Hey everyone,
This update comes, in part, as a continuation of the last one with an important announcement regarding our reservation and/or allocation system. The TLDR of it is that we will be making a transition to a deposit-based reservation system, replacing our current reservation form and list with immediate effect.
While we had briefly hinted at this in the previous update, this is nonetheless not a transition that we take lightly, and is one that has been shaped out of necessity by the experience of the last batch. The previous system of allocation turned out to be fairly inefficient as we did not foresee the significant disruptions induced by drop-outs in the reservation list. Each person turning down a watch created a cascading situation in which we had to then approach the people further down the list to offer them the early allocation on an individual basis.
This ultimately resulted in unpleasant delays and longer lead-times for everyone with the shipment lists being constantly disrupted, and this was felt particularly keenly by those within the batch who had already paid for the watches in-full.
Our ability to communicate smoothly and accurately with you was also significantly compromised by the unpredictability of this changing shipment lists, and the overall experience therefore proved frustrating for many of you.
These pain-points are ones that we do not wish to see subsequent batches of customers go through again, and we have therefore acted to refine our allocation system with this in mind. The new deposit system should hopefully eliminate them.
Furthermore, freeing our small team from a drawn-out allocation process also means that we have more time and bandwidth to focus on developing novelties and even better watches!
Deposit Structure
The deposit system will structure payment for your purchase into two separate sums, with 20% of your order value payable immediately, and the remaining 80% due prior to fulfilment.
To secure your piece, you can simply check out on our site and make the payment for the deposit. You will then receive a confirmation email indicating the approximate timeline for your order to be fulfilled — the next batch is due for delivery at the beginning of 2024, and the subsequent one will arrive in early-2025.
Once your deposit has been made, you will be guaranteed a watch, and we will be in touch approximately 3-4 weeks before delivery to invoice the remaining payment!
Thank you all, as ever, for your continued support — the degree of understanding and empathy that we received despite these obstacles was truly heartwarming, and we look forward to producing more exciting watches for everyone!
Sincerely,
Robin and Wilfried