Winter Sale - Extreme Disappointment

Lonescout · Post by **Lonescout** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 9:16 am

Agreed but that doesn't mean it isn't the best day of the year. To completely miss out on it, is just super disappointing.

I received the email with link, according to the time on the email, at 1501. I was at work and was unable to pick it up until at least an hour later. So, like you, I thought I'd missed what I had been looking for. Someone mentioned on one of the Facebook pages that CW drip feed the sale so keep checking, I did and noticed the number of sales items going up as well as down. Each time it went up I checked the items and at around 2125, just before I left work, the watch I was looking for appeared. I pulled the trigger!

Trs1982 · Post by **Trs1982** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 10:20 am

Disappointment aside, no one has "completely missed out". The preview window is open for a few more hours today; reduced price stock is available right now.

Plus, when the live sale opens to the world (presumably) later today, stock will be being updated all the time. As with sales in all markets, for all types of products, stock comes and goes. Some people get something that they want, some don't. Enter it with an open mind and zero expectations.

NationOfLaws · Post by **NationOfLaws** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 1:38 pm

golfjunky wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:53 am
jkbarnes wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:58 am
nycWATCHnerd wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:46 am They are creating FOMO by only having a sale twice a year which encourages people to purchase stuff they may not have otherwise purchased.
That’s a really good point! I never thought of the twice are years sales as creating that kind of drive in people. While I’ve never bought a watch in the sale, I have on occasion come close to shopping the sale versus the watch for the very reason you mention - FOMO.
Or just historically some people just won’t pay rrp and know to wait

Right. Weird juxtaposition between “we’re getting rid of coupon codes so we don’t look like a bargain brand” and “come to our digital door buster sale twice a year”.

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 2:05 pm

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:30 pm I can empathise fully with anyone who is disappointed at not receiving an email they believed they had every right to receive. It is something that perhaps needs to be taken up with CW.

As to the content of the sale itself – well, that’s a bit of a lottery. To my mind, passing up on something you really like in the hope that it will fall into your lap a few months later at 30% off might be deemed to be somewhere between naïve and foolhardy. If I’m not prepared to pay full price for something at launch, I’m probably not interested enough to pursue it should it appear in the sale.

My last purchase was 18 months ago, so I’m by no means regular, but I bought it at launch because I was unwilling to take the chance on it being available in a sale months later. Since then they haven’t produced anything I was wild about buying at full price or any price, so I haven’t even looked at what’s available.

Back in the early days I did buy a couple of things because they were in the sale and I felt it might be churlish not to. But I quickly realised that a bargain is only a bargain if it was something you wanted in the first place. I usually sold them on fairly quickly.

I agree Steve.

I think it’s always important to prioritise at sale time. With that in mind…

I checked my emails at 3:00pm. Nothing.

Had another look 5 minutes later, clicked on the link and thought shiny sale watches what do I need…

Well not another watch at the moment just because it has a slight reduction.

Priorities Neil…

Booked a holiday.

Booked a couple of nights at a favourite M* restaurant with rooms.

Currently checking flights for a three week trip to a more sunny climate to attend a nephew’s Greek wedding.

Neil

Victor88 · Post by **Victor88** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 2:55 pm

I was hoping to see a few older pieces reappear as if by magic. A Beast or Bumblebeast. Or perhaps even a C9 5 Day Small Second.

tikkathree · Post by **tikkathree** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:54 pm

NationOfLaws wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 1:38 pm
golfjunky wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:53 am
jkbarnes wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:58 am

That’s a really good point! I never thought of the twice are years sales as creating that kind of drive in people. While I’ve never bought a watch in the sale, I have on occasion come close to shopping the sale versus the watch for the very reason you mention - FOMO.
Or just historically some people just won’t pay rrp and know to wait
Right. Weird juxtaposition between “we’re getting rid of coupon codes so we don’t look like a bargain brand” and “come to our digital door buster sale twice a year”.

This is my third attempt today to have a say in this thread; the first two were very early morning offerings and though it was quite easy to react, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to say.

It's only a feeling but I think the current format of sales works well enough for CW. As well as helping with the post-Christmas dip in sales the mechanics of the process ("we've probably already got your email address but send it to us again anyway") gets us all involved, gets us all talking, there is always a leak into public domain social media. Some of us buy watches which we might not otherwise have bought, we get all exercised about how the processes work (or, depending on your point of view, don't work) and, as far as we know, no-one at CW ever comes back to forum admin panels to discuss, oh let's call it continuous improvement Actually I retract that: I'm sure I recall positive steps being taken in the past to create a more robust entry mechanism for a selected audience and to mitigate against scalpers doing the equivalent of a supermarket sweep.

Show me a mainstream or microbrand watch enterprise which doesn't have periodic tempters/sales drives. Maybe the juxtaposition is less weird than it might be if the "exclusive preview" mechanism was 100% watertight.

If we were all happy bunnies this thread would not have been created and if you missed out I'm genuinely sorry for you: I know what disappointment feels like. Console yourself with the thought that getting through the CW sales with a first choice purchase is like a rite of passage: if it didn't work out for you this time make a few notes on improving your chances next time.

tikkathree · Post by **tikkathree** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:56 pm

Victor88 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 2:55 pm I was hoping to see a few older pieces reappear as if by magic. A Beast or Bumblebeast. Or perhaps even a C9 5 Day Small Second.

Who knows? Keep looking, keep your finger by the trigger!

akirk · Post by **akirk** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 4:20 pm

while reading this thread I have been looking at the sale page - continual refreshing has shown all the items gradually moving over from a URL with the vip id in it to replace that with 'sale'... presumably ready for the open sale...

during that time there were items on there with the old url which redirected back to the overview sale page, but if you replaced the url manually then they worked...

Sale is now live to all on the menu

all that suggests that it is a quite manual process they are going through - they use SalesForce Commerce which is an expensive and complex system to make bespoke, so I suspect they have to work within the scope of how it operates...

mvlow · Post by **mvlow** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 6:16 pm

NationOfLaws wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 1:38 pm
golfjunky wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:53 am
jkbarnes wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:58 am

That’s a really good point! I never thought of the twice are years sales as creating that kind of drive in people. While I’ve never bought a watch in the sale, I have on occasion come close to shopping the sale versus the watch for the very reason you mention - FOMO.
Or just historically some people just won’t pay rrp and know to wait
Right. Weird juxtaposition between “we’re getting rid of coupon codes so we don’t look like a bargain brand” and “come to our digital door buster sale twice a year”.

The difference between their old way of offering coupon codes and their current sales policy is that most of the watches in the current sales are "nearly new." As we have seen every time they have a sale there are always those that receive a nearly new watch that they return because it is more used than whatever the official definition of nearly new is supposed to be. With the old coupons you could pick up a brand new watch out of stock with a reasonable discount, which is completely different from buying from their stock of returns (nearly new.)

While some people will get a great deal on a nearly new watch that is indistinguishable from a brand new watch, many report getting watches in worse condition than they feel acceptable when advertised as nearly new. Personally, I only buy watches from CW that are brand new as I don't want to deal with the hassle of possibly having to return a used watch that is in worse operational or cosmetic condition than nearly new.

Here is Mike France's reply to an email I sent him in 2018. As you can see, if a return is in mint condition it is sold as new with regular stock. If it has any scratches/blemishes it is sold as nearly new. The bottom line is most of the watches in their annual sales are used watches.

RE: Nearly New Sale Watches Question

Mike France<Mike.France@christopherward.co.uk>

Hi Malcolm,
As watches can only be returned under 60:60 in mint condition the vast majority go straight back into stock after inspection. If we find any scratches/blemishes during the check we may add them to our press and photography cadre of watches and sell as nearly new unless we decide to recycle the perfect parts into a new watch.
Best regards,
Mike

Mike France
Co-founder

CBMVic20 · Post by **CBMVic20** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 6:46 pm

Buy the watch not the sale price. Life is far too short to be disappointed by getting (or not getting) a delayed "exclusive" preview of a watch sale that everyone knows is going to happen, and will be a feeding frenzy.

I'm part of the "got it one hour later" brigade. There's not really been a CW I've been interested in at full price for the last few years so the ones on sale were mildly interesting but not enough to go through the scrum of buying a watch. Surprised to see so many Bel Canto's and I added a Lumiere to the basket but then changed my mind; I don't need another watch right now and certainly not another Blue.

I found the strap choices on sale were more interesting than the watches.

A1soknownas · Post by **A1soknownas** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:15 pm

I agree with the sentiment that for an online company they could do a much better job of holding an "exclusive" online sale that is in line with what they promote.

If the point is that they are not bothered and is all part of a way to create a buzz it just goes hand in hand with their haphazard and inconsistent customer service I guess.

CW are not what they were and nor are the sales - they obviously see this as a good thing though. A lottery of a scratched watch at 20% off is not a deal it is a steal of 10% in their favour when the expectation used to be 30% discount or occasionally more. This is also against watches that have increased by 30% anyway over the past few years when accounting for the vouchers.

Most of the frustration comes from possibly missing out but apart from a Bel Canto or 2 I don't think there were any special one offs, so you probably didn't. Save and wait a bit, pay 20% more and hopefully you'll get a brand new one - or at least have the recently introduced privilege of waiting on pre-order for an update on when it might turn up.

As MF would say, Do your research, there are other great watches out there too.

Mikkei4 · Post by **Mikkei4** » Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:36 pm

Maybe my opinion on this is due to not being bothered about buying more watches but why are people complaining about being able to buy watches at 20% - 30% off rrp?

CW is under no obligation to hold a sale whether it's with NN or outgoing design watches. Everything has increased in price over the past few years so what's the problem with CW products also increasing in price? They are better designed and probably of better quality than in those cheap years when CW was in its early years so what a surprise prices have increased

Just as CW don't have to sell their watches and straps cheaper nobody is being forced to buy them (but people still scramble to get onto the sale pages early) - it's your choice and your money so if "... there are other great watches out there..." then go and buy them if you are disappointed with CW.

dft313 · Post by **dft313** » Fri Jan 10, 2025 12:03 am

mvlow wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 6:16 pm
NationOfLaws wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 1:38 pm
golfjunky wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:53 am

Or just historically some people just won’t pay rrp and know to wait
Right. Weird juxtaposition between “we’re getting rid of coupon codes so we don’t look like a bargain brand” and “come to our digital door buster sale twice a year”.
The difference between their old way of offering coupon codes and their current sales policy is that most of the watches in the current sales are "nearly new." As we have seen every time they have a sale there are always those that receive a nearly new watch that they return because it is more used than whatever the official definition of nearly new is supposed to be. With the old coupons you could pick up a brand new watch out of stock with a reasonable discount, which is completely different from buying from their stock of returns (nearly new.)

While some people will get a great deal on a nearly new watch that is indistinguishable from a brand new watch, many report getting watches in worse condition than they feel acceptable when advertised as nearly new. Personally, I only buy watches from CW that are brand new as I don't want to deal with the hassle of possibly having to return a used watch that is in worse operational or cosmetic condition than nearly new.

Here is Mike France's reply to an email I sent him in 2018. As you can see, if a return is in mint condition it is sold as new with regular stock. If it has any scratches/blemishes it is sold as nearly new. The bottom line is most of the watches in their annual sales are used watches.

RE: Nearly New Sale Watches Question

Mike France<Mike.France@christopherward.co.uk>

Hi Malcolm,
As watches can only be returned under 60:60 in mint condition the vast majority go straight back into stock after inspection. If we find any scratches/blemishes during the check we may add them to our press and photography cadre of watches and sell as nearly new unless we decide to recycle the perfect parts into a new watch.
Best regards,
Mike

Mike France
Co-founder

I get this frustration. I ordered a Twelve from the sale and I’m aware it may end up going back if I’m not happy with the condition it’s in (thank goodness for statutory right of return with online purchases in the UK), or if it’s not what I was hoping. But it’s still a £200 saving, and hopefully it’s everything I wanted.

If not, I can always upgrade to a “new” model. I was already on the fence as a matter of when, not if.

Personally, I’d prefer a discount voucher. I might have bought a couple of pieces in my preferred options.

Noush · Post by **Noush** » Fri Jan 10, 2025 12:56 am

@dft313 I have bought 2 CWs including a Twelve Ti 36 as Nearly New pieces and they have been perfect FYI.

A1soknownas · Post by **A1soknownas** » Fri Jan 10, 2025 1:04 am

Your post seems to be a reference to the points I made but has seemed to have interpreted an alternative meaning to what I intended.
Our thoughts may actually be more aligned than apart...

Mikkei4 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:36 pm Maybe my opinion on this is due to not being bothered about buying more watches but why are people complaining about being able to buy watches at 20% - 30% off rrp?

I think the frustration from some quarters is NOT being able to buy where CW are not capable or bothered about being able to manage a sale which starts at the time they say it will or that people sign up for an alert and it is a lottery if it is received.

Mikkei4 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:36 pm CW is under no obligation to hold a sale whether it's with NN or outgoing design watches. Everything has increased in price over the past few years so what's the problem with CW products also increasing in price? They are better designed and probably of better quality than in those cheap years when CW was in its early years so what a surprise prices have increased

The prices can and will increase, I am saying the hype of the sale is not what it probably should be and is more of a legacy from the past where bigger discounts were offered or exclusive products.

Mikkei4 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 11:36 pm it's your choice and your money so if "... there are other great watches out there..." then go and buy them if you are disappointed with CW.

That is exactly the point I made so we fully agree

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