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I read an interview with a watchmaker once. He used to make watches in the $2000 range, before moving on to watches much more expense (I forgot the number, $50

I read an interview with a watchmaker once. He used to make watches in the $2000 range, before moving on to watches much more expense (I forgot the number, $50,000?). The reason was simple: someone buying a $2000 is often there for a once-in-a-lifetime purchase - graduation, marriage, etc. Someone able to spend $50,000 on a watch typically will have no issues to start collecting them and buying many more.

mooreds 5y ago
Interesting! I have questions. * Did he have to start off in the 2k range before he had the skills/brand to make the 50k watches? * Did he take any steps to avoid getting trapped in the 2k market (too busy making 2k watches to make a 50k watch) * Were there any intermediate steps up to 50k or was it 2k->50k directly? * Are the inputs for a 50k watch significantly more expensive? I imagine you won't have the answers (unless you can dig up the interview), but what a fascinating story with lessons for software. I've read plenty about avoiding the $9/month SaaS customer in favor of the $500/month or $10k/month customer, but it is interesting to see it play out in a different, consumer focused space.
- milesvp 5y ago
  If you’re interested in this topic of leveling up as a freelance creative, I recently came across Chris Do who has a lot of youtube content on this topic. There’s a lot of good stuff, and his delivery is much better than most other of the similar content youtube associates with him.
- nautilius 5y ago
  Unfortunately, I don't remember the details, but from what I recall it was 'simply' a conscious decision on his part to switch his customer base, so it seemed that tooling/parts/skills/money were not the problem. I assume, as always, that luck has to be involved for someone to discover you and think you're worthy of their money. Then again, just the price tag alone may signify that you're worthy (remember that iPhone app 'I am rich', that did nothing but cost a couple thousand dollars?). Especially if your target audience really doesn't care about the price at all and can just afford to buy it as a novelty, to be the first to have watches from that new unknown brand, before it was cool. But the story had an immediate impact on how I thought about many products and marketing.
  - nanomonkey 5y ago
    As a previous goldsmith, I'd say it's the materials used (gold/platinum over silver) and the time one puts into a piece. Gold is easier to work with than silver as you don't have to worry about fire-scale and it's more malleable, so if you're able to produce a piece in silver, or stainless steel for that matter, then making the same piece in gold just comes down to investing more in your materials (~$1,8000 vs $30 an oz for gold vs. silver) for each piece. After that the time, embellishments are just more time invested with the piece.
vmception 5y ago
I've been thinking about that regarding tourbillons. This is the now-unnecessary but aesthetically pleasing component that has made some watches not mass produceable for 200 years. Over the last several years some enterprisers mostly in China have finally refined robotic processes to make them. The watches styles that are 5 and 6 figures in price are now around $1000. But, for now, I am still thinking I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those. But because of the scam-like (or at least "rip off") nature of liking a brand that is using an inferior manufacturing process at 10x the price, I now have a quagmire where I wouldn't want to be seen owning the more expensive ones either! But fortunately there is good news: almost nobody knows the more prestigious brands if it doesn't say "Rolex". So you get to blend in. Even thieves will go after the Rolex over the more expensive Breguet, I doubt aesthetics are a factor, only because of the name brand recognition in consumptive pop culture.

mooreds 5y ago

Interesting! I have questions. * Did he have to start off in the 2k range before he had the skills/brand to make the 50k watches? * Did he take any steps to avoid getting trapped in the 2k market (too busy making 2k watches to make a 50k watch) * Were there any intermediate steps up to 50k or was it 2k->50k directly? * Are the inputs for a 50k watch significantly more expensive? I imagine you won't have the answers (unless you can dig up the interview), but what a fascinating story with lessons for software. I've read plenty about avoiding the $9/month SaaS customer in favor of the $500/month or $10k/month customer, but it is interesting to see it play out in a different, consumer focused space.

milesvp 5y ago
If you’re interested in this topic of leveling up as a freelance creative, I recently came across Chris Do who has a lot of youtube content on this topic. There’s a lot of good stuff, and his delivery is much better than most other of the similar content youtube associates with him.
nautilius 5y ago
Unfortunately, I don't remember the details, but from what I recall it was 'simply' a conscious decision on his part to switch his customer base, so it seemed that tooling/parts/skills/money were not the problem. I assume, as always, that luck has to be involved for someone to discover you and think you're worthy of their money. Then again, just the price tag alone may signify that you're worthy (remember that iPhone app 'I am rich', that did nothing but cost a couple thousand dollars?). Especially if your target audience really doesn't care about the price at all and can just afford to buy it as a novelty, to be the first to have watches from that new unknown brand, before it was cool. But the story had an immediate impact on how I thought about many products and marketing.
- nanomonkey 5y ago
  As a previous goldsmith, I'd say it's the materials used (gold/platinum over silver) and the time one puts into a piece. Gold is easier to work with than silver as you don't have to worry about fire-scale and it's more malleable, so if you're able to produce a piece in silver, or stainless steel for that matter, then making the same piece in gold just comes down to investing more in your materials (~$1,8000 vs $30 an oz for gold vs. silver) for each piece. After that the time, embellishments are just more time invested with the piece.

vmception 5y ago

I've been thinking about that regarding tourbillons. This is the now-unnecessary but aesthetically pleasing component that has made some watches not mass produceable for 200 years. Over the last several years some enterprisers mostly in China have finally refined robotic processes to make them. The watches styles that are 5 and 6 figures in price are now around $1000. But, for now, I am still thinking I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those. But because of the scam-like (or at least "rip off") nature of liking a brand that is using an inferior manufacturing process at 10x the price, I now have a quagmire where I wouldn't want to be seen owning the more expensive ones either! But fortunately there is good news: almost nobody knows the more prestigious brands if it doesn't say "Rolex". So you get to blend in. Even thieves will go after the Rolex over the more expensive Breguet, I doubt aesthetics are a factor, only because of the name brand recognition in consumptive pop culture.