Watches: How to Design, Manufacture and Build a Brand

1. Introduction: how to launch a watch company. Turn your hobby into income. Build a business doing what you love by me, John Carson by Have you always contemplated starting in business? Because your idea is not innovative enough like a resource is or too much competition. He's your aspiration to turn your passion and Harvey into profitable business. Are you a creative entrepreneur with ambition to create something unique, valuable and profitable? Do you love watches and dream of having your own watch? Brand. If you answered yes to all or any of these questions, then this course is a good start by no means this course guarantee success. But what it does guarantee is equipping you really valuable information and positioning you in a better position to become successful. Learn old trade secrets directly from the source. How to launch and operate a watch company with great success. You will hear a lot. This industry is very competitive. This business is very hard to break into. This is too risky. At the end of the day, you will hear such things from people who are afraid of doing something on their own and there comforting themselves by asking others such debilitating questions. No business is easy. No industries less competitive than the other. Competition is everywhere. The most successful entrepreneurs do not concern themselves with the competition but rather develop their own strategies and lead the competition study and copy them in this course. Ultimately, I share with you the secret sauce and how to use it. You would ask why? Well, simply because when I was doing my research and wanted to launch my first watch collection , I had wished that there was someone to share this information with me. Left alone have a material like this. I'm a strong believer in spreading the wolf, and knowledge is the ultimate wealth to me. If my knowledge helps someone become more successful, then I consider that a far greatest success, then selling out on my next collision. For example, at the end of the day, information in this course will be a great starting point and will help you avoid some of the mistakes that I've made. The rest is up to you and how to use this information to become the ultimate success. So who is John? You're probably wondering who is the instructor and what makes him qualified to teach us such important in this course, Very good question. There's a picture of me in my fancy suit trying to look all important. There is not like that. Photo is because you can easily see one of the watches that I've created. So let me briefly tell you about myself. My experience and qualifications, as well as the motivation behind me, decided to create this course. I'm a serial entrepreneur, investor and currently CEO of A Ogi Enterprises, which holds a portfolio of several watch companies such as are Mere Watches, Stranger Watches and the Miami Watch Company, which is the parent manufacturing company, as well as other leading brands as Animal Stature Tequila, which is a distiller of premium tequila and Spirits Santa Motor, which is the manufacture of high women's dress shirts and the leading cloud based social networking platforms in Central Asia. Moveon dot com. I'm also executive consultant for Fortune 500 companies. That's part of the M AMC, where consulted executives of tuck top companies, leadership projects, leadership project management and company growth strategies all other stuff you could probably find a Google lengthen the way any other social networking sites my passion for motivation, startups and entrepreneurship has led me to an idea of creating a unique course. What I would share my knowledge with aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break into the watch industry. I'm a strong believer and not know sharing, and I'm confident that spreading your knowledge wealth will only lead to more opportunities and greater network, rather than being afraid of new competition, were trying to hold on to your secrets. So that's the 10,000 foot overview about myself. You have any other questions, comments or just simply want to say hello? Please drop me a note. I would love to stay connected. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this course, and I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience with you. Let's get this show on the road. 2. Table of Contents & Topics: Let's briefly talk about the topics and lectures that I will cover The watch industry Overview the watch, basics and components. The watch making process will also cover the entire design process. Financial breakdown, marketing and sales strategy. Useful links and resource is essentially I broke down the lectures into logical sequence, but feel free to jump between the lectures if you wish to. Towards the end of the course, you'll find a section with all attachments and documents, such as list of vendors and suppliers, useful websites and tools and everything else that I mentioned throughout the entire course . 3. Who is course for & what it is & what is not: the overview. In this section, I address the following points. Who is this course for some words of caution? Well, this courses and what this course is not. I've been working on this course for over six months, compiling material, recording, editing, screaming and crying, having fun and almost losing my mind. But I had a goal of creating something valuable that others will find useful. Literally, I have almost 50 pages of material that I had to then condense into less than two hours of recording. That was quite fun. Seriously, though, this material is all based on my own experience, and I didn't want to use such marketing gimmicks as how to launch a watch company with $0. Oh, how to get rich by creating watches. No anyone who tells you that is lying. Everything great requires sacrifice. For my first collection, I maxed out all of my credit cards borrowed from family and friends. But I had a plan, and I believed in it. I was determined. So with this course, what I wanted to do is put together a series of lessons that I have learned during my journey to become the watch Entrepreneur. This course is for an entrepreneur who is seeking to start unique business with exponential growth opportunities. This unique in a sense that the majority of the companies that I lost these days either reselling something oh following mainstream. According to research, the global Watch industry will reach approximately 50 billion by 2017 with the growth driven by the global demand for fashionable and unique watches. This course has been designed with you in mind, meaning you as the entrepreneur who is constantly seeking new ideas and ways to create something unique, valuable and profitable. Essentially, if you're looking to gain insight into new industry that you know little or nothing about, and your ambition is to create an operating a successful company, then this course is a great start. This material will provide you with key insights into starting your own watch company from a perspective of an entrepreneur who is successful operating the same business rather than someone who is just looking to make a quick buck by offering the course he just did. Some research on this material is not about the techniques of buying offensive watch and reselling it. This course is about launching and successfully operating your own watch company your own watch brand. Even if you don't know much about watchmaking per se, I have a strong passion for business. This course will provide you with key information. Well, who to work with, how to find them, how to negotiate and create lasting relationships. Best of all, you will learn how to create a unique watch. The thousands of people all around the world we'll wear with pride on their wrists and ca memory significant events in their lives with your product. This is a unique opportunity because it provides you with 100% full flexibility to be in charge of every aspect they're watch, design, selecting watch components, watch marketing and everything else that you will need to become the next Rolex. Many years ago, Hans Wills Door was in the same position as you're right now in 1905 when he had the vision , tow, launch, his own and valuable product that would create a legacy. Everyone starts somewhere. Everything great had always started with an idea. The time is now, and no need to waste it anymore on procrastination 4. History of Watchmaking: section to watch industry. The history of watchmaking, the oldest means of determining time is by observing the location of the sun in the sky. When the sun is directly overhead. The time is roughly 12. The invention of the mechanical clock in the 14th century was a major advancement provided more prince concise and consistent method of measuring time. Watchmaking begin in Switzerland in the 16th century with the inflow of Protestant craftsman. A breakthrough in timekeeping came in the late 17th century, when the balance spring was invented, which increased the accuracy of a timepiece from several hours to a few minutes. Since then, Swiss watchmakers had launched innovations like self winding watches, chronograph perpetual calendars and became internationally renowned for the precision quality and the sign of their timepieces, which carried the Swiss made designation since the 18 eighties. In the early 20th century, wristwatches used during the World war surpassed traditional pocket models Well. The Swiss consolidated their production toe whether the Great Depression, by 1945 Swiss craftsman had reached watchmaking supremacy, with roughly 2500 watch companies controlling almost 88% of the world's watch production. The watch industry beyond 2010. So in the global watch market, estimated at 1.2 billion timepieces produced in 2010. Together with iconic luxury brand Rolex and Multi Brand Watch stables Richmond and LVMH, the Swatch Group was among the leading players in Swiss watchmaking, estimated at 39 billion Swiss francs by retail value. Other Swiss brands such as Patek Philippe Breitling, were relatively small players. Significant non Swiss watchmakers included Japan, Seiko and Citizen. Dutch time eggs groups, which owned the time ex guests and Valentina brands and the India's Titan Industries. Next, I'll be talking about the watch industry in general and go over some industry statistics and studies. 5. Watch Industry: the watch industry. As we embark on this journey of neurology and watchmaking, it's important to have a least high level understanding of the entire industry based on the chart that you have in front of you. As of 2014 the number of watches sold worldwide has been over one billion. They're so industry leaders that account for a good portion of the sales, such as Rolex and this watch group. Mechanical automatic timepieces dominate the watch market by accounting approximately 80% of the overall market share, while the courts battery operated, watches account approximately 20%. Swiss watch experts as off 2015 Here's some statistics for the last year. I'd like to get your attention primarily to the overall numbers as they progress through the years starting from 2009. Throw 2015 where we see the rising number of total units exported between the mechanical and the courts. CHF is this week's frank frequency in case you were enough familiar with that to continue on this was watch experts by the region. Here's some numbers that will break down by the specific country and the region. Asia has taken the lead with told middle and units. Most likely Hong Kong takes the majority off that next Europe is they're receiving of the Swiss watches with almost nine million, followed by the Americas with roughly formula where you have the U. S. Accounting for approximately three million off Swiss watches. Total of 2015 we have approximately 25 million units exported by the Swiss. This slide presents your world distribution. Oh Swiss watch experts. I will not spend too much time on this leg. Here we have a list of top 30 countries where the Swiss watches are being exported to. Hong Kong took the lead in 2015 followed by the U. S and China respectively. The leases ended with Greece. This is industry study that was conducted by Deloitte, the big Four consultancy agency. So what they did is they completed the survey and monster consumers that listed in the listed regions Switzerland, US, France, Italy, China and Japan. Tough chart shows you the proportion of consumers who are likely to buy a smartwatch versus a regular wristwatch in the next year. As you can see some variations amongst the responses where consumers in China, for example, are more likely to buy a smartwatch soon rather than the regular watch. In contrast, U. S consumers are more leaning towards the standard classical watch over the technology as well as Japan and the Swiss consumers. The bottom graph illustrates the responses to a post a question. Why is it unlikely that you will buy a smart watch in the next year? The top three answers were different for each country. For example, US Front's Italy and Japan listed the too expensive as their top answer. So it's consumers are not in favor of a Smartwatch at all, not surprisingly, and Chinese indicated the smartphone makes the smartwatch redundant, which makes sense. So why am I sharing this information with you? You would ask Well, and we cannot deny Smartwatches, which are entering the markets very heavily and aggressively. And they're definitely stealing lunch money from a lot of manufacturers who are simply closing their eyes on this trend. But my take on it is that technology is very cyclical. In temporary, he comes and goes, whereas wristwatches I'm were tied to tradition and lifestyle, which is here to stay watch company strategies. Another aspect of the study conducted by the Lloyd Nor Watch industry is the focus off key strategies that the top watch companies have indicated in the survey that they complete it green. This 2015 as you can see and blue, is 2014 just so that you can identify the differences between the year. The top strategy for 2015 was Social Media, which is not surprising at all. With the rise of such platforms is Instagram Snapchat periscope, to name. A few collaboration with bloggers came in the second. This is an important category because the bloggers, especially in the watch industry, have strong followership, and they can definitely contribute to your overall marketing strategy. If utilized properly, which will discuss brand ambassadors is another section that will be covering in the scores , and he came in the fourth place. The rest such a standard media outlets, a Sprint Radio TV are winding down, and the brands are looking to engage with more novel part from such as S M N, for example. Next, we'll be talking about the main players in the watch industry watch products and the brands that produce, as well as their market positions 6. Main Industry Players: main players in the industry as the next successful watch entrepreneur, You need to know the key players in your field. Three companies that dominate the watch market share our Swatch group Rolex Richmond. These companies own and produce some of the world's most famous watch brands during the next. Several slides will examine the portfolio of these groups and compare the various niches that each brand targets. Let's cover each one of them in more detail. Swatch Group Before I move on with with a lot of the slights, I want to apologize in advance, maybe four, mispronouncing some of the brand names, but I will do my best. Swatch Group includes the list of watch prints that you probably well aware off but didn't know that they all under a single umbrella. The company divide this portfolio brands into four sub categories. Basic. The most famous in this category is the Swatch brand, and you can find this watch almost in any airport or a mall. The middle two. So is the brand associated with this category, although there is some fancy version of it also available. The high subcategory includes such Branson's Longin and radio to name a few. The top prestige in luxury is a your top shelf. But the most recognizable of the mole as Omega, their most prestigious brand, is of course, Brig. A, a company founded in 17 75 by Abraham Louis Brigade. It is important to know that the company, along with Black Pain and veteran Constantine, is among the oldest surviving watchmaking establishments and the pioneer off numerous watchmaking technologies such as the tour Beyond. Invented by the ABA Humbly brigade. It also produced the first wristwatch in the 18 10. The Swatch Group was formed in 1983 through a merger of two Swiss watch manufacturers, formerly SMH Swiss Corporation from Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries. The company took it present name in 1998. The Swatch Group is led by Nicolas Haque Jr. Son of the late co founder and chairman Nicolas Haque. Next will cover the Rolex Rolex Rolex S A and its subsidiary to door design, manufacture, distribute and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and two door Brandt's, founded by Alfred Davis and hands Wolves Dolphin in London, England. 1905 You're probably familiar with Rolex as one of the most recognizable brands in the world, but a lot of people don't know that they're recognized for many innovations. Let me cover few of those. They invented the first waterproof wristwatch oyster in 1926. The first wristwatch with automatically changing date on the dial. Rolex. They just the first wristwatch case. What. Approved 200 meters. Rolex Oyster. Perpetual Submariner. The first wristwatch to show two time zones at once. Rolex GMT Master The first wristwatch with automatically changing date and date on the dial . Rolex Day Date. The first watchmaker to earn chronometer certification for wristwatch in 1910. Essentially, Rolex is the largest single luxury watch brands, producing about 2000 watches per day, with estimated 2012 revenues off $7.7 billion. Next we'll talk about Richemont Group. Respond Group is another dominant player with a portfolio of brands, which includes one of one of my favorites. Monterey, founded in 1988 by Johann Rupert Rich. More recognizes his business activities into four operating divisions and jewelry. May since specialist watchmakers Mesa, Mont Blanc and other businesses Cartier and Van Cleef Arpels constitute the jewelry Masons . The specialist watchmaker group is composed off a Ledge, Lin Jing Song, Mom Mercy. A IWC Yeah, Girl I could officer upon their i, P J and a few and the joint venture with the rifle around Watch company. Mont Blanc is the sole member off the My Cell, Mont Blanc. The other business divisions include offered No Hill Land, so The Net. A Porter Group. Peter Miller in the show High Tang as off November 2012. Richmond is the six larger corporation by market capitalisation in the Swiss Market Index. As of 2014 Richmond is the second largest luxury goods company world maker in the world after LVMH. Next, let's talk about the market segmentation and how each companies represented based on the segment market segmentation. Here here we can see the Swiss market segmentation by Brent, where the brands are categorized by affordable and expensive factors, as well as the sports and refined styles. This is pretty obvious, and I'm sure you would have guessed it right away. But Rolex dominate the sports expensive segment with Omega breathing down this neck. Cartier stores. The bottom word dominates the refined, expensive area. Patek Philippe, towards the right, is an obvious leader. Inexpensive segment with brigade right next to it. Speaking of Breaking A, which we briefly talked about in the previous slide, let me import a few things, just some fun facts. It was founded by Abba Hamli Brigade in Paris in 17 75 and is currently part of this watch group. In fact, a bramble uber gay was the inventor off to beyond and also produced the first wristwatch in 18 10. So there you have it. Some history lessons in the watch industry watch market shares by Brandt. Based on this chart, Rolex, Swatch Group and Richmond dominate the market with Swatch Group in the slight lead. LVMH includes such Bush Francis who blow Tack or Zenith and Bulgari, to name a few as part of the other category, such brands as ADM RPG, which owns approximately 40% stake in Diego Liquid. So hopefully, at this point you have a general understanding on the watch industry at large, as well as who the main players are and the brands did they produce. Let's summarize this section. So in this section we've covered the following topics the history of watchmaking, the top three primary watch companies and the industry leaders the Swatch Group, Rolex and the Richmond. Lastly, the industry numbers over one billion watches sold annually, and approximately 80% of the market share belongs to the automatic timepieces. Our next section is all about the watch manufacturers. 7. Watch Manufacturers Overview: watch manufacturers here a few important items to consider. As you embark on this Jordan, extensive research will be your best weapon. Browse the Internet forums such as watching seek. Just be where there are a lot of companies there posing as regular members who will make you an attempt to sell their products and service. Justin. Sure take your time to review. Check out the Internet for any complaints or reports on the company that you're considering . If you cannot find much information of particular company, then it's probably a red flag. But wait till you get it and get the chance to speak with them to make your decision. Also, ask each company that you considering for a few contacts off their clients so that you can get their opinion on them. Those that have nothing to hide and pride themselves on their work will not hide this information from you. It should be happy to share. If the customers can vouch for them. Then it's in definitely a good sign. Remember that they're there to sell you their services and not vice versa. So take your time to ask as many questions as necessary to give you the calculator analysis . Communication is a huge part of this. Unless, of course, they're located in the same city as you are. And even then you need to be cautious. The vendors who have open lines of communication via various channels email, social media, phone, Skype, etcetera. In some cases, you will even get a designated representative for an account manager who will work with you from the beginning through the end. Flexibility is another important aspect, of course. Established and large companies will not be able to offer you much flexibility as they have established guidelines. But smaller vendors can and should be able to work with you during your initial conversations. Be sure to talk about the M accuse the minimum order quantities, pricing flexibility, additional features on the watches and anything else they can help you get started. Of course, your request should be within reasonable range, for instance, asking for 100 peace order to get started and not getting charged for the remaining 200 cases and asking them to keep it in stock until you start selling. Your initial batch is reasonable, asking your company to make you 20 pieces and keep the rest in stock until you get started , it's pushing the boundaries of reasonable. Lastly, the support system includes such important aspect sa's maintenance service and warranty examples of questions you should be asking. Here are what type of warranties included with the watches for how many years who covers the shipping charges, what other terms after the warranty expires. Moreover, great manufacturing companies also pride provide marketing support. Don't count on everything manufacturer to have millions of followers, but at least they should be able to help you with the production off quality imagery for your catalogues and Web site. For example. Lastly, the fourth deferred payment plans or another payment plan that will help you offload Danish the need to come up with a large sama front. On average, you can expect to pay anything between 20 and 30% as an upfront payment with the rest do upon the completion. But of course, nothing stops you from negotiating 8. Manufacturers: watch manufacturers as you go through research for watch manufacturers, you'll come across a plethora which companies that you will need to wait out. Moreover, a lot of the watch manufacturers will not even respond to enquiries simply because of the fact that they're very busy and they tried to stick to the existing client base. As you can imagine, taking on new customers is not an easy process and requires commitment of time. And resource is, which is why there is a preference to work with existing clients. But this should not be a reason to get discouraged. They need to continue to plug away, keep enquiring and someone will start communicating. Alibaba is a great source for considering the manufacturers from Asia, mostly Chinese companies based out of changing Dongguan area. This is the industrial sector, and a lot of Chinese watch manufacturers are based out of that region. Regardless of the stigma, they're Chinese watch companies that produce quality timepieces. They offer more affordable solutions quick production times. But there are certain down sites such as the communication gaps higher m accuse because a lot of them will ask you to start with 500 cases and took 200 complete watch orders during the conversations with the manufacturers is also OK to take a pause and let it sit for a few days. This will give you some time to think things through, and you also will be able to see which of the vendors expressed their interest or the follow up email, which is a very good sign. Few companies that we have collaborated with and I have actually worked with them, which is Ah, KP watch company. Keep our N P I. A couple of us beast watch watchmakers worth noting Lupatech Wise watch company in Miami Watch company. And they could be biased because I'm actually a shareholder on this company, but it's U S based. They provide dedicated count managers and the lower him accuse I'm here to help you and not bad mouth anyone. But I just wanted to also make sure that you don't make me make the same mistakes as we did so as far as the companies to avoid. The only company that we have had a bad experience with ah as a company named Sign as time movements, which claims to be based out of Netherlands but It is just a single person shop who then refers you to a so called manufacturing China. We will not get into the details over ruin relationship. Just the bottom line is a precaution for you to triple check everything if you were to engage with them as we have encountered on truthful statements and unprofessional behavior , next we will be going over a few important questions to consider. 9. Tough Questions, Certifications and Minimum Order Quantities: tough questions to consider. These are some of the questions that should be asking not only you candidates, but also yourself. Keep in mind that the vendor searches very long and tough process. It can take months, maybe even more. Be patient and don't give up because it is an investment and you need to make calculated decisions. Also, be prepared to change manufacturers. Don't just settle for one. Keep your options open. If things don't work out with one, then you have other options. Remember that this is a two way interview where both parties should be asking each other questions. Another good point to consider is. Does the manufacturer ask you any questions about your experience, by your strategy and by your plans? If not, then he can potentially be a red flag because they may be only interested in drop ship and be done with the type of deal. So some of the questions that you should consider our doesn't manufacturer have strongly experience and watchmaking is watch making their primary business. Have they created a watch similar to mine before? Do they have references that they can provide? Do they have portfolio watches created? Does the manufacturer have an interest in my success. How many clients does the manufacturer service at one time? And how is their communication? Do they follow up so they respond timely, so they provide clear and full information? So these are just some important questions to keep in mind associations and certifications . A lot of serious watch manufacturers belonged to certain organizations and associations, which are recognized all over the world. Some hold certain certifications to a test of their standards. Equality As you go through your research. It is a good practice to ask your top candidates if they belong to any of the following associations or if they hold any certifications. Of course, it's not a requirement. But if their responses and no, then you should inquire. Why is it that they don't consider that and make it make a judgment from there? Some examples of the associations are American Watchmakers Institute, Hong Kong Watch Manufacturers Association, National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Minimum Order Quantities. Let's talk about the M accuse. This is an important topic, and there's several points to consider. When I was first starting out, I didn't understand the big picture, and he has lead to miscommunication and certain frustrations when dealing with manufacturers as well is understanding the general pricing First, If this is your first project, you will want to minimize your wrist of the lowest possible. But it's not easy to accomplish in general. Please keep in mind that this is a full blown commitment and no high fast projects here. If you decided to build a successful watch company with the lone legacy behind it, then you need to be prepared to go all in. What do I mean by this? I was in the same boat when I was first kind of wanted to create my custom watch collection . I was searching for a watch manufacturer who will create a small batch for me like 5 to 10 watches, something small that would allow me to check their quality and not spend too much of front . In all honesty, I highly doubt that there will be a respectable watch manufacturer who will take on such a small quantity, and you would not be easy for you to let go of that notion. It would be just much easier to let go of that notion and rather focus on long term. As you start negotiating, focus on such important items as can the manufacture create free samples of prototypes for you If you choose them, the good ones that are confident their craftsmanship should have no problem with that. In this scenario, you need to negotiate a deal where you will pay for the production of the prototypes. But keep in mind that these costs may be high from $200 all the way up to 2000 depending on the complexity. Also, you have to cover the cost for creating molds, most such as mournful watch hands for the case. But these models will be yours to keep and can be used for the main production and any future collections. Average turnaround time for creating a prototype should be around a month, and the manufacturers should be keeping you up to date on the progress when the photos. In fact, you should agree up front that the manufacturer to send your photos at every milestone for review and approval the next point. Are they willing to make the necessary changes to these prototypes if they're certain? And if there is a limit of these changes, the prototype is technically the exact same version of the watch that you that will be produced during the mass production. Therefore, if any changes I needed, then his best to bring them up front. In fact, as we could as we will cover during the design process, you should diligently discuss every possible detail during a design face in order to eliminate any possibility over needed change. Once the manufacturer starts making your samples once they start making your samples, be persistent in asking your account manager to keep you updated every step of the process by sending you pictures, great manufacturers don't shower a shy away from this and make an attempt to keep the client in. The loop, for instance, wants the mold for the cases completed. They should send a few photos of that wants the watch hands arrived. They should send you a pick up to as well. This not only allows you to track the progress, check the quality but also keep your own customers engaged. You can use some of this preliminary in progress photos to post on social media, for example, or your block, then send it to customers with a caption such as work in progress, watchmaking at his best. We don't just create watches, we create traditions and so forth. 200 to 500 m. O que is an industry average. In majority of the instances, the manufacturer will produce 500 watch cases. If you're wondering what a watch cases, we'll cover this in the watch component section. Then they will order 100 to 200 watch movements and other components in order to create a complete watch for you. So you can bring this point up front during the initial negotiations or upon receipt of the initial invoices. This will make you sound like a legitimate watch. Businessmen or businesswomen. As always, Lower m accuse mean higher prices, one thing to keep in mind and a personal wish. I knew that at the beginning I used to ask the manufacturer if they have any watches or watch cases or any other components and stuck, which you may be able thio use on your collection, which you bring your production costs down 10. Warranty, Service and Minimum Service Requirements: warranty and service warranty is your Stempel of rule. It is your way of saying that I am confident in the product that are produced, and I can back it with a full service warranty. It is important to decide on the type of warranty that you will provide. Essentially, you need to discuss this with your manufacturer front and agree on the terms. Very good manufacturers will provide a minimum off 24 months warranty on their products to you at no cost. Moreover, you should also negotiate that the shipping costs are covered as well in the event that you will have to mail them the watches. An important point to consider is that you should you should never have your customer send your watches directly to your manufacturer. Your customers are buying watches from you and expect to have the service provided by U. S. Ball. Therefore, it is a good practice to have the instructions for warranty fulfillment completed by your company. In turn, you will then send the more factual watches to your manufacturer. Malfunctions and bucks happened all the time. Of course, if you order the 200 piece, watch order and 50 of those watches malfunctioning and they're being returned, then obviously, you need to go back to the drawing board with your manufacturer to figure out an action plan. But that's a rare occasion. Normally, expect to approximately 2 to 3% of your watch is to be defected, and those defects will know most likely and should likely be cosmetic or simple fix issues . Minimum service requirements Here's an overview of the basic minimum service requirements or the M s ours that great watch manufacturers and vendors should provide, if not more. But when it comes down to finding the best partner, the fits your strategy look for these basic elements experience transparency which basically from the very beginning to the very end they need to be transparent in their communication and everything else all inclusive pricing. That way there are no surprises. Low am accuse. They should be striving to meet you. Meet you somewhere halfway full warranty and guarantee lifetime support, flexible payment system and marketing support 11. Section Checklist: section checklist. So this was one of the most important sections of our course, and hopefully you took good notes. But don't worry. You can always go back and review that any time. Here. A few summary points from this section We talked about manufacturers important to do your research and take your time. M accuse the minimum order quantities what to expect. Warranty and service. Who covers what in hell. Up next is where all the fun begins because we get to talk about the watch, components and specifications. 12. Basic Parts and Movements: Section four Watch components. This section covers the meat of the class, the wash specifications and components. To be aware of and consider watch movements is one of the very first things that you need to consider even before you start working on the design of your watch. I've personally made this mistake of the beginning when I jumped right into the design phase. Yes, design is the most fun part because of the obvious reasons why you need to stay focused. Why? Several reasons such as movement, availability and cost could impact the design significantly. Additionally, jumping jumping straight into the design without first researching the availability and the cost of a particular movement can lead to unnecessary rework. Yes, you should have some general design idea in mind so that you can target particular movements based on the functionality you want in them. But avoid the detailed design work at this stage, I would recommend starting with the Japanese movements such a citizen Saeko movements because of their affordability and quality ratio. Nothing beats the prestige of Swiss movements by your own nervous, and there will be plenty of opportunity to go big. Good watch manufacturers have established relationships with the suppliers of various moments, and they should be able to relatively quickly provide you with an estimate for particular movement Japanese, Chinese or Russian movements more affordable and much more accessible. Some Swiss movements, such as E. T. A. Also a good start, but they come with a higher price tag. Once you narrow down your search toward several watch movement types, make sure to obtain quotes from several vendors so that you have something to compare. Be patient and do not let such statements as We must please this order today or they will not be available for next 10 years or you need to leave a deposit yesterday. Otherwise the world will end and all movements will be bought out by aliens. It may sound funny, but it is true, and a lot of the vendors will do that to you in order to lock you in. Once you pay, the ball is in their court. Remember that. So take your time. Quality wise. Japanese movements can definitely compete with the Swiss, but they're they're solid Swiss movements that can't be beat. Of course, the other important factor is marketing off course, a statement such as our timepieces are powered by Swiss movement over our timepieces are powered by Japanese movements. Sounds much better, especially to a novice who is just shopping around for watch. So keep that in mind as well. Think twice about the courts. Why do I say this? Because there will be temptation to use something cheap and quick, just like the courts movement in your watches, which are very affordable and wide available. To be considered a serious watchmaker, you need to stay disciplined and focus on quality instead of the quick profits. Creating a quartz watch is just a fashion accessory, and then you creating a whole new type of business, such as garment or accessory trade. You're stamping your name on your product, and it must speak quality. Having the courts watch will not get you the need a reputation in the watch world. On the other hand, it is subjective because it depends on your business strategy. Perhaps your strategies to start from the back end, build up the audience and then improve your portfolio by Adam Mechanical timepieces. Because off, of course, they're more expensive to manufacture and produce up. Next, we'll talk about parts off the watch movement parts of the movement. Let me elaborate on a few of these components. If you need detailed explanations, you can definitely do a little more detail research and read more about it. I just want to make sure that I comes that I cover some of the most basic parts so that you're aware of what you're working with. So let's start the balance wheel. One of the core parts. It is weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned towards its centre position by a spiral torch in spring, the balance spring or the hair spring, as they call it. It is driven by the skate mint, which transforms a rotating motion off the watch gear. Train into impulses. Sure, jerks basically delivered to the balance wheel. Each swing off the wheel, also called the tick or a beat, allows the gear trained to advance a set amount, moving the hands forward. That's kind of how the actual hands start moving the jewels. You'll hear a lot. A Zafar is the marketing in the sale strategy. Our watches have 24 jewels, for example, so you're probably wondering, what are those? So the jewels they serve two purposes in the watch. First, reduced freak friction can increase the accuracy. The friction in the well trained bearings and the escape man causes slight variations in the impulses apply to the balance wheel, causing the variations in the rate of timekeeping. The low, predictable friction of Jewell surfaces reduces these particular variations, and the second purpose is they can increase the life of the bearings. The main spring. Basically, it powers the watch. It's the spiral ribbon offspring steel, and it's located inside the cylindrical about with outer and of the mainstream attached to the actual barrel. The barrel has gear teeth around the outside that turned the center well wants per hour. This wheel has a shaft that goes through the dial. Next, I will talk about the main watch components that make up the key functions of the watches. 13. Watch Components: basic watch components. Some of these may be common sense, but still let's take a moment to review in front of you. You have the actual model that we produce for one of the clients, so I want to use that as an actual example to explain your different parts of the watch the Hance the hour minute, the seconds pretty self explanatory. The index applied indexes or markers on the dial to indicate the actual times Crown protector. Not all watches have them, but worth noting as an available option to protect the crown and just looks cool. The actual crown itself. Also, pushers may be available alongside the crown to change the dates or other functionality. The lugs, these attachments for your straps and the bracelet. The Benzel can also be rotating bezel, just like on a lot of diver watches. Sub dials these air usually smaller dials on your main dial to show the dates that we days , the months that etcetera on this model particular on the you guys have in front of you, there are three sub dials. The case. This is the core case of the watch the dial. This is your main dial and you can play around with the design of it, which will review further down the strap bracelet, dependent on the type of your watch. Classy and dressy watches. They would have leather straps, so bracelets, diver sporty watches can have rubber bands, for example. Next, I will talk about additional components that I import to consider. 14. Watch Components: other watch components. The main difference between the 316 and the three or four great steals is the ingredient that fights corrosion. The simple answer is three or four contains 18% chromium and 8% nickel, while 3 16 contains 16% chromium, 10% nickel and 2% mullet. Denham the mullahs Denham is added to help resist a corrosion to chlorides such a seawater or the ice insults. There is no quick visual way of telling difference between the two. You can't just tell by looking at it. There is no visible difference between the two identical pieces of sheet metal, polished or green, the exact same way. That's why I need a material test report, also known as MTR, of the actual material to validate as being three or 4316 Just a fun fact. Some tanks actually meet of 316 That's a pretty cool marketing slogan to use. Our watches are made of the same material as tanks. For example, Rolex became in 1985 the first watchmaking brand to use the 904 l steal highly corrosion resistant alloy that acquires the exceptional sheen when polished In fact, I don't believe there any other watch brands. They use the actual 90 for a great, since it's rather expensive and require special machinery to manufacture. In general, majority of the watches used the 316 steel, which will definitely hold up better with time. There are other materials that you can take into consideration. Besides the stainless or surgical steel, these are ceramic tiles which are gaining popularity, precious materials, titanium and so forth. I probably would not recommend making the watch from silver as it is self material and scratches show off very easily on it again. It depends on your target audience on the price points up. Next, I will go over the watch gaskets and holders, so don't go too far. 15. Watch Gaskets and Holders: watch gaskets. Essentially, gaskets protect the watch case from water penetration. They provide resistance to acid, he cold and other chemicals. Gaskets are available in various materials Teflon, nylon, silicone, others and they also available in various shapes, like the old ring. The bell ring F ring I ring, for example, also depends on the type of case that you're working with. All in the slide that you guys actually see the picture of where the gaskets are located inside the watch. Next, let's talk about the holders. Watch movement holders were keeps the movement in place within the watch. The various types of moment holders. Of course, the majority of the manufacturers painful cost cutting, and by default they will use the plastic movement holder. Plastic movement holders work fine, but from the longevity standpoint, metal movement holders off course provide better quality. Be sure to discuss that upfront with your manufacturer. What type off holder that they're planning to use and what their recommendations are. Of course, also inquire about the cost differences just so that you have something to compare. Next lecture will focus on additional components that you need to keep in mind, such as glass crystals and other factors 16. Other Watch Components: watch components. Choosing the glass for your watch is an important step there. Few options to choose from the most popular are sapphire crystal and the mineral glass. Although slightly pricier, sapphire crystal offers a valuable benefits that you should seriously consider when evaluating the components of your watch. It offers significant advantages over mineral glass in terms of scratch resistance and the overall impact. Paired with anti reflective coating. It will increase the overall value of your final product, and I reflected. Code coding offers the benefit of pleasant viewing experience when the watch is exposed to sun and it has wide blue effect to it. When looking at it, watch crystals their various materials available for your considerations such as sapphire, mineral and plastic. In fact, varies. Glass treatments also available that you can take into account, such as anti reflective layer. Quoting to be to be discussed, ah, little bit further Mittal Ization Silkscreen Printing DLC, which is a diamond layer coating which is can also be applicable to cases and dials. Laser engraving, for example, other components. Additional items to consider as follows. Anti reflective coating, which would briefly discussed a little bit earlier, also known as a are coating is a rather affordable way to increase the value of your watch as well. It should cost approximately upto $1 per watch per piece air coding as the slight blue tone to your glass the crystal and it's especially visible when exposed to sun. It is great because it does not reflect the sunlight and allows the owner to look at the watch without much effort. A T M or atmospheric pressure, where one atmosphere is the normal pressure at sea level, it is a rating for water resistance, so 10 atmospheres means the watch can withstand 10 times the pressure at sea level without allowing with the water in. This is equivalent to being 100 meter underwater, but moving water X exerts more pressure than still, so you couldn't you couldn't literally dive to 100 meters with it. Swimming at the surface of a swimming pool could subject to wash to three atmospheres of pressure and jumping or diving. Then it would add more. Super Lumen Ova, or Super Loom, is based on Luminal pigments, which is a special chemical that that is based on non radioactive and non toxic. For the luminescent or afterglow pigments for illuminating the actual markings on the watch dials, the hands or the best, all etcetera in the dark. In the past, radium was used until the early sixties. Try to him until the 98 the looming over between the 98 in the early 99 and super looming over and chrome allied since then. And up until today, so such famous brands is Rolex. Begin using chroma light as off 2008 you would ask, Should I? Which one should I use on my watch? The answer is depends on your design. If you're going for more of a casual, sporty dive, look, then the Super Luminal ways probably good fit for their particular design. If you're going for a dressy, classy look then and most likely will not be a good fit for that design. But again, it's subjective. It's up to you. The crown type two types that I want to cover, screw down or the push down. The primary function of the screw down crown is not water resistance, but rather crown and the stand protection screw down crown mechanism designed to act as a guard against the impacts or something getting caught on your crown that my pull or damaging while you're underwater. This makes sense when you consider that a damage crown. The step can compromise the watch, water resistant and the flooded diver could could then prove dangerous and ultimately fatal to a diver. There are a lot of different crown locking mechanisms used on divers, not just a screw down crown. They're flip locks, twist locks, screwball caps, simple crown guards and various others screw down designs doing corporate additional seals in the crown that capped the top of the tube. However, these provide additional ceiling, and I'm not the primary water resistant mechanism. The primary seals, about which depth rating or the overpressure tested are the seals inside the crown. To at this point, did you have a decent understanding about what makes up a watch, the basic components and what to consider? Let's summarize the key points 17. Section Checklist: section checklist we've made through a very extensive section on why specifications and components. Hopefully, by now you have a much better understanding of various parts of the watches and different components that come with it. A few of the lessons from this section it's important to take into account the movements. Before detailed design, we talked about Swiss versus Japanese versus other movements. No your basics off the watch movements. We covered the differences between the case materials 3 16 3 or four and others. We talked about type of glass, set fire versus mineral and other watch upgrades such as A are coding water resistance, super looming Nova and crown types. 18. Accessories Overview: Section five watch accessories in this section will go over an important and often overlooked section. Watch accessories when it comes down to watch accessories. The following items should be considered straps some of the basic ones. A leather rubber, Kevlar, for example, bracelets, clasps and the buckles, which available in standard in butterfly boxes and packaging. Here we will cover the shipping and storage requirements. Engraving, which includes the case, backs crown strap on the buckles, so let's discuss in more details the straps on the buckles next. 19. Straps, Bracelets, Buckles: straps and buckles. Straps bands is an important part. We should not be overlooked. First, research the vendors. And also don't forget to ask. You watch manufacturer if they can do the straps for you as well. A lot of watch manufacturers have established relationships with other vendors and can get your really good price and quality. Moreover, if you have your watch manufacturer handle your straps, then you probably don't need to worry about the attachment of the straps, which is a labor intensive process. Samples ensured to request free samples. Well, most likely you'll have to cover the shipping. Good start. Good strap suppliers already have kids available to center their clients to show them very straps that they have and allows you to feel the quality of the strap. Do not settle for pictures only. We have made those mistakes ourselves, and that had cost us quite much to redo and reorder resisting temptation and remain focused . Be sure to request and receive strapped samples from multiple vendors so that you have different products to compare. Ask about the warranty that the vendor provides for their straps. Strap is a relatively affordable and very effective accessory. They can increase your customer satisfaction. So consider such options s, including a free extra chef with each purchase or a lifetime warranty on your straps and bands. This speaks quality and commitment, and in return, all you have to do is simply replace the strap in case of when the customer requests a new one. Style matching is important something to think of front. Once you receive your watch and strap samples, try them on and see how they look. Don't just settle for the standard colors, either. Straps significantly change the overall look of the watch, so try a different styles. Cost organizations. This is where you add your personal touch to the fine details of your product. Small details matter, and you need not to overlook this part. Make sure to ask your vendor for recommendations on custom is ations of your band or the bracelet. They've been doing this for a long time, and they can provide some sound advice on the best placement of your logo. Well, other customization leather straps can have logo stamped on the inner side. Robber or Kevlar allow for more flexibility with an ability to customize any side labour strap a bracelet attachment is a very labor intensive process, which requires skill and special tools. Of course, you need to have those tools in possession yourself and those available for very cheap prices on Amazon, for example, just search for a watch repair kit. I'll have some links available to you. In the resource is section of this course. Watch some YouTube videos on how to change a strap or bracelet yourself. But the point here is that you need to negotiate up front who will be doing the main attachment of the straps to your watches. Here we're talking volume and quantities, and I highly doubt that you would want to sit there with your friends on the Friday night attaching straps. In fact, I've actually done that myself. It took me a few days, but I hated myself for neither negotiating those thinking about this up front. So please keep this in mind. In most in most of the instances, your watch manufacturers should be able to do this for you at no cost or very minimal. Just make sure that the strap supplier sends your bags directly to the manufacturer for attachment. This will save your precious time so here, just showing you real quick. Some examples of the different straps on the bracelets. Some latell straps, which easily interchangeable straps the bracelet leather strap. So I'm sure these are pretty standard. You're very familiar with that. But just in case quick notes on buckles, there are many different types, but the two most common ones other regular and deployment. For the most part, you'll order those from the same supplier who will produce your straps and bracelets. Ensure that they also send you some samples to evaluate. Regular buckles are more practical, practical and much easier to maintain the brake less and last longer. They're more affordable but have limited space for customization on them. Deployment, also known as butterfly back buckles, costs more, but they extend the lifetime of your strap. They're known for adding more value to the watch, but at the same time they're more prone to breaks and malfunctions. Ultimately, the choice is yours. It should be based on the final watch that you're building. My recommendation is to start with the regular than progress into deployment, as it will give you an experience first with a standard and then add more complexity as you grow and increase your inventory. Here we have quick examples of the different buckles. On the left is a standard belt buckle. Then there's a more fancy version of the deployment butterfly. There's different versions. You can definitely. When you talk to the manufacturer, they consent your different catalogues so you can consider. 20. Casebacks: case backs case back is the lid that covers the back of your watch. The offer. Great real estate space to get creative. They're different ways to decorate your case back. It can be a solid plate fully in grade, with various markings, such as your brand name, model number, type of movement and other features of your watch. Others prefer to put some lazy and grave images on them. Another way to showcase is your movement. Should you have a good movement by using a see through or skeleton exhibition case back? You can even use sapphire glass on that as well, but it probably not that important on the case back then. They'll now the front. Here we have some examples of various case backs. The full see through black pain uses some cool custom is ations in the middle. It's kind of solid plate with examples of certain markings, and on the right side is the open heart window with additional customization is on top of that. Next, let's discuss the boxes and the packaging of your watch 21. Boxes and Packaging: boxes and packaging prior to selecting the vendors, and sure that you have at least some rough sketches or general design proposals about your box. But be cautious at this stage with hiring a designer investing into creating a full blown three D design of the box, as it will most likely change after the discussion with the manufacturer. Just some rough ideas and napkin sketches will suffice at this point. Selective vendors. We've car a few tips in terms of selecting your vendors, And one of the first things that you should do is ask your watch manufacturer for recommendations as they already have established relationships with other suppliers and usually can get you a better deal. If that's not an option, do your research and pay attention to the following aspects. Communication, frequency of response, Serie and level of detail provided by the supplier. Are they communicating openly and willing to provide you answers to your questions? If you don't feel that you getting the answers to your initial questions, that most likely will be challenging to continue such interaction, especially when you please, in order good vendors communicate clearly and respond timely information. Review the level information available about the particular vendor. Do they have a website? Do they have a portfolio of completed work? Do they have recommendations and reviews from others, samples and prototypes? Does the vendor have samples that they could send to you? Nothing beats the experience of touching and feeling the product, and you should be entitled to do that if the vendor does not have the samples and stuck, then discussed the options of creating a prototype for your box and negotiate the price ensured to discuss such items. Ask who is paying for the shipment? How many changes can you make? What is the policy for handling broken defected items is important and better to discuss up front. In most cases, the buyer has to cover all costs, but it would be very nice gesture from the vendor to give you a discount. I'll meet you halfway. Should they have should, should they want to get your business? Once you've narrowed down your search of the vendors, it's time to discuss the actual design. Send your proposals to your vendors and ask them for recommendations. They do this for living and can provide your very practical recommendations on how to improve your design. Keep the costs at a minimum without impacting the quality or the functionality of your box . Materials of your box would forward plastic leather, etcetera, important elements, and you should consult with a manufacturer first in terms of costs, availability and how would it impact the overall production? Practical boxes versus decorated. The majority of the boxes are just plain square rectangular boxes with a pillow to hold your watch. Let's face it. Once you take the watch out of the box, chances are that you will most likely never used this box again. And we'll just collect dust in your storage practical boxes I great marketing tool, which will help you with some some branding. What do I mean? For example, for one of the diver watch collections that we have created for private client, we decided to take a different angle on the box and packaging. Instead of the standard box, we propose a design over leather wallet within boss logo in the corner. The wallet will hold the watch on one side and on the other side of the wall it they will be compartments for credit cards. The driver license pocket to hold cash and coins with a zipper. Sure, you were slightly more expensive, but the client's absolutely loved it. And in fact, these wallets got a lot of fuse after the fact of opening and taking the watch out customers using a regular wallet, and it and it actually lead to more referrals, increased brand awareness and customer satisfaction. This is just one of the examples how to approach the design of your packaging from a practical standpoint over decoration. Resist the temptation of adding your logo all over the box or making it the main highlight in the center of your attention. Your logo is on Lee. True to your own heart, customers don't really care, so choose effectively. Carefully positioned, carefully position your logo so they had settled yet visible, which communicates confidence in your brand and you will not come across this desperate. There's some examples of boxes The feature the logo off the brand of the center of attention of the box, which can impact the overall experience of opening and handling the watch. Rather make an attempt, adding a relative design relevant designed to the box, which would fit the overall theme of your watch collection the final box will need some kind of out of packaging. For example, a carton box that will hold your wooden watch box or a velvet fabric pouch that will hold your leather watch wallet. Keep the design of the out of package it to a minimum single color, and the small logo placement will do just fine. Lastly, the final customer experience should be considered and tested. Take the customer approach and go through the entire experience of unpacking the watch, the items easily acceptable. What is the first thing that you want your customer to see? How does he have packaging feeling the hands is there a certain scent to it is their final reveal moment when the customer gets to the final stage of seeing the watch for the first time and taking it out. Can they want to be easily photographed while inside the box? These are some of the examples of questions that you should be asking yourself when testing the user experience over your final product. Dependencies section of this course will contain the list of vendors that we at Miami Watch Company have been using and still still used to hope with the manufacturer certain parts of complete packages of our boxes and other accessories. Here we have some examples of very boxes and packaging examples. So these are some of the very first is. You can see you can actually use the I watch as an example, because Apple is very notorious and famous for really creative and amazing packaging. At the bottom right corner, you actually see the rectangular box that we've used for one of the stranger collections, which was practical and actually fit the cufflinks inside. So these are some were very important yet times overlooked elements of your watch collections. Let's summarize this section. 22. Checklist: section checklist. So just a quick summary for you guys. For this section, we've covered such important topics as straps and bracelets. Make sure to inquire from your watch manufacturer first and then obtain quotes from other vendors. Buckles. We've talked about the two types standard belt buckle and the deploying. But if I buckle, case backs was also an important topic because it provides various options for customization and improve your overall watch design. Lastly, boxes and packaging is equally important when it comes to the overall customer experience, so don't overlook that. 23. Financials: Watch Components: Section six financials. This is an important section because I will provide you with a high level overview estimated cost for your reference. This will enable you to establish better negotiation tactics when reviewing the estimates from your vendors. Even though these are just high level estimates, they're still relatively close, and your supplier will know that you have at least some level of understanding and can be robbed in broad daylight, as they say. So let's take a further look. Financials, Watch components. Let's talk about the various costs associated with particular watch components and upgrades . We've covered sapphire crystal before, so you should have an understanding of the differences between the sapphire and mineral glass with regards to the cost. As you can see, the difference can be substantial, depending on the thickness and the general design of your watch, so choose wisely a R coding. Some people like it. Some don't. It's not written in stone that watches with a are coding our over high, higher value. Yes, it's a nice ad on the Hantman as it allows you to glance at a watch without squinting in bright sunshine. It also allows you to use it for marketing purposes. Super loon is also depending on the watch design. As I previously stated sport and more casual watches I usually heavy on Super Loom. You can use it either on hands on the dial is part of the index's oh, both Screw down crowns are a bit more expensive because of its complexity. If you're going for a diver, watch, for example, then you will have a stronger marketing message with a screw down crown. Essentially, this light provides high level overview or what you can expect when it comes down to a specific breakdown or various watch components, an estimated cost associated with it. This will be available in Attachment section of this course. Watch movements, financial for your reference here and providing you with the general guidance just so that you have at least some starting point in terms of what to expect when it comes to manufacturer pricing. Since movements are the primary component of any watch, majority of your costs will be within that. When I was first starting out, I had no contacts and no detail information on the Web, but always wanted to know some general estimates on the cost of these movements, which would give me an idea on approximate cost and estimates associated with the watchmaking. I divide this section into two categories. Japanese and Swiss movement types and three sub categories for each simple movement with just basic features. Complicated movement types such as multi function or chronograph, for instance, and, of course, quartz plus courts with complications. This is also available in the attachment section of the course. Next, we're going to look at the few invoices and quote breakdown samples. 24. Financials: Sample Quotes: financials. An example. Here's an actual production invoice example that we've issued for rather complex project where we had to manufacture a skeleton Ladies watch 38 millimeter case diameter. The Klein opted for a Japanese skeleton automatic movement, so this project is more on the complicated side and therefore the cost of higher than the average. I would say this came up $229.65 per model, which is expensive from a production standpoint, but it's all relative to the target audience, price points and other factors that go into pricing your watches, which will will cover later. Here's a sample quote for a diver watch that we received from a different watch manufacturer. This is a bit more complicated model as it is a 38 p m. Diver watch with a rotating bezel. This quote provides two examples Based on automatic movement and quartz. You can you can use these quotes as a reference, especially when you negotiate with your manufacturers, and these examples can actually help you compare their received quotes. If the numbers are way off, then you should bring it up and have the manufacturer provide you with an explanation on why their numbers are much different from the ones that you familiar with 25. Design Overview: Section seven design. The design process starts with a simple raw sketch. This is something that you can draw using a no pad, pen and pencil. I actually have a thick artist. Note. Bad where I keep all of my hand drawn designs and other inspirations. You don't need to be an artist to do this practice, and you will get better. The main idea is to communicate some of your creative ideas onto paper, which the designer will they use as a starting point. Additionally, if you have certain artistic limitations such a shaky hands, for example, then you can simply use existing images of the watches that you really like. Save those images and pinpoint on them. What are the different features that you would like to have on your own model? I'm not saying to plagiarize and just completely copied. Just use certain features and basically communicate from those point out to your designer. Personally, I use Snag it by text myth, which is an extremely user friendly software, which allows me to you edit images, comment on them, highlight and much more. Photo shop is great, but unless you use it on a daily basis, that most likely, you will either need to take some tutorials you dima class and learn the basics. These sketches are then transformed into two dimensional drawings in a special designer software. These will be more refined, and we'll give you a much clearer picture on what your watch will look like. Lots of changes should be made during this stage, leaving a small details to be added during the next phase, which is a three D design. Three D designs will have older details in the rendering up to tiny small design patterns on your crown. For example, be sure to spend as much time sitting on these as it will be much more costly to make changes during the prototype sample production, make sure to have your designer create two D and three D renderings from every possible angle with zoom in and zoom out formats as well. Design. This is the most fun part of the entire journey. This is your time to get creative. This is your Salvador Dali time. Everything that you ever dreamed that will come through the life here in this section. I'm going to tell you how and what to design, but I'll expose you to the options that are available at your disposal for consideration. Some basic design parameters are case dial hands, case back accessories and packaging in general. Think of your motivation behind this watch. What is your motivation? Was the wash that you dad had and lost? Is it related to some important event or a milestone? Answering some of these questions will help you get started, But I'm assuming that at this point you have some kind of idea of the wash that you would want to bring to life. Let's talk about the case design. 26. Designing Your Case: case design. Okay, folks, when it comes to designing your case, I would start off with analyzing various watch models that you really like yourself. As Steve Jobs said, good artists copy. Great artists steal. Although I'm not saying that you should straight out. Just take a rollers case and use it. What I am saying is use it as a reference point and see what may best suit the design that you're looking for in your watch and sure that you take into account various case patterns , the position and shape of the lugs. What type of basil is a two step, for example? Moreover, do you want to create something that is more casual, sporty, which would mean a thicker and rather aggressive style of your case or classy, elegant watch with a slim case? The decision is yours, and this is your time to shine. Enjoy here a few examples of the cases for your reference, but they're planning more. Just simply search for a model that you really like and go go similar models and go from there. These are some of the watches that we've actually created part of our manufacturing, and these are just giving you some ideas in terms of the shapes, the sizes, all the types of the cases that you can design yourself up. Next, we will discuss the design of your dial. 27. Designing Your Dial: dial design. That was important because essentially, this is the face of your watch. So take your time with designing the dial. Some of the options for creating a unique dials, available but not limited to an animal edged ceramic pearl oyster skeleton sandblasted in Boston. Textured, luminous cross brush pattern M. O P, which is the mother of Pearl. For any of these design proposals, be sure to get the input from your manufacturer because they can give you an idea of how much that will cost. This would save you a lot of time. We've made this mistake before, as we were has deep into design and neglected to obtain the estimates upon received, which we had to reconsider some or design ideas because there were simply not the most cost effective solutions for their particular collection. For few other considerations to keep in mind when designing your dial, there are various options when it comes to indexes, dots paints that can be applied thick, printed, engraved as well as your logo. If you doubt will have a date window, for example, consider having your window frame. Another important consideration is the display of your numerals, whether they are Roman Arabic or just plain indexes. Just ensure to take into consideration your target audience in the overall theme of your watch. Because these design elements can make or break your watch. Let's take a look at some of the various dial designs. So here, just showing your quick to designs that we've worked on for a while on the left side is one of the hardest selling Amir watch designs with a three D kind of the dual layer design that you have in the national ornament. On the right side is the Miami Watch Company Signature Brand Diver Watch where you have hammered dial up. Next, we'll talk about the design of your case back. 28. Designing Your Caseback: case back design case. Banks provide grey space for customization of your watch. Whether you're using the full body case back or the skeleton glass, it provides you with lots of real estate to add your personal touch. When customizing your case back, focus on the overall theme of your watch. Resist the temptation to add something personal, such as your girlfriend's initials. For example. Think in terms of the user. If you were the buyer of this watch with the proposed designer customization on the case back appeal to you. General suggestions such as adding your logo and few technical specifications is a good idea as they provide some immediate information to your clients about the product as far as the skeleton case backs, which are sapphire crystal showcasing the movement, for instance, has its advantages and disadvantages from the pros. Perspective. It as great value to the watch should you choose to add custom ization such as your logo on certain parts of the movement, for example, the oscillating Roeder on the self winding movements. Adding a frosted logo on the glass can be a nice touch from the con standpoint. Limited a real estate for customization, extra costs should you choose to use sapphire glass and adds extra room for more maintenance case back design? There are several types of keys backs available for you to consider that we've briefly touched upon in one of the early electors. Glass, full skeleton, half skeleton, solid welded grooves, stamp W type moved. Fish scale coding. Let's take a look. A few examples of the existing case backs here. Just a quick glance at Ah, on the left side is a full body solid plate with some stamping and in grieving. And on the right side panel, right, the skeleton, probably sapphire crystal that they showcasing. The actual custom is ations and the movement. Next, we'll talk about the design of your watch hands. 29. Designing Your Watch Hands: the design of your watch hands before you start designing the hands, I actually recommend obtaining a catalogue. Oh, fans from your manufacturer or the supplier. Most of them have it. This will provide you with available options that you can choose and narrow down your design ideas. There's several options than the hands come available in straight and smooth lines. Super Loom Feeling sharp edge cuts Thick slam diamond Cohan's edges lines finishing. Let me just show you a quick examples of the hands. So here you have different types, shapes and forms. Like I said, get a catalogue first from the manufacturer and you will be able to adjust from there. Crown Design Crown is not only integral part of your watch component, but I can't definitely impact the overall design of your watch. You can stick out like a sore thumb if you don't consider how it will in bed with the rest of the features. I want to expose you to various types of crowns that are available for your consideration. Waterproof crowns, which can range from 3 to 28 PM Of course, there are custom made crowns, which can be used after 100 push, pull crown A traditional and majority of the watches come with that type. Screw down crown Spring crown. Also available essentially their different styles and shapes. Onion shape, crown diamond shapes and many others. Lastly, some treatments encoding options you should take into account for your crown sandblast Sam Polishing Gold plating PVT Deal. See Diamond like carbon pleading Mira polishing. Overall, the crown needs not only fulfill certain functionality but also be an integral part of the overall design. 30. Hiring Designers and Summary: designers. Before you hire designer Bisher to ask your manufacturer if they provide such service, this may be a good start and most likely more affordable hiring a good designers and investment. And be sure to research various designers and sure to ask for samples of their work and portfolio. I have used such services as the Freelancer and Be Hands and found several really good designer zombie hands with whom I still work from time to time. Fiver is a good starting point, but only for the initial sketches. It is definitely more affordable by you. Get what you pay for it. Lastly, with regards to fix contracts, try to negotiate a fixed price per job completed or an image or set of images this way, you don't need to worry about tracking the hours, etcetera. These are some of the important items to keep in mind in terms of design stage. It is the most creative phase of your watch manufacturer lifecycle, so be sure to enjoy it. And now let's summarize this section In this section, we've talked about the design stage of your watch manufacturer Lifecycle. The design stage includes the case dial case back hands on the crown. Keep in mind few platforms which can provide you with a great designer resource is 31. Process Overview: Section eight. Manufacturing in this section will be going over the manufacturing process. I'm going to introduce you to various stages of the manufacturing life cycle. These, of course, vary from company to company. But for the most part, the steps and deliverables overlap and have certain similarities. So let's begin Stage one. It's all about the idea. During this stage, the client and the manufacturer discussed different ideas, exchange information, and the climb provides high level sketches about the type of watch that they want to bring to life manufacturing. Turn provides recommendations, suggestions on areas of improvement. Stage two. It's all about the technical requirements in the design they're in this phase. The requirements are spelled out as far as well. Functions and features declined once in the watch and the manufacturer provide solutions as far as what type of moments are available that will meet those requirements. Once these features, I agreed upon the renderings up with together, which start with basic raw drawings and progress in tow. Final 33 D professional renderings. Also, some introductory videos can be created during this stage. Typically expect for this face to be between 10 to 15 days. Also during the second stage, the manufacturer provides the estimates and the quote once the manufacturer in the client on the same page. With that regard, expect to have a deposit or pre payment to be made so that the manufacturer can move onto the next phase. Stage three is focused on the samples or the prototype. The manufacturers starts working on the case hands and the DIA molds, and the final final technical specification document is prepared. They're in this stage. The client works on accessories and other important aspects as the packaging and the straps prototype or sample typically take about a month to complete, depending on the complexity and the level complications in the watch. Once the prototype is completed, the manufacturer males it to the client for review and analysis. Hopefully, there are no significant modifications I needed, and the client is happy with the final output of the prototype. Once the client approves the prototype and gives the green light for the full production to start that has won the Stage four starts, which is production during stage for the manufacturer orders the movements completes the production of ball components cases, dial glass case backs, hands and etcetera, followed by the assembly and the testing throughout each stage, the manufacturer should keep the client updated on the progress. Great manufacturers even provide pictures on the photos of the progress, as I mentioned before That way, that clanking uses images in their marketing as well. Roughly expect for the states to take between 2 to 3 months. Once the bulk production is completed. Past Q A quality assurance and testing. It is packaged and prepared for shipment to the client. The client received the packages and inspects throughout all stages, especially after the prototypes are completed and delivered. The client should focus on creating and executing their marketing strategy, which will cover further toe build the prelaunch buzz, collect pre orders in position the product for success way in advance before it's even completed. 32. Types of Testing: manufacturing process. The manufacturer performs various types of testing during and after the completion of the manufacturing process. I wanted you to be at least exposed at high level to various types of testing that is performed. Water resistance testing is conducted using special machinery, which basically test the watch for the specific atmospheric pressure drop. Testing, as funny as it sounds, is performed to ensure watch stability and performance when exposed to impact. Some manufacturers have special equipment for that. Others performed job tests by simply dropping the watches from particular height. High and low temperature testing is done using special special equipment to meet certain minimum standards. One exposed to particular temperatures. UV light, an artificial sweat testing I also performed. You should enquire from your manufacturing the types of testing that they're going to perform as part of the manufacturing process, and they should provide you with the least high level explanation on what type of testing is involved. At the end of the course in the appendices section, I'm going to give you guys and document, which basically spells out this entire manufacturing process and also a an example off technical documents so that you have something to refer to 33. Marketing Strategy: Section nine. At this point, you should have a good level of understanding on watch industry design components and the manufacturing processes these essential. But the marketing strategy is another half of successful launch and operation of a watch company. The next lectures will focus on various methods on how to create and implement a marketing strategy that works and delivers results. As you think of your wash design and other fun stuff, you need to spend some time asking yourself and answering some tough questions that that you see on the slide agreed. Those are not the most fun, but it has to be done. You will take some time for you to uncover the answers to some of these questions, so don't rush. A lot of times, new entrepreneurs are in so much love with their products that they tend to be a bit too self persuasive. What do I mean? I've made the same mistake before when I thought that I created a watch that the entire world will love. I did not think of any strategy fully relying on the concept that the great product will sell itself well. It does not Even Rolex requires selling and marketing products don't sell themselves. You do, even if you have the most unique was designed in the world. You still need to get this design in front of the right people and make sure that your target audience is aware that it exists. The following lectures will follow. No focus on the following areas. What is your story? Who is your customer? What is your USP unique selling proposition? What is your distribution strategy? What is your pricing strategy? What are you marketing channels? Let's begin with your story. 34. Marketing Strategy: Your Watch Story: marketing strategy. You watch story, bottom line people love stories, and you need to have a captivating story. These are some some of the helpful points to keep in mind when writing your short story. First, the story needs to be brief. Do not drag and mention every possible detail people get born. Open the story with a strong opening, an attention grabber, so to say, if you don't have one come up with one, something like It was a Thursday night and I was at the bar off the Four Seasons waiting for my meeting. As I was typing up a response on my iPhone, I've noticed an incredibly attractive blond and the corner of my eye sitting at the bar next to me. Hi there. Do you know what time it is? She asked. I couldn't respond, probably as I didn't have my watch on. She noticed slight hesitation in my actions and offered me to buy a drink. We shared a toast, and after that first sip I noticed how things got blurry, and the next thing I know, I wake up in the bathtub full of ice. The phone which was laying right next to me on the chair rang and a mysterious voice on the other and whispered, Do not panic. There's a tube sticking out of your lower back, and you are now a member of an underground organ harvesting operation. Follow our instructions and you will survive. Got your attention, right? But not all stories need to be so extreme. You get the point. People also love the good old stories of overcoming obstacles and rising from the ash. Think of any challenges that presented themselves as you embarked on this journey to become the next watch legacy. What is your motivation for creating this watch company? Perhaps your grandfather was an avid watch collector and he passed down one of his Grail watches down to you from your father as he survived the World War two. And and you and I want to pay tribute to that legacy by creating your own watch line and name. It is something within those lines. What are some of the sacrifices you have to make in order to bring this idea to life? Perhaps you had to quit your full time job and go into the business full time while working nights and weekends as a waiter. Do not ignore. Good story. There are a lot of watches out there. What sets you apart? A good and captivating story can help you achieve that. Next, we will discuss the process of understanding and defining your audience. 35. Marketing Strategy: Your Customer: marketing strategy is your customer. Understanding who your customer is is an important element of successful launch. Studying and understanding your target group will provide you with a competitive advantage as you cater to those needs. Start small, grow big. Select a small niche group of people that you would want to target first with your initial watch collection. This initial group of people will be your early adopters, so select carefully. They will also provide you with valuable feedback. Take it constructively. Do not get offended. During my initial launches, I used to get very upset if someone gave me negative feedback about the product or the way we were marketing it. In fact, try to listen to what they're saying as it might provide you with additional ways to improve in the future. Some segmentation can help you narrow down your scope. For example, if you live in New York City, you can select New Yorkers. New Yorkers is your initial target customers, which can be narrowed down even further. This will allow you to create a localized marketing strategy that you can execute more effectively on the ground, so to say, rather than trying to conquer the world from the get go, Let me give you an example. One of our portfolio companies, Eimear watches, has a target audience off Kazakhstan. If you don't know where Kazakhstan is, look on the map. It's the ninth largest country in the world in Central Asia. I am from there, and my partner in the company is from there as well, so we know the history and cultural preferences. With that in mind, we decided to create a collection which would pay tribute to deep historical roots off that country even hired a historian who helped us find an ornament with deep meaning, which we incorporated into our design off the first collection. This was accompanied by truthful and intriguing story. At this point, the company is very successful in Central Asia, grossing over half a $1,000,000 in sales in this first year, and we're now expanding into neighbouring regions with unique collections as such for each particular market. Next, I'm going to cover the aspect off your product 36. Marketing Strategy: Your Product: marketing strategy, your product with regards to the product. At the end of the day, unless you come from a family of watchmakers with 100 year old history and now you're teaming up with your great grandfather to create a watch collection, it would be rather difficult to come come up with something so unique that would stand out from the crowd. Sure, your design may look cool, at least to you and your mom, but I need to create a way to brand you watch collection, don't go for something like revolutionary design paired with innovative technology at affordable price. This doesn't mean anything. Instead, I recommend targeting a small and niche market for whom you can create something special. For instance, Miami Watch Company, the very first collection we were targeting Miami based Watch Divers. So we were targeting and marketing only to that select group of people, which was very successful. Additionally, I briefly spoke about Amir watches. It is designed specifically for Kazakhstan market so small total 7 17 million population that country, and we wanted to pay tribute to the depth of that culture with a design that spoke the traditions and the ancient history of their country. Pair that with quality ingredients like solid movement and you have yourself a solid start . That stuff Selves. Sure, you may say, but I don't know anybody in Kazakhstan, and there's no way I can travel so far. Just look around yourself. Think of what you love and what surrounds you, and try to think of a small audience whom you can target and grow from there. Next, we're going to cover distribution channels. 37. Marketing Strategy: Retailers: distribution channels. Distribution channels is an integral part of your marketing plan. It will help you define your targeted channels for selling your product. Here. We need to focus on few avenues online and offline, such as jewelry stores and other boutiques. Direct sales is well, you can explore if you have your own space and retailers, which can be effective if you choose the right partners. So let me cover this point a little bit more further in the detail. Retailers First, what is consignment? Not everyone is familiar with this concept, so let me provide a little bit more clarity. Consignment is the act of consigning, which in turn is the act of giving over to another person or agent. Charge custody or care material goods by retaining legal ownership until the material or actual good assault. This may be done for the purpose of shipping the goods, transferring the goods to auction or with the intent of the girls being placed on sale in a store. For example, the actual verb consign means to send and therefore the now consignment means sending goods to another person. The center of the goods is known as a Kansteiner and the agent that, trusted with custody or care of the goods is known as the Kansai knee partner with retailers and specialty stores is a good idea. For the most part, the primary drawback is, of course, they will want substantial discounts and percent cuts from sales commissions. On the flip side, there's supplementary income and the marketing channel for your watches. Besides, if you're convincing enough, your watches will be displayed along the lines of already established watch brands, which gives you nothing but credibility in the attachment sections off this course, you can download one of the consignment agreements that we use, which is your standard document that you should sign with every retailer that you plan to work with. In most instances, watch retail and jewelry stores. Welcome your products, and yours will not be an exception. They're more like they like more variety in their product lines. So keep this in mind, as you do have some negotiation power as you discuss the terms with them. Most likely, you're a brand new company, and no one has ever heard of you. Keep that in mind as well, and don't get discouraged when some retailers would not want to get involved with a known brands. Keep looking, and you will find the partners that are right for you and your strategy. Next, I'm going to cover the online aspect of the distribution chatter strategy as part of your overall marketing plan. 38. Distribution Channels: Online: online distribution straddles. If you decide that your primary distribution will look her online, the most likely you will be using your website as the main mechanism for sales. I will not make this course on how to build the killer website. Is there plenty off other great sources for courses specifically on that topic? And I recommend you guys do check him out. But I want to point out a few important things to keep in mind As you start building your website, it needs to be fast loading with easier navigation. Additionally, smart shopping cart, when recommendations is also a standard these days quick and seamless check out process is also expected. Social media accessibility but not too much. He is also important to allow your customers to help you spread the word search engine optimization is critical to help you search engine easily. A quickly scan your website. You should at least understand the basics of keyboard analysis, computer s CEO analysis and worst case higher and this year's specialist, you can find an affordable rates on Fiverr. For example, the block section allows you to come across as more human and share your stories with clients Lastly, eLance or up work and fiber is a good source to find quality and affordable programmers who can help you build the killer website up. Next, I'm going to talk about the pricing strategy for your watches. 39. Marketing Strategy: Pricing: pricing to develop a pricing strategy. The first step is to gather data competitive prices and pricing strategies, customer perception of products and services, customer benefits of products and services. The cost of producing, procuring or generating your product, which is the variable cost and fixed business costs the overhead. Second, you should take into consideration your design and packaging availability. Are you creating a limited edition collection, which will only be available in 50 timepieces and will never be made again? That will also impact your pricing uniqueness. How unique is your watch? Perhaps you came up with something that other watches don't have or your watches come packaged with a members only club who get to attend a private dinner with the top 10 watch manufacturers and the annual Watch conference in Basel, Switzerland, cost plus production costs of determined and then the target profit margin is applied. For example, if you're product costs $100 to manufacture and the business wants to make a 20% profit, then the price is $120 per unit. Lastly, the magic number nine sells better than any other number. Prices ending in nine more appealing $499 is better than 500 period. It's a psychology that has worked well for very long time, so don't underestimate it. Also, think of strategic pricing in terms of volume and margin. Do you want to earn more per unit upper collection? This will help you determine the pricing of your watches. Next lecture will focus on various channels to be considered as part of your marketing strategy. 40. Marketing Strategy: Channels: marketing strategy channels. A significant portion of your marketing strategy shall be devoted devoted to this section. Your marketing channels. This is the meat of your plan. How will you market your product? How will your target audience find out about it? There's a lot more that can go into, depending on your product, audience and other parameters. But I wanted you to be familiar with the four key aspects as a meme social media marketing , crowdfunding, ambassadors and reviews. Why? Well, simply because these have worked for us and continue to work for the projects that we get involved with. The next several slides will focus exactly on that. Next, Let's go over the topic off sm as part of your marketing channels. S m m again, This class is not about SM, and I will not make an attempt to share all the secrets off effective sM and how to get 10,000 followers on instagram. But rather I will share some of the strategies that have worked well for us so that at least you have some foundation for a solid start. First you need to analyze the most appropriate platform. For instance, we use Instagram Facebook Tumblr and Pinterest. It may seem like a lot, but they encompass various audiences, expand our reach and allow for various means for staying in touch with our audience Pinterest and instagram image oriented platforms that provide us with additional opportunities to showcase our designs, collections and any new ideas that we have in the works. This doesn't mean that you should create your profiles on the day of your launch. In fact, you should start your s. Mm. As soon as you finish this course meaning that you will be ready to bring your watch idea to life. This will allow you to build up the fan base, get input from them and prepare for the big launch as a meme allows you to reach masses of people. But it takes time and persistent to get your message across and get people to notice so that you need to develop an actual strategy. S m m is all about engagement. Sure, you can boost your likes comments, shares, views, retweets, etcetera. But at the end of the day, will this generate more sales for you? Some of the few strategies that work well for us our posting images off upcoming collections and asking for feedback, encouraging feedback and replying to comments. It is important to stay engaged. Of course, some of the larger brands cannot afford to reply to every single comment or question by you . Being a startup should take the time to reply and answer all the questions. Posting polls and questionnaires is also engaging because it provides your audience with several choices and does not require them to think too much. It also shows your willingness to listen to feedback and comments, contests and giveaways. Those work well, if you were genuine about it post contest that encourage your audience to share the news about you with their friends, come up with some creative ways to motivate your fence to help you spread the word. Offer incentives, discounts, perks and then promote your winners to show that you did come through and delivered on a promise. Active s mm will also require you to like comment, view and engage with others. This does not mean that you should only be concerned about the post images that you post you should pro I feedback and comments to others 41. Marketing Channels: Crowdfunding & Case Study: marketing channels. Crowdfunding crowdfunding is one of our main sources for expanding the customer base. It's actually a practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. Succeeding with crowd funding is not easy by it's not rocket science, either. Properly executed strategy, paired with persistence and creativity, will position you towards success. One would ask, Why would I want to do crowdfunding? Isn't it like begging the crowds of people to give you money? No, not necessarily. You need a proper plan to do that. There are two main platforms for crowdfunding, Kickstarter and Indiegogo. So for the next section off this lecture, what I'm gonna do is I will pull up an actual Kickstarter campaign that we've successfully executed last year for one of the collection. Though we launched stranger watches What I will actually do, I'll send you guys a link to this campaign by you're more than welcome to us. They're going to the Kickstarter dot com and during the search for stranger watches to find our campaign that we've executed last year, this is the cover image for successful crowdfunding campaign. You'll need a lot of great imagery, so let me just briefly walk you through the different sections of our successful campaign. First is the actual video in the video, which you can watch on your own time. We basically explain who we are. What is the motivation behind us creating this collection and what type of watches that were creating next? We have the section in the media, basically where we highlighted every media outlet that did some coverage about our campaign . One of the first sections off the of the campaign is the description and our story. This is the section where I told the story about my motivation for creating this particular collection. Again, this goes back to our marketing strategy what we've covered earlier, your story next, some images about the actual watches and then the next few slides is all about the description off each model. For this collection, we have four models, so it provided some pictures and descriptions about each one of them. Next section is the design. This is where I explained the design process that we went through to design our watches. Started off with the case with some images, sides of the case these are actually prototypes assembles the design of the dial. What are the different design features off our dial? The movement? This is the section where we describe the movement that were picked and what other reasons for us to do. And so next the design of the case back. What type of case back? One of the different features. Some more renderings, initial sketches. Next section is the technical specifications. This is where I describe all of the features and technical specs of our watch and an image over the actual dimensions. Next section of the additional features any features they may be coming with your watches. In our case, we offered matching cufflinks. They came in the set and a T shirt, which was a nice bonus project timeline. This is an important section because you need to tell your backers or potential supporters . How long is it going to take? And what is the overall timeline for the project? Next section, What's in the box? Because as a supporter, I need to know what comes in the box, and what can I expect? So I provided the detailed description. What are the different parts of the product. They come along in the package, describe in detail our stranger box, stranger cufflinks and what else comes with it. Next we cover the actual straps. What are the different options that they have? Dark leather brown leather? Next section talks about us as a company who we are, where we come from. What is our experience with more? What makes us qualify to create this collection? It's good to also include a picture of yourself. Here I am and two random guys standing next to me home. I don't know. I'm joking. These are my partners. Next is the rewards and perks. These are the actual description of the different perks that the supporter can select off how much they willing to contribute, and what are they going to get in return? Different perks. Social media provide the links to all of the social media channels that we have for this particular campaign. Next is the gallery. This is the section where we included all different images about our prototypes, initial renderings just so that the backer has some kind of an idea and detailed descriptions about the design, features and everything else. Warranty policy risks and challenges there's a very standard and then the last section is the frequently asked questions. This is the section where you want to be as specific. It's possible to eliminate any confusion. 42. Marketing Channels: Crowdfunding Summary: CROWDFUNDING Sochi Summary from the CROWDFUNDING campaign. The summary video appear genuine and human. Don't hide and speak honestly. Your story. Key highlights obstacles, objectives, media coverage, research. Other campaigns pitch, persist and pitch again. Product highlights. Technical specs, project timeline, perks and the frequently asked questions. CROWDFUNDING summary. So the lessons learned for crowdfunding stay connected to your backers. Post timely updates. Use lots of images encouraged to share, Keep media updated on your progress and celebrate milestones. Next, I will go over some strategies that can help you promote your crowdfunding campaign. 43. Marketing Channels: Crowdfunding Promotion: promoting your crowdfunding campaign is as much involving as it is marketing your entire brand. You need to start in advance way before he goes life. You need to build a Momenta. This will take a lot of creativity and persistence. At first we analyzed the sources that covered similar campaigns. Two hours and we compiled The list of contacts from those avenues would pitch them nonstop . Social media marketing is a very useful tool to gain coverage. Thio Thio Crowdfunding campaign broadcast on your own channels and engage others to help you spread the word. Of course, you'll have to pay some of them to post about you, so choose wisely and understand their audience as well and how they would really to you. Foreign posts forms can be a great source of traffic to your campaign. Some of the most popular watches seek time zone watch. Freaks do take time to register and engage post and right. Some of them will not let you post about your campaign straight up. So be prepared to pay. I wanted to share a quite different strategy that we decided to implement with regards to foreign posts. He was risky, but we wanted to try something different. Instead of just posting a nice block post with cold images and descriptions and asking, What do you think? At the end, here's what we plotted. We decided to post an article in one of the more popular sections of the forms, particularly about crowdfunding campaigns. What we did is added some very blatant mistakes in our images and descriptions. For example, we are omitted the date window from the dial. We said we're using three or four great steel instead of a much better 13 16 and added straps. There were not our size, which was obvious as we posted this, along with everything else, like our story objectives, the images and as we have hope, this caused an uproar flood of nasty comments. Of course, the more educated ones provided constructive criticism, pointing out some of these obvious mistakes. Others were just playing laughing at us. Bottom line. The foreign post caused people to comment, share and talk about it. This has led to many others joining the conversation. The more comments are for imports was getting, the more popular was getting and growing in the rankings, moving up the charts and attracting even more people. We did not comment to respond for about a week to build up their momentum and let the dust settle. Some of the commenters were very passionate about our mistakes. Then we started engaging and replying to each comment, admitting our so called mistakes and acknowledging that we did make those and we will definitely do everything possible to fix them. Not only did the strategy make dispose very popular in the forum, it had also wanted some loyal fans because of the fact that we made the mistakes, admitted them and fix them off course. This strategy is not for everyone. Enter requires proper execution and also a thick skin. Some of the comments were not so nice, but we have to stick to the plan with regards to offline strategies. Don't think that 100% of your efforts for the campaign should be online. In fact, expand your reach and take the traditional route of promotion. Find relevant events happening in your area that you can attend. Some examples are you can search for networking events. Arlington Specific events can be found to meet up Oh eventbrite approach the organizer's of these events and offered to be a sponsor in exchange for promotion of your brand and an opportunity for a quick speech in front of the audience. In exchange, you can offer to conduct a drawing for a watch, for example, have people drop their business cards and then do the drawing towards the end of the night . If you're watch, cost $250 to manufacture. Then think of it in those terms that it costs $150 to advertise. At this event, when you launched a crowdfunding campaign, you will get bombarded by offers from various quote unquote marketing companies who supposedly specialized in marketing campaigns. Bottom line. Do not waste your money on that and instead focus on some strategies that I mentioned above just for the sake of experiment. We've engaged with couple of companies like that, and they're pretty much worthless 44. Closure: my fellow watch enthusiasts, I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed the short journey with me. I wish that I could spend more time with you telling all the funny and not so funny stories about my experience starting and operating a watch company. The purpose of this course was to provide you enough tools and information to prevent you from making the same mistakes that I've made. As I was starting out and position you toward success as you begin your journey, launching a watch company or any other company is not for everyone. And it's not an easy feat. At the end of the day, it is your passion for watches that will drive you when faced with adversity. And when the sales numbers are not what you expected, it is your love for the product that will keep you going. I am always available to answer any questions or comments or anything that may have not covered during this material. So feel free Editori child's any time enclosure. I'm not going to wish you luck because you are the maker of your own luck. But what I would like to wish you is patients, half patients. The results will not be immediate, but they will come. Just have a solid plan and relentless approach to execution. And the rewards will come sooner than later. It is your time now. Keep me posted. Yours truly.