[interview] - @horoloupe (Austen) + François // 50th anniv, 2023, and more

[only1swami]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsnl9ewmhpU

loved this chat!

August 11, 2023 will be the 50th (recognized) anniversary for the birth of hip hop and François says there might be something special in store! super looking forward to that

also related to the other thread on this forum re: AP feedback ...François did an open challenge for Austen to solicit feedback/designs from customers and if they like em, they'll produce em

hopefully the next CEO is just as hip to culture

new youtube channel by the way...first heavy hitter guest!

[TunaTuna]

Originally Posted by only1swami

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsnl9ewmhpU

loved this chat!

August 11, 2023 will be the 50th (recognized) anniversary for the birth of hip hop and François says there might be something special in store! super looking forward to that

also related to the other thread on this forum re: AP feedback ...François did an open challenge for Austen to solicit feedback/designs from customers and if they like em, they'll produce em

hopefully the next CEO is just as hip to culture

new youtube channel by the way...first heavy hitter guest!

Yea this was a great vid but no one has really seen it. It's too bad

[psm11]

Great interview!

However, I found it disappointing that he didn't address the issues legit first time buyers are having more in depth. All this talk about a significant allocation of RO reserved for new folks, but no idea if that means average Joe who wants a RO or heavy hitter from another high end brand (PP, Rolex, RM, etc.). At this point I'd almost prefer that they come out with some kind of RO track that clearly lays out what they require allocate you a RO. Even if that means they require you buy X amount of CODES and wait X amount of years.

[Reign]

Originally Posted by psm11

Great interview!

However, I found it disappointing that he didn't address the issues legit first time buyers are having more in depth. All this talk about a significant allocation of RO reserved for new folks, but no idea if that means average Joe who wants a RO or heavy hitter from another high end brand (PP, Rolex, RM, etc.). At this point I'd almost prefer that they come out with some kind of RO track that clearly lays out what they require allocate you a RO. Even if that means they require you buy X amount of CODES and wait X amount of years.

You’re really underestimating demand. AP said they’re going to do 50k watches this year right? Let’s assume half is for ROs, probably not that high but easy for round number purposes (so 25k).

Let’s say they put aside 5-10k ROs for new buyers. NYC SAs received about 1k inbounds each for ROs after the announcement, a majority of which are first time buyers or buyers with limited history. You extrapolate that to the 200+ boutiques + the number of sales associates at each boutique and you quickly get to a number of requests that are well in excess of supply. FHB could even say all ROs will be allocated to first time buyers and it wouldn’t even remotely come close.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to be prescriptive because there will be 10s/20k folks that will follow that path and there won’t be enough supply to fulfill that promise.

Buying a CODE could help but it’s not a requirement since AP doesn’t want to cannibalize their CODE line like what Lange does with their non LEs

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by psm11

Great interview!

However, I found it disappointing that he didn't address the issues legit first time buyers are having more in depth. All this talk about a significant allocation of RO reserved for new folks, but no idea if that means average Joe who wants a RO or heavy hitter from another high end brand (PP, Rolex, RM, etc.).

If they are making X watches, but have N*X "legit first time buyers" (with 2 < N < 10?) and >>X long time collectors, there is no solution to make average Joes happy.

Sometimes one has to accept that for whatever reason one missed the boat and move on.

The Lange solution of pissing off long-time supporters/collectors and first time buyers alike by requiring bundles for the few possibly hot models is rather unbecoming for a true luxury brand and appears somewhat shortsighted (as one might expect for a large conglomerate).