Do you care about exclusive access? AKA: How watch manufacturers milk their loyal customers

This is an insightful look into the sales model. You know that you are being used and yet you derive a benefit as well.  As long as the benefit appears to balance the cost you will play the game.

If you jump on it because you actually love and want the watch, that’s just you getting a coveted spot in line for a watch you want. No one’s forcing you. 
 

I do wonder, though, how many people jumped on this just so they can remain a VIP. If that’s the motivation, then it’s a perfect example of the “fool and his money” maxim. 
 

I bet ADs’ eyeballs turn into dollar sings whenever something like this is announced.  

Yep. You can’t be scammed if you know you’re being scammed going into it. 

Your now part of the game and your either in or your out. The AD will always play the game with you and the other 500 loyal subjects that frequent his boutique and as you say, some of these so called loyal Grand Seiko fanatics will be serial flippers, there just to profit 😉

@Omeganut These are the pieces you should be auctioning to your fellow Watchcrunchers 😉

Give us common folk a chance. 
 

It’s what god would want you to do. 

I’m still at “nah ! Not interested!” 😳…

Love the watch, but at the end of the day it’s just a watch and others will come around. If you’re looking to be a flipper than you definitely need to pay the game. I’m not too interested in being a flipper because it diminishes the love of the hobby for me.

As an outsider looking in: I don’t think you’re being exploited at all.

They had a watch, you didn’t want it. Then you did, they didn’t have it. Then maybe they do - if you still want it, go for it. Your AD has been quite helpful. I know it’s a bit pf a game but at the end of the day, you get what you want. IMO they’re both gorgeous. GS is fast getting on the radar of ‘non-watch people’ - I think it’s great that you are ‘in’ there already before the prices start rising even more. 

Yeah, it's such a weird "game," though.  I mean, the benefit, quite honestly, is being made to feel like you're some super special person.  Sure, you're getting exclusive access to blah, blah, blah... but the game is all about making the buyer feel special.

Like, genuinely, why should I care if some random sales guy / corporation is saying, "Oh, Omeganut, you're sooooooo special?"  

And, yet, curiously...  I do!

As you are no doubt aware, Grand Seiko is well above my collecting price range (maybe someday 😂). However, I do see similarities between the situation described and a recent purchase I made; the Islander #HMBT-ISL-1. Of course, this watch is still available for purchase and was not a limited edition, but I pre-ordered it for a lower price.

Many microbrands offer lower prices for pre-orders as early bird specials on Kickstarter in a similar fashion. Again, these watches remain available for purchase after the Kickstarter campaign (in general; we all know how long a wait it is to get some of the Zelos or Helm watches 😉).

While it is true that this sort of VIP program is a much stronger approach than offering discounts for early ordering, I view it as a difference in degree, not really a difference in kind. We are being encouraged to spend our money on what has become essentially a decoration for our wrists. As @OlDirtyBezel stated, "a fool and his money," and I must be a fool, because I am eagerly awaiting the next HMBT from Marc. 😂 Regarding your own purchase dilemma, it may be a marketing gimmick to make the limited edition lower in price and restricted in availability, but that does not mean it is wrong to succumb. If you like and can afford the watch, are you not "deriving some benefit," as @Aurelian put it?

Check out this dude, and his whole "I know I'm being scammed going into it" craziness:

https://timeandtidewatches.com/watch-confessions-my-watch-buying-has-got-out-of-control/

“My watch buying has got out of control – I must’ve spent $2 million”

“What do I think the thrill is? This is going to sound really weird, but the real fun for me is about what ‘gift with purchase’ I get. I get really upset if I just get a keyring. Highlights include being flown by Rolex into the British Grand Prix in a helicopter. I’ve also been to the Patek factory in Geneva with my authorised dealer in the UK. That was really cool. But it’s just all the fun stuff – being invited to go into these cupboards to grab a bag full of shit that you can’t otherwise buy – umbrellas, bags that sort of thing. And, yes, I realise this is a really stupid thing to say."

Well, here's another part of the game:

• You are absolutely not allowed to flip a watch
• If you do flip a watch, your VIP status is immediately revoked - apparently, corporate goes to eBay, Chrono24, and r/Watchexchange all the time and checks the serial #'s on exclusive watches listed, and then they get back to the Boutique / AD who sold the watch, and everyone gets in trouble - the Boutique / AD, the salesperson, the VIP
• A couple of years down the road...  that's when you can sell the watch, and everyone's good with that

Funny enough...  I was potentially thinking of charity auctioning my White Birch, but it would have to be in 2023.

• My employer will do matching donations up to $10,000 in any given calendar year
• So, if I set a reserve of $5,000 on the auction, and I match the winning bid, that would meet the entire $10,000 employer match, every dollar of the winning bid would quadruple, etc., etc.
• So, GiveDirectly.org would be sending on $20,000 directly to these Kenyan families, effectively doubling the incomes of 66 families for the year!  Just not sure I can let go of the White Birch though!  F*ck it, I think I just talked myself into it.  Am committing to doing it in January of 2023

As for god...

For you, it would have to be enamel dial...  something like this, huh?

So I love that that guy is $2M deep for swag, I can completely relate to that. 
 

Also, it seems like Hermes > Rolex. Same game but they don’t spend a metric shit-ton annually in advertising costs. That’s just bonkers. 

This is the Birkin the purse was named after...

I don't know about the purse, but...

So does that mean you'll be ordering one soon 🤣

I was born in the 60's and still believe you should never have to pay for water, except if it's in your drink at the bar 🤣

Great post. I mean I choose not to participate in that craziness. I'll stay a non VIP. 😂😂😂 it's worked wonderfully for me thus far so I don't want to end my streak.

I gotta get myself a Birkin now!

OMG!  I just looked clicked on the "shopping" filter on Google.  Here ya go.  Via Etsy!

Okay, but is there some craziness that you do choose to participate in?  Like, maybe all of us humans have SOMETHING that we just can't help being idiots about, right?  Some people will sit in line for hours to get into a cramped, dark space, with music so loud it'll burst your eardrums.  Others will pay thousands of dollars to sit in a giant bowl with tens of thousands of other human beings, looking at tiny ant-sized figures running back and forth on a grass field below them, while sipping disgusting watered-down beer, and munching on a $10 hot dog.  WTF is that all about?

So would you wear it on your chin or elsewhere 🤣 

Dude, we should start a whole thread on this subject alone!

This dude definitely bought one off Etsy...

That one looks like it came from an Orangutan 🦧 arse 

Don’t think I’d want to put that on my face 🤣

How young are you?  The French had it going on in the 1960's (Birkin is English but her career is mainly in France).  Check this one's 1960's catalog on Spotify or any streaming service:

You will fall in love.

So I'll tell my tale, FWIW:

I've been laid up with the plague, but somehow through the delirium I caught wind of the new releases on Thursday. Damn, I thought, I just got me a Grand Seiko, bad timing, this makes no sense, let it go. But the SBGJ261 troubled my fevered dreams, so by Friday afternoon, through more delirium, I thought, what the hell, and I called the boutique. Manager (and also the guy I've dealt with before) is not in, they said, email him. I called the other boutique, yes, there are two, and the guy (who knows me by name) says, let me get back to you tomorrow, phone has been ringing off the hook, we're figuring things out.

The next day, the manager at boutique A emails me back and says, sure, "as a repeat customer," he can secure me an allocation. I plunk down my deposit. Mind you, repeat customer means I bought one watch almost two years ago, so I'm hardly a whale. I don't know if they really went out of their way for me, but they they tried to make me sound special. I never heard from boutique B, but I presume they coordinate with each other.

I don't know that I have much of a point, other than to tell the tale. I called them, they didn't call me, but when I called, it was all cordial and easy and pleasant. I really and truly hate the limited edition jump NOW or forever hold your peace FOMO game, but this time I played, blame it on the plague, and I managed to get an allocation for 500 piece limited edition with a day a half to make up my mind. If I was somehow special, it didn’t take too much to be special, just one purchase and annoying them a lot in the shop and at events, looking at stuff but not buying. If I was played, I guess I’m not too unhappy about how they played me. Now, buying this watch may still be a bad idea; it probably means I have to sell the way too similar SBGJ249. I’ve never sold a watch, and it fills me with trepidation. If I had known this was coming, I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place.

Congrats, man!  I would take the SBGJ261 8 days a week over the SBGJ249!

I'll happily take your SBGK015 off your hands if you decide you're no longer interested 😂

I know the post is kinda joshing around, but it's true in that as enthusiasts we want our watches to go on to others who will truly appreciate them, right?  In my own case, I'll often go to my dealer and get an offer from him, and my thinking is that I would gladly give the same price to anybody on WatchCrunch - like everyone here would always have the "right of first refusal" on any watch I were to move on from my collection.

So, yeah, dude, if it ever comes about, I'll let you know!  Ha!