IWC flagship store

[Paneraii]

First IWC boutique in Singapore opens at ION #02-06. Check it out!

[Oceanklassik]

Tx for sharing. I was in Orchard y'day and wanted to visit ION but it was closed .

[WSSS]

Well, its definitely opened today. The new catalog is out too.

Check out the museum pieces they brought in from Schaffhausen, including the Grande Complication. Also check out the all gold Da Vinci Chrono, including the thick bracelet. IMHO, it can really give the bling Daytonas a run for their $!

[Oceanklassik]

Chocs, anyone?

I was at the IWC boutique yesterday and these wrappers, I ain't throwin' away...

[Oceanklassik]

Yeah, was thinking out loud. I was there in the afternoon and asked about the portuguese power reserve. Was quoted $17k+ with no discount. KL IWC boutique quoted me S$12k+. Fly there buy, holiday abit, then come back also no need to spend $17k. So, ended up ate free chocs lor..

[116520]

none.... or 1 or 2.. don't think that I am so bad-hearted. There might be some bros here think that buying from boutiques can end up getting some LE editions and special services, etc... oh well.... lets see...

went there yesterday before meeting kenny and mark for lunch. i finally saw the ASE limited edition big pilot edition.....all 3 metals, ss, white gold and rose gold. dun give discount...ss going for $24,800. crazy.

so i asked the SA how much is a top gun double chrono, she told me 18k list...no discount too.

i wonder how many IWC's watch they are going to sell per month.

[116520]

You should thanks those ppl who have bought from the boutique... they are the one who is paying for those chocs.... hee hee...

Yeah, was thinking out loud. I was there in the afternoon and asked about the portuguese power reserve. Was quoted $17k+ with no discount. KL IWC boutique quoted me S$12k+. Fly there buy, holiday abit, then come back also no need to spend $17k. So, ended up ate free chocs lor..

[lthg25]

What are flagship stores used for.....

I personally think these IWC stores are used more to promote the IWC brand than to do retail sales. Watch makers should not set up shops to compete with their distributors like Hour glass, Cortina......

These shops are to make people aware of the brand and bring in pieces which hour glass or Cortina will not. Hence IWC shops will not give discounts.

These shops are more of people to browse the IWC collection and limited edition pieces.....

[decksurgeon]

am glad to be able to contribute to your chocs and freebies.

on more than one occasion, have purchased IWC 'boutique only' specials from various IWC boutiques worldwide. they have always been full price (no discount) items. boutiques rarely give discount - they are not supposed to anyways. in KL there is possibility to "bend a bit" as some have found out.

of course you get the rarest and the 'first to market' items.
paid full list for my personal top gun doppel watch form a IWC boutique - it may not be your cup of tea but one mans meat is another mans poison as the saying goes.

interesting to see that sg-roc has this preoccupation with pricing.
if you look at all the other watchforums, more often than not; the topic of pricing, valuation and discount discussions are banned. of course sg-roc can run the forum as they so wish but nevertheless an interesting observation.
perhaps such discussion are banned elsewhere as historically all such threads have the propensity to evolve into usually some form of derogatory innuendo or other negative hints??

[rotan]

Lets all go KL to get IWC!

[Oceanklassik]

I personally think these IWC stores are used more to promote the IWC brand than to do retail sales. Watch makers should not set up shops to compete with their distributors like Hour glass, Cortina......

These shops are to make people aware of the brand and bring in pieces which hour glass or Cortina will not. Hence IWC shops will not give discounts.

These shops are more of people to browse the IWC collection and limited edition pieces.....

I think this is a good concept or are they already doing it. That is, these boutiques should not be selling their watches, rather, promote them only. They can take on the role of educating consumers of the brand, in terms of its history, mechanism, pricing, etc-etc. They can include conducting workshops, seminars, even having membership gatherings... Leave the selling to the ADs.

am glad to be able to contribute to your chocs and freebies.

on more than one occasion, have purchased IWC 'boutique only' specials from various IWC boutiques worldwide. they have always been full price (no discount) items. boutiques rarely give discount - they are not supposed to anyways. in KL there is possibility to "bend a bit" as some have found out.

of course you get the rarest and the 'first to market' items.
paid full list for my personal top gun doppel watch form a IWC boutique - it may not be your cup of tea but one mans meat is another mans poison as the saying goes.

interesting to see that sg-roc has this preoccupation with pricing.
if you look at all the other watchforums, more often than not; the topic of pricing, valuation and discount discussions are banned. of course sg-roc can run the forum as they so wish but nevertheless an interesting observation.
perhaps such discussion are banned elsewhere as historically all such threads have the propensity to evolve into usually some form of derogatory innuendo or other negative hints??

Wow! To a certain extent, I agree, but maybe to only certain kinda' items/goods, and to certain category of people (likely the aficionados/fanatics/elitists of that particular hobby). For watches, I believe outta 10 persons, 8-9 persons will DEFINITELY be delighted to have bought them at a discount (good/bad is subjective). And pls, it's not the forum that "has this preoccupation with pricing". It's the "lesser mortal" HUMAN beings in this forum, well, like me.

[Oceanklassik]

Speaking of which I recalled a watch AD I'd encountered previously who subtly corrected my word and I took no offence and instead, appreciated it. During conversation in a watch shop (ok, la, it's Cortina), both the AD and me were chatting about watches and related topics, including pricing. Whenever I used the words "not cheap", "is it cheaper", blah-blah-blah, the AD would subtly say, "inexpensive", "not expensive". So at the end of the brief encounter, I realised that the AD wasn't comfortable when I mentioned the word "cheap", like he'd rather expressed it "inexpensive". At first I thought, "what the heck", but I learnt to appreciate such terms, especially when it should be used on what situations, or to describe certain items/hobbies.

Henceforth, whenever I talk about horology, I used slightly "upmarket terms" like "expensive" (replace "not cheap"), "exquisite" (replace "very nice"), dial (replace "the face"), etc-etc.

We learn day-to-day.

[lthg25]

Lets say if boutiques gave discounts....

Boutiques belongs to the watch makers, which have the biggest margins and can give the biggest discounts. Where will that leave all the ADs? If every watch brand did set up their own boutiques, there will not be a need for ADs in Singapore because one will be buying from them!

This concept goes for all other products like cars, eletronics, hand phones.......

[exxondus]

Boutiques belongs to the watch makers, which have the biggest margins and can give the biggest discounts. Where will that leave all the ADs? If every watch brand did set up their own boutiques, there will not be a need for ADs in Singapore because one will be buying from them!

This concept goes for all other products like cars, eletronics, hand phones.......

i don think boutiques will give the biggest discount. usually they have stricter guidelines cos the rep of their own brand is at stake

[116520]

Maybe I should stop talking about pricing...

am glad to be able to contribute to your chocs and freebies.

on more than one occasion, have purchased IWC 'boutique only' specials from various IWC boutiques worldwide. they have always been full price (no discount) items. boutiques rarely give discount - they are not supposed to anyways. in KL there is possibility to "bend a bit" as some have found out.

of course you get the rarest and the 'first to market' items.
paid full list for my personal top gun doppel watch form a IWC boutique - it may not be your cup of tea but one mans meat is another mans poison as the saying goes.

interesting to see that sg-roc has this preoccupation with pricing.
if you look at all the other watchforums, more often than not; the topic of pricing, valuation and discount discussions are banned. of course sg-roc can run the forum as they so wish but nevertheless an interesting observation.
perhaps such discussion are banned elsewhere as historically all such threads have the propensity to evolve into usually some form of derogatory innuendo or other negative hints??