a success of it. I’d wager not many, most work for someone else, draw their wage and job done. The reason I say this is that, when you are the ‘man at the top’ and the success/failure of the business, keeping staff in employment etc.. rests on your shoulders, business is business - a sale is a sale. You couldn’t really give a t0ss if they sell it on as you’ve made your money. And before anyone says ‘ah but you have to keep your regular customers happy’, for every regular you’ll pi55 off you’ll gain several new as brand loyalty ain’t a high priority in today’s world. It may be on forums like here but the regulars here are a pi55 in the ocean compared to the whole market across the world of people buying watches. Plus, a customer that only waits to buy discounts in the sales ain’t exactly loyal to your business anyway - they’re basically saying your product is overpriced. A decent web or you tube review of your product will gain you more customers than a brassed off person on here will lose you. Apologies for the rant but people saying ‘one watch per customer’ wouldn’t be saying that if it was their name as Director/Owner listed at companies house with ultimate responsibility for not only your own finances but employees that rely on you to keep turning the money over to pay their wages and keep them in employment. Particularly relevant in current times where you need to do what you need to do to keep your company solvent and staff on payroll. This also goes for the, so called, ‘scalpers’ - if it works for them to make some money and put food on the table then best of luck to them. On that note, that’s me out of here!