Price Increase Christopher Ward
Discussion
Got an e-mail from them saying price will be going up:
A Good Time To Buy A CW Automatic
Sometimes there’s no easy way to break bad news – so here it goes.
From Tuesday 3rd September we will be increasing the selling prices of many of our mechanical watches due to increases in the cost of movements to us over the past six months as well as some underlying increase in other component prices. I apologise for this as, believe it or not, and most of you will know, here at CW Towers we really hate having to increase prices and have at least managed to keep the increase down to an average of just above 10% on the watches affected, with a range of between 6% and 17% depending on the model. Here are a few examples of the new prices:
C5 Malvern Automatic – New prices are from £350 ( +17% )
C60 Trident Pro – New Prices are from £450 (+ 13%)
C9 GMT – New Price is £599 (+ 9% )
By giving our valued customers the benefit of a few days’ notice this at least allows an opportunity to secure a new Christopher Ward watch before the increases are applied next Tuesday.
And here’s some good news…
•No limited edition watches will be increased in price – we secure these movements prior to launching the edition.
•There are no increases in any of our quartz models. We have decided to hold our prices despite some increases in underlying component prices.
•There are no increases on any women’s watches including the automatics where, again, we invested in the components some time ago.
•We will not be introducing any more prices increases in 2013 and will, as we always do, look to minimise any price increases in the future.
Remember, the price increases on the watches included will be live from Tuesday morning 3rd September.
Kind regards,
A Good Time To Buy A CW Automatic
Sometimes there’s no easy way to break bad news – so here it goes.
From Tuesday 3rd September we will be increasing the selling prices of many of our mechanical watches due to increases in the cost of movements to us over the past six months as well as some underlying increase in other component prices. I apologise for this as, believe it or not, and most of you will know, here at CW Towers we really hate having to increase prices and have at least managed to keep the increase down to an average of just above 10% on the watches affected, with a range of between 6% and 17% depending on the model. Here are a few examples of the new prices:
C5 Malvern Automatic – New prices are from £350 ( +17% )
C60 Trident Pro – New Prices are from £450 (+ 13%)
C9 GMT – New Price is £599 (+ 9% )
By giving our valued customers the benefit of a few days’ notice this at least allows an opportunity to secure a new Christopher Ward watch before the increases are applied next Tuesday.
And here’s some good news…
•No limited edition watches will be increased in price – we secure these movements prior to launching the edition.
•There are no increases in any of our quartz models. We have decided to hold our prices despite some increases in underlying component prices.
•There are no increases on any women’s watches including the automatics where, again, we invested in the components some time ago.
•We will not be introducing any more prices increases in 2013 and will, as we always do, look to minimise any price increases in the future.
Remember, the price increases on the watches included will be live from Tuesday morning 3rd September.
Kind regards,
Some Swiss brands have been hiking up prices year on year. Maybe the price of steel has increased a lot or maybe ETA is hiking up prices to harm non-Swatch Group brands.
However, this annual price hike does make some of the big Swiss brands look worse value. No doubt other brands - possibly German - will fill the gap.
As for Chris Ward, its brand used to be based on bang-for-buck. A price hike of upto 17% risks damaging its competitive advantage, unless CW truly believes its can compete with more heavily marketed brands.
However, this annual price hike does make some of the big Swiss brands look worse value. No doubt other brands - possibly German - will fill the gap.
As for Chris Ward, its brand used to be based on bang-for-buck. A price hike of upto 17% risks damaging its competitive advantage, unless CW truly believes its can compete with more heavily marketed brands.
SVS said:
Some Swiss brands have been hiking up prices year on year. Maybe the price of steel has increased a lot or maybe ETA is hiking up prices to harm non-Swatch Group brands.
However, this annual price hike does make some of the big Swiss brands look worse value. No doubt other brands - possibly German - will fill the gap.
As for Chris Ward, its brand used to be based on bang-for-buck. A price hike of upto 17% risks damaging its competitive advantage, unless CW truly believes its can compete with more heavily marketed brands.
i was thinking this recently - some of their watches are now competing with the High Street big name boys on price. I thought the whole ethos of CW was cheaper watches cos your not paying the shocking marketing costsof the big name brands.However, this annual price hike does make some of the big Swiss brands look worse value. No doubt other brands - possibly German - will fill the gap.
As for Chris Ward, its brand used to be based on bang-for-buck. A price hike of upto 17% risks damaging its competitive advantage, unless CW truly believes its can compete with more heavily marketed brands.
Maybe they are starting to pocket the shocking marketing costs with these similar priced models.
Cynical Moi?
They're never going to be a Dunhill, or even a Bremont, yet they're continually trying to position themselves as such.
They used to be a credible choice at their original price point, but now with lots of their models at £500+ they're no longer a frivolous purchase. A bit of research shows a LOT of choice at that level...
A lot of their movements are now Sellita, so the ETA argument is tenuous. I'd put it down to simple profiteering....
They used to be a credible choice at their original price point, but now with lots of their models at £500+ they're no longer a frivolous purchase. A bit of research shows a LOT of choice at that level...
A lot of their movements are now Sellita, so the ETA argument is tenuous. I'd put it down to simple profiteering....
TheJimi said:
CW pricing is now at the stage where customers will be thinking "Hmm, for the sake of an extra hundred quid I could buy xxx"
Exactly, chronomaster are selling the Steinhart divers (Rolex homage) for £325ish or £420 for GMT model which are generally considered to be slightly better built and use the higher grade ETA compred to what CW 'used' to use, and there own non homage watches dont go for much more than that. that's around £160 cheaper for a diver on a bracelet that is the same spec as the C60 diver which i would say it is in direct competition with,infact i would say both companies are very similar and direct competition to eachother Revs_Addiction said:
They're never going to be a Dunhill, or even a Bremont, yet they're continually trying to position themselves as such.
They used to be a credible choice at their original price point, but now with lots of their models at £500+ they're no longer a frivolous purchase. A bit of research shows a LOT of choice at that level...
A lot of their movements are now Sellita, so the ETA argument is tenuous. I'd put it down to simple profiteering....
If you look at their latest 'limited' offerings they are circa 2k and above. They used to be a credible choice at their original price point, but now with lots of their models at £500+ they're no longer a frivolous purchase. A bit of research shows a LOT of choice at that level...
A lot of their movements are now Sellita, so the ETA argument is tenuous. I'd put it down to simple profiteering....
Also agree at the Steinhart comparison, although CW obviously have design costs, due to their extended range, it does start to look like profiteering.
Edited by sparkyhx on Monday 2nd September 17:49
I think any negative reactions to price increases are a little short sighted.
The firm have been making and selling great watches at prices that are incredible value compared to most. With increased sales and brand recognition, of course they will be looking to increase prices.
You have a good product, you want to profit from it. It's not as if they are a utility company, and you need to buy one of their watches - they hardly have the consumer trapped in a corner.
Good luck to 'em
The firm have been making and selling great watches at prices that are incredible value compared to most. With increased sales and brand recognition, of course they will be looking to increase prices.
You have a good product, you want to profit from it. It's not as if they are a utility company, and you need to buy one of their watches - they hardly have the consumer trapped in a corner.
Good luck to 'em
There is some truth in the increases in movement costs - actually a lot of truth in it for the top end mechanical movements from Switzerland. Quartz movements are still as cheap as chips, but who wants quartz when you can have the beating heart of a mechanical machine on your wrist.
I also agree that one component cost has increased quite remarkably; aluminium oxide crystals, which is otherwise known as sapphire and forms the 'glass' on the very best watches. Actually, two component costs if you have a gold case. The rest of the components though are used in such small quantities that any price increases are negligible on the overall cost of production. Take 316L stainless steel or titanium. We build hundred mile long pipelines out of that stuff, so the few ounces it takes for a watch casing are insignificant.
Christopher Ward still build remarkably good timepieces for the prices they charge. I think they're just moving up the price points to balance their increasing demand to the supply.
I also agree that one component cost has increased quite remarkably; aluminium oxide crystals, which is otherwise known as sapphire and forms the 'glass' on the very best watches. Actually, two component costs if you have a gold case. The rest of the components though are used in such small quantities that any price increases are negligible on the overall cost of production. Take 316L stainless steel or titanium. We build hundred mile long pipelines out of that stuff, so the few ounces it takes for a watch casing are insignificant.
Christopher Ward still build remarkably good timepieces for the prices they charge. I think they're just moving up the price points to balance their increasing demand to the supply.
TheJimi said:
Is CW comparable to Sinn though?
No, IMO anything they sell for under £1000 is comparable to Steinhart, also both companies are very similar in the way they go about there business and the way they go down the Swiss made routeCW's main focus at the moment is watches over £1000 it seems, with a few lovely watches where they have worked with Johannes Jahnke and i think this is a very fine dress watch:
http://www.christopherward.co.uk/men/view-all-mens...
but its watches like this, that i think are priced too high:
(Deep into Sinn/Damasko money)
http://www.christopherward.co.uk/men/view-all-mens...
(nearly 2k on a quartz)
http://www.christopherward.co.uk/men/view-all-mens...
Generally the way i see it is 2 or 3 of their watches are stunning, and appear to be serious contenders in the mid/high end of the dress watch market, but the rest of the range has had a massive price increase because of this when just about anything else Steinhart offer with ETA movements for less money
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