What happened to CW?

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
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theaaronp
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What happened to CW?

Post by theaaronp »

Years ago now, I bought a CW watch, a few different things and spent a chunk of money. I remember placing an order, and the next day (it might have been the same day actually), I received a dispatch email.

Communication was good, I felt like I was being taken care of.

Now, I ordered a bunch of stuff on Sunday evening, it's now Wednesday evening and I haven't had any communication, any dispatch emails, no tracking information, no indication that dispatch will take several working days.

Is this normal nowadays?
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Crossi
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Crossi »

Christopher Ward are coming in for a fair bit of criticism these days. My view is that they are going through growing pains. All companies struggle at times as they grow, as various functions develop at different rates. I believe (hope) that as they continue to mature they will catch up and get back on track.
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theaaronp
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by theaaronp »

Crossi wrote: Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:36 pm Christopher Ward are coming in for a fair bit of criticism these days. My view is that they are going through growing pains. All companies struggle at times as they grow, as various functions develop at different rates. I believe (hope) that as they continue to mature they will catch up and get back on track.
Having just gone through their last 10 years worth of accounts, I don't think 'growing pains' is a sufficient excuse if I'm fair. They have never been in a better position financially and infrastructure wise to offer what should be exception customer service.

Emails, delivery notes, all these things are automated processes, and it's just a matter of working smart -not hard. Premium watches, premium prices, the customer service and customer journey should match it.

We'll see what happens in the coming days.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by jtc »

CW have been going through perpetual "growing pains" - a phrase first used to describe CW on this forum back in 2008 and several times since ...

search.php?keywords=growing+pains&terms ... mit=Search

It's now just institutional poor management and/or processes.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by what-time-is-it »

Chasing units and taking the things that they were good at, for granted.
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Thermexman
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Thermexman »

Please secure any loose items, keep your arms inside the carriage and strictly “no screaming!” You can purchase a photo after the ride. Enjoy!
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by nauf »

Have you received the order confirmation email? As long as you have received it, then in my opinion got to give them times to deliver. Any pre-order items or items ordered during a sale will take longer time than usual to be shipped.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by H0rati0 »

theaaronp wrote: Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:18 pm

Having just gone through their last 10 years worth of accounts, I don't think 'growing pains' is a sufficient excuse if I'm fair. They have never been in a better position financially and infrastructure wise to offer what should be exception customer service.
CW have been losing money for years as the balance sheet has got bigger.

For Christopher Ward Holdings:

2017 P&L account: (£877 415)
2018 P&L account: (£1 133 645)

For CWL:

2017 P&L account: (£2 705 238)
2018 P&L account: (£2 763 961)

Please understand I am not passing judgement here as CW is pushing the envelope on several fronts, eg the merger with Synergies Hologeres and many product launches so hats off to the owners/founders but as always they have to allocate money to the priorities as they see them.
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theaaronp
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by theaaronp »

H0rati0 wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:40 am
theaaronp wrote: Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:18 pm

Having just gone through their last 10 years worth of accounts, I don't think 'growing pains' is a sufficient excuse if I'm fair. They have never been in a better position financially and infrastructure wise to offer what should be exception customer service.
CW have been losing money for years as the balance sheet has got bigger.

For Christopher Ward Holdings:

2017 P&L account: (£877 415)
2018 P&L account: (£1 133 645)

For CWL:

2017 P&L account: (£2 705 238)
2018 P&L account: (£2 763 961)

Please understand I am not passing judgement here as CW is pushing the envelope on several fronts, eg the merger with Synergies Hologeres and many product launches so hats off to the owners/founders but as always they have to allocate money to the priorities as they see them.
In your opinion, do you believe shipping products and good communication should be priorities?
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Essex Paul »

The QC side seems to have slipped too from my understanding.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by H0rati0 »

theaaronp wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 9:06 am

In your opinion, do you believe shipping products and good communication should be priorities?
I believe the customer comes first and I think that CW do also, but can they execute? I am merely pointing out that there may be constraints that are not so obvious to outsiders. As I made clear, I am not trying to judge or even accuse since I am in no position to.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Thermexman »

I really don't get this 'looking through their accounts' codswallop. Who gives a toss?

They sell watches. If you like them, buy them.

If you don't, then don't buy them.

If you're having a problem with their aftersales service, keep on at them, they will eventually sort it. They're an honourable company who may be struggling to keep on top of some CS issues at this time.

Analysing the books is really going to...

...no actually, it won't help.

Just keeping it real folks. :thumbup:
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by QPRcat »

I also placed an order at the weekend and also have not received a confirmation email.

With the sale being on I’m sure they have a heavy backlog.

The watch will arrive when it arrives, and after all, it’s only a beautiful manual C65 Trident.

The way it is, is the way it is.

Chill Good Folk! 😀
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by meinberg »

Thermexman wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:07 pm I really don't get this 'looking through their accounts' codswallop. Who gives a toss?
I agree with your sentiment but as one of the selling (buying) points is a five year warranty then the P&L is a bit more interesting, we all want them around in five years, and personally not just for the warranty.
So to some degree I think all buyers of any product need to take the financial position of a company into consideration when purchasing if a warranty is important.

I do not expect CW to shut up shop anytime soon, although maybe Brexit might see a relocation to Basel. :D
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Essex Paul »

meinberg wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:09 pm
Thermexman wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:07 pm I really don't get this 'looking through their accounts' codswallop. Who gives a toss?
I agree with your sentiment but as one of the selling (buying) points is a five year warranty then the P&L is a bit more interesting, we all want them around in five years, and personally not just for the warranty.
So to some degree I think all buyers of any product need to take the financial position of a company into consideration when purchasing if a warranty is important.

I do not expect CW to shut up shop anytime soon, although maybe Brexit might see a relocation to Basel. :D
And why would CW relocate to Switzerland? :-k
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