Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
MarkingTime
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by MarkingTime »

A1soknownas wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:41 pm
MarkingTime wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:25 pm
Not sure quite what you are getting at here but, current eBay listings show

1200+ Rolex Datejust models alone, never mind the rest
2800+ Breitlings
5600+ Omegas

115 Christopher Wards

I'd say that makes Christopher Ward a bit more exclusive.
More exclusive! That is amusing.
Words and stats are open to interpretation I guess.

I wonder how many of the new Rolex are selling at list and above compared to the new CW's which are normally less than rrp but more than the discounted price the seller acquired them for.

The reason the Rolex go above list is because they are more exclusive - i.e. less available at retail. Whilst in this context CW are not more exclusive there are simply just less of them...
You quote me out of context.

It was implied that the amount of CW watches for sale on eBay, somehow detracts from the brand value, hence my response with a few figures of top brand listings that far exceed anything that CW will likely be able to match in the foreseeable, ie. "those watches you see loads of on ebay".
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by NeWard »

A1soknownas wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:41 pm
MarkingTime wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:25 pm
Not sure quite what you are getting at here but, current eBay listings show

1200+ Rolex Datejust models alone, never mind the rest
2800+ Breitlings
5600+ Omegas

115 Christopher Wards

I'd say that makes Christopher Ward a bit more exclusive.
More exclusive! That is amusing.
Words and stats are open to interpretation I guess.

I wonder how many of the new Rolex are selling at list and above compared to the new CW's which are normally less than rrp but more than the discounted price the seller acquired them for.

The reason the Rolex go above list is because they are more exclusive - i.e. less available at retail. Whilst in this context CW are not more exclusive there are simply just less of them...
Totally agree
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A1soknownas
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by A1soknownas »

MarkingTime wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 8:15 pm
A1soknownas wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:41 pm
MarkingTime wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:25 pm
Not sure quite what you are getting at here but, current eBay listings show

1200+ Rolex Datejust models alone, never mind the rest
2800+ Breitlings
5600+ Omegas

115 Christopher Wards

I'd say that makes Christopher Ward a bit more exclusive.
More exclusive! That is amusing.
Words and stats are open to interpretation I guess.

I wonder how many of the new Rolex are selling at list and above compared to the new CW's which are normally less than rrp but more than the discounted price the seller acquired them for.

The reason the Rolex go above list is because they are more exclusive - i.e. less available at retail. Whilst in this context CW are not more exclusive there are simply just less of them...
You quote me out of context.

It was implied that the amount of CW watches for sale on eBay, somehow detracts from the brand value, hence my response with a few figures of top brand listings that far exceed anything that CW will likely be able to match in the foreseeable, ie. "those watches you see loads of on ebay".
The stats are a fair point.

The line - 'I'd say that makes Christopher Ward a bit more exclusive', to which I was mainly referring, is nonsense in any context.
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

I think the quote button won that particular argument.
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A1soknownas
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by A1soknownas »

^^^ Ha, true! You can't have context without the quote button can you... :lol:
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by jtc »

I wouldn't personally compare CW to Rolex, Breitling and Omega even in the context of ebay. Perhaps a comparable search of sub-£1k "New" watches is more appropriate. My point was more CW is the only affordable brand you see being flipped in volume. I don't think that's incorrect.
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Renton
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by Renton »

NeWard wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:28 pm Ebay Flippers :thumbdown:
Based on order numbers, I understand approx. 2,000 orders were placed during the sale period.

There are currently 45 new CWs on eBay.co.uk and 34 on .com (and there will be crossover for both and there are also new watches which weren't in the sale, such as the Sapphire).

While I certainly agree that eBay flippers will have impacted the availability of sales watches, I think it's a little far-fetched to lay most of the blame with them. Even if 400 items (I very much doubt it was that many) were bought by flippers, we're talking about 20%.

So I'll tell who who I think made the July sale sold-out: bargain hunters! Damned Christopher Ward enthusiasts!

Here's a potentially glass-half-full side-effect of the sale: around sale times I also notice an uplift in used Christopher Wards on eBay. Do people scoop up a few sale bargains and then sell some older watches, which gives other collectors/enthusiasts the chance to pick up some older models?

I noticed one seller recently listed a C900 Worldtimer, a C11 Mercedes edition, a C60 Mk1 GMT, and a few others, all in seemingly great condition and I'd say the auctions ended at a little below average prices. Is that because a lot of people are all spent up from the sale?
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by Hedgehogger »

At least these watches are still available on CW dot com, maybe not for the sales price, but available nonetheless. Compare that with Rolex stainless steel tool watches where the only practical way to buy one new at MSRP is either to win the "wait list lottery", pander to your AD buying lots of other things that you don't want but make the AD a nice profit, or trade sexual favors to your AD. Otherwise you are forced to the gray market where you will pay thousands above MSRP.

As for a solution to the OP's problem, maybe CW could implement a timer on buying. You have a 12/24hr cool down between each watch purchase during a sale?
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by MarkingTime »

The only problem is one of sour grapes for not managing to pick up a bargain.

There seems to be some sort of sense of entitlement here on the forum, that members be treated as special customers.

We are watch enthusiasts with a particular interest in CW, no more no less, but when it comes to business, money talks.
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by TigerChris »

MarkingTime wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:56 am The only problem is one of sour grapes for not managing to pick up a bargain.

There seems to be some sort of sense of entitlement here on the forum, that members be treated as special customers.

We are watch enthusiasts with a particular interest in CW, no more no less, but when it comes to business, money talks.
Exactly! Couldn’t have put it better myself. I used to live near a TK Maxx and would sometimes pick up a full rack of clothes etc.. when they had a flash sale in there and make a few quid pocket money selling them on eBay for double what I paid. I was first in so entitled to buy, same with the eBay flippers - they were first on the CW site with money ready so entitled to buy their 5 watch allocation (per account). I don’t see what they’ve done wrong apart from being first off the starting blocks? Don’t think CW will be bothered either - it does them a favour as picking 5 watches and processing payment to send to 1 address is easier than 5 separate orders. Nobody is doing anything wrong apart from, maybe, not declaring some earnings to the taxman so good luck to them.
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by Thermexman »

There’s never any popcorn in the cupboard when you need it!
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TigerChris
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by TigerChris »

Thermexman wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 12:55 pm There’s never any popcorn in the cupboard when you need it!
:D :D :D
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A1soknownas
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by A1soknownas »

Why not just let someone buy 10 watches per account then or unlimited even.

Just because something isn't wrong and within the guidelines set does make it right in every other sense.

If someone takes every product off the shelf, I'd rather judge that individual and their self entitlement than the company selling them.

A debate doesn't need to be just about simplistic business understanding as that would shut down most discussions immediately.

What if it was one watch per account or two? Would that mean that sales are spread out?

What impact does ebay have on sales or brand perception anyway? I'm not sure. Does the fact that CW have constant discounts, coupons and mass sales already impact the brand to many others anyway meaning that people often think, yeah they are good watches but I'd never pay full rrp for one...

Maybe ebay is part of that plan.
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by nbg »

Now here is an idea! :)

Any forumites who don’t like the idea of watches ending up on eBay and would like to help themselves and fellow forumites benefit from the sale and put one over on the Ebay profiteers could decide to each:

- buy as many watches in the sale as they are able, including those they personally aren’t interested in

- advertise the ones they don’t want for sale on the forum at the sale price they have paid, plus postage, on condition that...

- the purchaser makes a charitable donation of £50, to a charity of the sellers choice.


Everyone’s a winner...

Neil
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TigerChris
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Re: Guess who made the July sale sold-out?

Post by TigerChris »

A1soknownas wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 1:21 pm
Does the fact that CW have constant discounts, coupons and mass sales already impact the brand to many others anyway meaning that people often think, yeah they are good watches but I'd never pay full rrp for one...
I think you are bang on with this. We all know on here that CW are good watches but are they worth retail when put against others? Everyone will have their personal opinion on that one. I don’t currently own a CW, I‘ve sold my last 3 over the last few weeks. I will put one back into the collection at some point when the right one comes along at the right price. Unfortunately, 30% isn’t enough to tempt me as I see that as the true retail value of a CW, much the same as a sofa from DFS would rarely be purchased with a discount less than 30% off. This view is shared across a lot of the watch community I think - CW are the DFS of the watch world. I don’t see it as a bad thing as, from CW's point of view, they move watches in volume - but is my perception of the brand these days. People are all going to have their different views on things but CW have, in my opinion, been slowly moving away from the family community company they once were and into a commercial venture interested only on volume. The final piece of the puzzle going in to achieve this was the leaving of Mr Ward himself. Again, as always, only my personal opinion.
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