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Oh, heck yeah!

Is that vintage black? Love me some Nacken Vintage Blue. Bezel (and already having the blue) is what always gave me some pause about the black one.
Yes, Vintage black. Very happy with the look of it.
Adding a different pic that may be better for seeing the color of the bezel.
15733642
 
Discussion starter · #5,823 ·
Re - the Nacken Vintage Black...

1. We almost didn't even make it. That was Aaron's favorite version among the first 8 Subs' designs, but when we did the pre-pre-order interest survey, it came in dead last. I only decided to push forward with it because Aaron liked it, and I try not to piss off the Scots.

2. I believe the pic above is of the v.2 bezel, which is a slightly darker gray than the v.1. Supposedly its color is meant to approximate the look of titanium. I think it tends to appear more uniformly metallic gray, whereas the v.1 had a way of looking more greenish or brownish in some lights.

Re - the Vintage Blue...

Assuming we ever make more, ever, which isn't guaranteed, I'll likely change the dial color a bit. I may also look into what can be done to switch up the dial texture.

Re - all the 40mm Subs...

I honestly don't know for sure how many more we'll make of any version. Even with the best-selling versions, there are times where demand seems to be waning.

With the vast majority of the 40+ versions, we've produced at least 50 or 100 pieces already, and in most case, that's probably enough. We made well over 100 of some versions, and the higher those numbers get, the more likely it seems we've reached the limit of market demand, at least for now.

Bottom line - don't assume any version of the Subs will be a "permanent" part of the line up. None of them are guaranteed a place in our store forever.

If you like one of the 18 versions currently available, you should get it before it's gone. On average, we're down to single-digit inventory on all of them, and literally one piece left on some of the ones we made a year or more ago.
 
Discussion starter · #5,830 ·
Its very cool to see how far this brand has developed. Ive been a fan since the Lew & Huey days. Really loved that square Monaco inspired racing watch that never came to fruition. Its literally the reason I saved up to buy a Monaco
The Legends Racer.

Rusty still has one of the 4 prototypes. Kind of wish I'd bought back one of the other three he sold.

 
Discussion starter · #5,834 ·
Thought this was a Santa Cruz at first. Would like it if case fit and price were more in line with NTH.



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No joke. I did a double-take when they popped up in my FB feed earlier.

Are they seriously $1200? Seems like a lot of cheddar, all things considered - low beat, not-all-that-accurate (-15 to +25 s/d) 6r35 movement, only 200m WR, and...not much else.

Wait, wait, wait...it says, "Limited Edition" on the case back, because they're "only" making 6,000 pieces.

Anyone check to see if the bezel is ceramic? I bet it isn't...

I may need to raise my prices. Whaddyall think? We're only making 25-100 pieces of most designs, so they're even more limited - they're UBER-limited. Our average daily rate range is half what Seiko's is (-5 to +15 s/d). And we offer 50% more WR...

Anyone want to buy my barely-worn SBDC053? Bracelet is still in the plastic. Basically the same watch, except blue dial, different handset, and with the older 6r15 movement. I'll take $900 for it. Seems like a bargain to me. :p

(Kidding - Mods, my offer was entirely insincere. I'm not trying to sell it here.)
 
Discussion starter · #5,835 ·
Thanks Chris for posting that polar inserts were available, loving my pigment-challenged sub.


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You're welcome, Todd.

(Now I know your real name! Mmmmmmmuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaahhhh!)

 
Discussion starter · #5,838 ·
I tried finding one and a (sorry to mention it) a Riccardo a few months ago lol
Why sorry? Hearing about the Riccardo doesn't bother me.
 
Discussion starter · #5,840 ·
Possibly interesting observation, about the Legends...

When I talk to John Keil, my marketing guy Josh, other brand owners, and my business growth coach, John Tooher, we often talk about how to grow market awareness beyond the niche of the hard-core watch enthusiasts. Within those discussions, we talk about the difference between enthusiasts' tastes and what the more mainstream market seems to prefer.

When Rusty attended the last session of Microbrand University, he had his Legends with him. Marketing guy Josh and coach Tooher aren't hard-core enthusiasts. They both flipped for the Legends, as did one of the other guys attending the course with Rusty.

We had a group dinner we held for the course participants and instructors. I was sitting across from a guy struggling to launch his brand with a model that presented pretty good "bang for the buck", at least on paper, and seemed like it checked a lot of enthusiasts' boxes - "Swiss Made", beautifully finished, restrained design, lots of nice features for the price, etc.

Ultimately, I felt he was struggling to launch because the design was a bit boring. It seemed like he had more passion for owning a microbrad than he did for creating the product the brand would sell, which was reflected in the promotion he was doing, which was a bit lacking, and generic.

Rather than bluntly telling him that, I showed his watch to Tooher and the other guy who flipped for the Legends, and asked which watch they'd prefer. I made sure to tell them the guy's watch was Swiss Made.

Both said the Legends. I asked which watch they'd be willing to pay more for, and they both said the Legends. I asked how much they'd be willing to pay, and they both said much more than what we actually wanted to charge for the Legends.

Neither of them asked about the movement, components, or specs of either watch. They didn't ask the price of either watch, so they didn't sit and ponder the bang for the buck. Their reactions were purely driven by desire for the design, and if they were able buy a Legends, it would have been a purely emotional purchase.

All that said, I wanted to point out to all of them that the Legends never made it to production, and explain why.

With everything we do, I try to be as objective as possible about why it works or doesn't. With the Legends, the dial layout and case shape limited our movement choices. The widely un-loved Miyota 82xx was really the only viable option. With all the other costly features - 10 ATM WR, "windshield' curved box sapphire crystal, rally strap, curved caseback - the price needed to be $450, which seemed like a lot for a watch with a Miyota 82 series inside, especially in 2014.

We started pre-orders well under that, I think around $300 or $325. Yet even at that price, we were only able to sell about 100 of them, almost exclusively to enthusiasts, many of whom were repeat customers - brand loyalists. Even on Kickstarter, which was becoming saturated with watch projects by then, we just weren't able to get it in front of enough of the right people.

Two years after starting sales on the Riccardo, and having since used much of the revenue from producing one model to produce the next - the Acionna, Spectre, Cerberus, and Orthos - I realized I needed to tighten up my decisions about what to produce, and how to finance production. I'd been way too optimistic and aggressive to that point. Those 100 we sold just weren't enough to rationalize the production of 300 pieces.

The Legends is the only design we worked hard to create, yet never produced beyond the 4 prototypes. It was a turning point for me, and the business. It stands out as a case study in understanding the importance of creating designs based on knowing your market, timing, rationalizing production, knowing when to walk away, etc.

I don't think it was a bad design, at all. I just think it was a bad fit for the market we were targeting, and the customer base we'd built by that time. It was over-spec'd, forcing us to make it over-priced for our market, given the movement we were using, which was the weakest link - too weak, in hindsight.

After failing to launch the Legends, we came back strong with the Phantom, then launched NTH even stronger with the 40mm Subs, both of which catered much more to enthusiasts' tastes.
 
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