Welcome to this Watch live. Hi, I'm Lydia Winters.
And I'm Fubui, and Lydia's coming home.
Yes, The next episode I'll be at home and we'll be recording
together. Hopefully we I convince you to
record in the evenings now. Wait, I'm down with recording in
the evenings? What?
Well, I've been doing it this whole time since you've been
gone. I know, but it's perfect.
No more mornings. No more mornings.
The big difficulty is that evenings don't have as hard of a
cut off time as our mornings have and.
So it doesn't sound as cool in the commitment of like we record
at night as like we get up and record in the mornings.
Yeah, it sounds cool. Record in the morning sounds way
cooler. Also, it has made us have.
A. Get up in the morning.
Schedule for the morning. OK, we'll we'll table this and
see what what happens. We.
Don't need to debate this on our actual.
Podcast but everyone please be with me night time recording.
But the next time you hear us, Lydia.
We're together. Good sound.
Yes, and I will have better sound and we'll be together.
Yeah. So at Calico, Calibers asks,
longtime listener, first time questioner, some comments of
yours in a recent podcast trigger this question.
What are some of the things that brands do in their sales
boutique experience that put you off the brand?
And inversely, what does a great experience look like?
So a fun thing, first of all is hi, Kayla.
Hi. We know Kayla in real life.
And one time she wrote to me and was like, I just saw you on
watch Gringa's live stream and I had no idea you were into
watches. And so now we get to talk
watches and it's so fun and amazing.
So hi Kayla. OK, OK We'll start with bad
things. The number one thing.
Yeah, we'll start with bad and then go to good.
But the number one thing I I feel like that really puts me
off of like a brand boutique especially, is if I feel like
I'm already being prejudged like gender clothing, that feeling
that someone's like sizing me up, They're like that.
I need to like, put my watch out so they'll take me seriously.
I don't like any of that. It it it feels very icky.
No, I've heard a lot of stories, especially gender.
Unfortunately, a lot of women walk into a boutique and they
are taken to what that salesperson thinks a woman's
going to want. Which immediately makes you like
no thank you, I'm out of here. Yeah, and then there's probably
some women who don't know yet, because maybe they're very new
to watches and they don't even know what they want yet, and
they're already being shown one very small section of this
bigger brand. And I think that's just bad.
Right. Like but that that does remind
me that the brand boutique, so I we the way we differentiate this
from like an authorized dealer is an authorized dealer has many
brands, the brand boutique has a single brand.
So it should represent the most core like values, principles,
branding of the brand. So I typically have an even
higher standard for a brand boutique because that should be
the purest execution than an AD who has a bunch of things to
deal with a. Multi brand boutique #1 is
usually independent of any of those brands, right?
A mono brand boutique is not always run by the brand
themselves, however, they should be dictating how it's run.
So what does it look like? How should people be trained?
What is important to them? And like you said, values right.
Yes. And as a consumer, this is your
experience with the brand outside of their social and
their this is like the in real life, yes, I'm going to spend
time with this brand. Yes, this is their chance to
show you who they are, who they, how they see themselves, how
they see their product and also kind of how they see you, the
customer, like who are they looking for?
And yes, but don't prejudge me. So back to the list.
Bad things. Don't prejudge.
I think another big thing is not
listening right from the get go and not asking with questions.
That's kind of similar that to the prejudging because you kind
of say, oh, I look at you and I think you should go with this.
Like, I already know what you need, I don't need to ask you
anything. Whereas in reality and so people
come to us for advice quite often about watches, right?
And like typically we start with just questions, questions about
budget, questions about what they already know, what they I
have. Like a 10 page questionnaire
that I'm like, look, I know we're talking about this and
this is overwhelming, but please answer these hundred questions
and then I can help you. But on the prejudging, it like
on the prejudging and like the start, like not starting with
questions. I've done this before where I
had a friend start asking me about questions about watches,
like, hey, I know you know a lot about watches.
I've been thinking about getting a Seiko and I had a very clear
picture in my mind of what type of Seiko he would want, which
would be kind of sporty. But I decided to say, hey, do
you have any watches that you've looked at that you really like?
He loves reggae numerals dress watch.
And I was like, but again, it's surprising without asking some
questions, if I only prejudged yes would not work.
And also, yeah, you would have sent him some probably
recommendations he didn't like. That he hated.
But he'd be super nice and not want to tell you that, you know.
And then one day I would see his yeah Brigade Seiko and I would
be like, whoa, like I was off. Yeah, I was.
Really. I'll.
Recommend that one. OK, another one.
Now this one is more depends on the boutique and the price level
and you know there there are certain qualifications for this.
But in general none of us want to feel like we're being sold to
even though we know that's what you go to a boutique for, right?
Like you go there probably to buy something, but you
especially with expensive watches, you're not usually just
walking in looking at something for the first time and buying
it. Sometimes you are, but they're
not always. So you want to kind of feel
like, OK, it's OK to just look, it's OK to ask questions and
just do this thing. It should not only be about the
sale. And I don't like when it feels
like someone's like, put it, box it up, size it to the wrist,
What's the credit card? Ready.
I feel very. I'm like, OK, you know, so that
is a definite turn off. Yeah.
I think luckily a lot of the brand boutiques that I've been
to, they are trying to create like more of an experience.
Yeah. So then there is, it doesn't
feel quite as pushy, but I I completely agree.
We've seen it. I have.
We have seen it happen too. So I don't think any of these
things are things a brand needs to do at their boutique, right,
Because like this is just a list of things we think based on our
brand experience and our real life experience that brands
would benefit from doing this at their boutique because I think
they'd sell more watches. This is just really, well, we're
talking about good sales tactics.
Number one, be curious. Ask questions.
I love when someone's like what are you looking for?
What are you interested in? What do you have like that is a
good experience for me? And I think you like they should
meet you where you are in your journey, and you won't.
You have to start with being curious, otherwise you won't
know where someone is. But like someone may be very
experienced, someone might be completely brand new.
You should not treat those two people the same way, right?
You're going to show them different things.
You're going to ask them different questions.
So you kind of have to meet them where they are in their
experience, in maybe their budget, in, you know, there's a
series of questions that will put you in the right mindset to
help that customer. So this is it like this is also
this is just sales one O 1 right you?
Know your product. That's another one.
And it's like know your product, be patient like you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be.
Curious. And if it's a really expensive
brand, the experience should fit that price point, right?
Yeah, You're going to forgive the lower price point, more
accessible brands for doing things a little bit differently
then they you don't have to have quite so much of that, you know,
impressiveness, but if your watches cost the same as a
house. Then house watches.
House watches, right. Then you expect a certain level
of pump, right? Like that's just part of the
experience. So I yeah, I think, I think
these brand boutiques there are they're doing a lot of things
right. They could be even better.
Just they just need to come take our course and we'll we'll teach
them everything you. Need to know Sometimes they're a
little more focused on the decor and look as the brand versus the
experience. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right. Well, we'll teach.
Them, but they'll they they're all listening to this podcast,
so it's fine. Please forward this podcast to
your nearest brand boutique. We'll set them straight.
For you, you're like you have to decide if you think you're good
or bad. At Watch Medicine Asks any High
Horology brand or model you folks are interested in getting.
Oh OK, so first of all, my question was like high horology,
hot horology. Like what are all the
differences? We've kind of disagreed even
about what this means because I I looked it up and back in 2017
this basically, well, it's called the Federation of or
Lingerie Me. Just calling it hot horology.
Like an American, in 2017 this organization released this white
paper that essentially defines 7 areas of expertise which brands
could be measured by to be defined as hot horology.
Perfect. Right.
It's high end artistic watchmaking is the way you were
seeing it as. I was seeing it as, yeah, like
high art watchmaking, which could be either on the like
jewelry side or the technical side.
But they have defined these seven areas as R&D and
production style and design history and DNA.
That's a cool one. Distribution and after sales
service, that one's much more boring.
Something but important collectors.
Interesting. Brand, image and communication.
So that's their seven areas of expertise.
And with that, in 2017 they named 64 brands.
I'm not gonna list them all, but I was a little bit surprised by
some of the brands that were listed like because of how I
think of OT or lingerie like Rolex, Panerai, IWC, Tag, Hoyer.
Like these are brands that were on this original 64 and that
doesn't. Yeah, I'm a little like image,
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's.
Sorry, Federation, there was also.
Basheron and Patek and AP. And you know all of these other
brands and smaller independent brands as well.
So some of it really made sense with what I thought, and some of
it absolutely was dissonant with what I thought my definition was
of hot horology. Yeah, 'cause one of the brands I
think of which I'll talk about in a minute, it was not on the
list. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I like if we just call them all fancy pants watches.
Fancy Pants watches. Yeah, we're like, hey, look,
high heroology is a fancy pants watch.
And you can define whether that means it's, you know, tons of
gold and and gem setting or that's like, you know, the most
complication. So you're saying fancy pants?
We're gonna walk away from the Federation's definition.
And go with and. We're gonna go with our own
definition, which is Fancy Pants watches.
All right? Yeah.
So, so my. Fancy Pants Watch.
The one that I've really been seeing a lot more quite quite
recently and that I think is awesome is Jacob and Co and
their their tagline is inspired by the Impossible.
And you're interested in getting one?
That's the question. Oh no, I was just thinking.
Well, no, definitely not. OK, OK.
OK. I just am dreaming here of like
you know I'm. Just saying the question did say
interested in getting. Well, OK, I am interested in
getting it. I don't have to be realistic
right now. I want to have Rihanna's Jacob
and Co Anklet and and choker and you know Lana Del Rey also just
got a cool Jacob and Co. I'm just going to go for it.
This is interested in. I don't have that's very a very
loosey goosey definition. There is interest that I have.
I just think very cool. Or recently we saw our friends
from Deluxe Ken and Pay. They have MBM FS.
First time I was seeing them, that felt like to me, I was
like, that's high horology. It's like cool to look at.
You just want to stare at it and it's a fancy pants watch.
Those were fancy pants watches, right?
I wore one for a while. It was pretty cool.
OK. What's on your dream?
What's on your realistic? Yes, I.
Wrote. I wrote.
Interested in getting, I guess when it says interested in
getting. Yeah, exactly.
So, but OK, OK now I kind of still stuck with what it felt
like was the vibe of the Federation.
OK. And you?
Can keep your. Definition.
Who likes definitions? There the brand is on their
current website. OK, fair enough.
And the one I picked was not. Will not consider this high
heroology. OK, the Grand Seiko SLGW 003?
That's the one that was just announced and watches and
wonders. It is their new hand wound
movement. It's their first hand wound high
beat movement that they've made in 50 years and just look at it,
it is absolutely gorgeous people.
I mean for the past few years like a lot of people complain
that Grand Seiko's been getting expensive and that's compared to
what it used to be. And yes, they they have been
releasing more expensive watches.
I do think they also still maintain a lot of watches at a
much more attainable price point.
But they've also, especially with this new Evolution 9
series, pushed into completely new pricing territory for what
we're used to for the brand. But like what was, when I looked
at Grand Seiko, it wasn't just about the absolute price point,
but it was like what were you getting for that price?
And it always felt with Grand Seiko that that for the price
you were getting much more watch.
So you're taking like that that Grand Seiko is a high herology
brand and then you're just picking a model that they have
that is not high herology? No.
Not at all. You think this one is?
I mean, it depends on your definition of high herology,
but. Is it a fancy pants watch?
It is. It is a dress watch.
OK? The dial is Birch bark.
Inspired. You know they've done Birch
tree, they've done night Birch, which is Birch trees at night,
and now it's zoomed in to the bark on a Birch tree, and on the
back they have a little wagtail. You just want to talk about this
watch? I well, hold on.
There was a question about watch.
I'm going to talk about this watch.
It's a beautiful movement when you look at the execution of
that movement and you're like, OK, this is an $11,000, watch.
That movement I don't think you can get from anyone else at
$11,000 for what you're getting. Also a cool thing is that we we
met the designer. He had that, and we actually got
to see the little wagtail. Yeah, yeah, little.
Wagtail at watches and wonders, which is really cool.
I just for what you get you're getting a high horology watch
for $11,000 and I think that this watch is also it was it was
like as if it was designed for me because our house is
surrounded by Birch trees and I photograph wagtails out in the
backyard so. These cute little birds for
those of you who don't. Know if you don't know what a
wagtail is, They are adorable. OK, but outside of Grand Saco, I
would also say also we saw watches and wonders Kudoke.
And they're Kudoke too. I just absolutely love it.
It feels maybe even more like the high heroology thing because
it's one maker making them. Yeah, I do.
I do feel like there is some piece of this like handmade, but
I think that's also hard in watches like because, you know,
many things are handmade, but what?
They're almost all handmade, like.
That's well, yeah, that's the thing.
You know, like the the Swatch has figured out how to
completely assemble a watch. You know, with just machines,
but otherwise there's a lot of hand.
Crafts. In watches, it's just what level
of craft are they putting into each watch and I to.
Become a fancy pants watch. Yeah.
And with Grand Seiko and with Kudoke and definitely with Jacob
and Co, there is a lot of handcraft in that.
So, yeah, I think we fulfilled the brief, yes.
I'm sorry that we did definitely not answer your question.
Watch Madison. Wait, wait.
I did. I feel like that, dude.
Alright, tomorrow you're going to be here.
Yeah, get ready for better sound by early.
Bye. Bye.