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Originally Posted by FanIn80
What do you guys think of that Watchgang thing?
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TL;DR - IMO, it makes way more sense to save up and buy specific watches you like on sale than join Watchgang.
I looked into them before and I am sure there is some legitimacy to what they claim and do as a subscription service that allows them to leverage economies of scale, but certain things just never smell right with them. I personally wouldn't subscribe to them and just save up and buy something discounted at Costco or Winners etc. instead. Heck, haggle with jewelers and see if you can get that 25% off MRSP or more or something.
They are constantly touting that subscribing members are winning kick ass watches and constantly defending that they are offering far more value than the $99-299 USD per month you pay. (Apparently we have to pay shipping and handling on each watch to Canada?) They constantly show up all over the place with reviews saying they aren't ripping people off. That's just... weird. Sure, let's say they receive $100 from 1000 people and get 50% off on a large group buy on $150 watches and ship that to you. You get $150 in value for $100, they take home the remainder sans the cost for lucky person who gets the random nice watch. The honestly in their claims feel as honest and well informed as mattress reviews online...
In theory that is the idea of their business, but that's not exactly how it works. You customize what you want and get watches of the designs and specs you want so there's way more overhead, sorting, inventory etc. and frankly, seemingly not worth it if they only get 25% per $100 for storage, shipping, wages, website and profit after the cost of the watch. So something has to give for them to churn a profit. This isn't like other subscription services that send out a relatively ubiquitous product. Each Watchgang subscriber customizes what they want to receive.
There are unsubstantiated reports they toss in some low grade stuff from unknown brands to make that margin closer to 70-80%, but those reports are just as unsubstantiated as the company's claims they use to defend themselves. However, the logic in using high margin product makes sense to keep a business profitable. You'd probably need less than 50% as the cost of the watches themselves to make a viable business. I don't know if that means large batches of random stuff from random brands in China or otherwise though.
There's also membership tiers that you can accumulate from what I understand that you can do a lottery/raffle systems for watches that are legitimately several times over your subscription fee. But you're just as likely to lose than win, so it's likely a crap shoot/money maker/break even for the company. But they kinda try to tout it as part of the membership (and it is to my understanding something that is paid for additional to the subscription fee).
I mean, I could kinda see how they could make it work if they acted like Costco and can buy large shipments of watches far below retail from companies going out of business, fire sales, batch auctions etc. and it would make sense too in how they can have enough to customize stuff sent to members. But they constantly repeat they mainly partner with reputable watch makers, how do they have enough selection/varied quality product or how do they have enough margin? It's hard to seemingly do both without undercutting something.
The prices online for many watches are reasonable. For a $100 3 month subscription in USD, you can buy something excellent like a Seiko Presage (updated Cocktail time). Why not do that rather than get 3 unknowns at around $100 each that are more likely to be meh? I wouldn't even suggest subscribing to them to pad a collection. You're probably better off buying two $150 watches on Amazon and you'd be surprised what you'd be able to afford with $150 USD from reputable brands like Citizen, Seiko, Orient etc. There's some damn amazing watches in that range that even those who collect luxury watches would not hesitate to add to their collection.