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JUUK Premium bracelets
- Thread starter aduteau
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Indigogo take your money as soon as you do the pledge, but refund if the project does not come true. You can still ask the creator of the campaign to get a refund but its not automatic as kickstarter.
Kickstarter takes the money at the end of the campaign.
Kickstarter takes the money at the end of the campaign.
They take the money immediately as soon as you pledge.
They don't refund you in full though.
If for any reason you decide to un-back the project and you contact them to give you your money back, they can of they want to either not give you your money at all, give you only 10%, 50% or maybe only 80% of what you initially backed with. One because once you back its at their discretion that they'll handle your money so they don't have to give you your money back if they don't want to, and there are fees to pay. It's one of the things that keeps me far away from backing any indiegogo campaigns whatsoever. Kickstarter is different but Indiegogo it's not the same.
Besides in order for me to back this campaign, I'd have to see a certain success and see that it has gotten closer to a goal. In three days it's only sold nothing but maybe 5 more pledges. Until it gets closer I'm staying away.
Was debating between Revo polished and brushed, ended up pledging for the brushed. Looks great, hope they reach their goal.
You'd think so, but I don't see any other options, and even if there are any it will take them even longer to actually ship.
I have no inside knowledge so you may be right of course, but I am expecting that large watch band manufacturers are in the process of taking advantage of the Made for Apple Watch program and will be in the market soon, much sooner than December. They simply have the resources to move more quickly and there will soon be 4 or 5 million Apple watches out there ripe for accessorizing. JMO https://developer.apple.com/watch/bands/
You don't get charged unless it get funded. So basically you are committing to giving your money to them IF they reach their goal. if not, you are out nothing.
Only consider backing a crowdfunding campaign if you realise that......
1) There is a real possibility that you'll lose your money & be prepared for that.
2) There is a HUGE chance (95% probability) that delivery will be late (normally several months, can be a year+)
3) You are not 'buying a product from a store', you are donating money to an idea - and if the idea's successful you will get your watchstrap as a reward/thankyou.
4) The JUUK campaign is a fixed funding campaign - this is a positive & shows that the creators are serious about it (although no guarantees) - normally steer clear of flexible funded campaigns!
As long as you realise the above and do some simple due diligence on the creators - backing a crowdfunding campaign can be fun & get you can get some really great products before anybody else, as well as a real sense of community if you're active on the comments pages.
Of the 25+ campaigns I've backed - only 2 have been delivered on time, and I've lost my money ($49) just once -although there is a current $200 campaign that's a year late & doesn't look very hopeful,so maybe it'll be twice!
Hi everyone, this is Eugene from the JUUK Bracelets Indiegogo campaign. Firstly, I think the hybrid steel/PU band idea from TAG and Seiko watches is a pretty interesting idea, but that will take time and tooling cost to make a sample and there's not enough time for that to include in our 5-week Indiegogo campaign.
As for the hope that "large band manufacturers" will get in on this...these are exactly the types of factories I'm working with (mine also manufactures for Swiss watch brands). For most of these "old school" Chinese factory owners, what they know best is making these products for brands...they wouldn't go into the business of marketing their own brands. Of course this isn't going to apply to every single factory...but the top ones are mostly operated like this; they'd rather leave the branding, sales and marketing to the brands they work with. These guys manufacture for most of the major watch labels in the world...yet they've never had the interest to create their own line of watches.
As for the "sooner than December" timeline, a quality factory takes about 3 months to churn out watch components (after the design and prototyping phases, which is about 2.5 months). To make a complete watch, as another exmaple, it takes about 3.5 to 4.5 months. It's very difficult to speed up the process any more than that. It's theoretically possible that they'll come out earlier than December if they started working on them if they got their first Watches on April 24th like I did...but again, the chances of top quality factories wanting to make these on their own is lower. The Made For Apple specs didn't come out till the end of May if my memory serves me correctly.
I really appreciate that some of you guys like what we're trying to achieve and I hope you can back us or at least help me spread the word. At the risk of sounding arrogant (I'm not though) making high end watch components is all I know and I can do that in my sleep. But the marketing of this is definitely a new challenge for me and I can use all the help I can get from everyone.
Thank you all sincerely!
Eugene
As for the hope that "large band manufacturers" will get in on this...these are exactly the types of factories I'm working with (mine also manufactures for Swiss watch brands). For most of these "old school" Chinese factory owners, what they know best is making these products for brands...they wouldn't go into the business of marketing their own brands. Of course this isn't going to apply to every single factory...but the top ones are mostly operated like this; they'd rather leave the branding, sales and marketing to the brands they work with. These guys manufacture for most of the major watch labels in the world...yet they've never had the interest to create their own line of watches.
As for the "sooner than December" timeline, a quality factory takes about 3 months to churn out watch components (after the design and prototyping phases, which is about 2.5 months). To make a complete watch, as another exmaple, it takes about 3.5 to 4.5 months. It's very difficult to speed up the process any more than that. It's theoretically possible that they'll come out earlier than December if they started working on them if they got their first Watches on April 24th like I did...but again, the chances of top quality factories wanting to make these on their own is lower. The Made For Apple specs didn't come out till the end of May if my memory serves me correctly.
I really appreciate that some of you guys like what we're trying to achieve and I hope you can back us or at least help me spread the word. At the risk of sounding arrogant (I'm not though) making high end watch components is all I know and I can do that in my sleep. But the marketing of this is definitely a new challenge for me and I can use all the help I can get from everyone.
Thank you all sincerely!
Eugene
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Oh, one more thing...coldsweat is definitely correct in that it's very possible that manufactured products are delivered late...however, I've seen that many of these late deliveries on crowdfunded projects are due to inexperience with the manufacturing side of the business. I've backed a pretty awesome steel pen on Kickstarter that was 9 months late because they had to switch factories halfway though because of the low yield on the quality they were looking for.
Like all other things made by people (i.e. with human error possibly in the equation), I cannot guarantee 100% that an issue wouldn't crop up that would delay things. But I'm also very confident in this timeline, unforeseen events notwithstanding, and that I can meet it. If you've read my bio, you'll see that I've developed watches for Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Ecko, Reebok, Timberland and various other brands for 18 years, so being able to deliver on time for exactly this type of product, is something that I've been doing for a very long time now.
Like all other things made by people (i.e. with human error possibly in the equation), I cannot guarantee 100% that an issue wouldn't crop up that would delay things. But I'm also very confident in this timeline, unforeseen events notwithstanding, and that I can meet it. If you've read my bio, you'll see that I've developed watches for Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Ecko, Reebok, Timberland and various other brands for 18 years, so being able to deliver on time for exactly this type of product, is something that I've been doing for a very long time now.
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Hi Jmona, I appreciate your caution, but if my campaign isn't successful, Indiegogo would give you a 100% refund anyway so backing it at any stage should be "safe". It's only if you backed it, later changed your mind and wanted a refund would you then be at the discretion of the campaign owner, in which case, you're absolutely correct in what you've stated above. But if you're confident that you like one of my bracelets (and probably won't change your mind later) then backing it now at 7% as opposed to 99% shouldn't be that much of a concern; you'll get it if it's successful, or your money back if it's not.
Thanks for coming to the forums Eugene !
Your background info on watch making really shows in the video on Indiegogo, both bracelet models look fantastic ( I backed the Revo Brushed), so far, looking at images and the video, these bracelets have a quality look and seamless attaches to the Apple Watch. I have yet to see a bracelet other then the Apple Watch official steel bracelet that connects as elegantly to the watch, and now your two models give us more quality to chose from and give the Official steel bracelet from Apple a good run !
Realy hope you make it on Indiegogo
Thanks for coming to the forums Eugene !
Your background info on watch making really shows in the video on Indiegogo, both bracelet models look fantastic ( I backed the Revo Brushed), so far, looking at images and the video, these bracelets have a quality look and seamless attaches to the Apple Watch. I have yet to see a bracelet other then the Apple Watch official steel bracelet that connects as elegantly to the watch, and now your two models give us more quality to chose from and give the Official steel bracelet from Apple a good run !
Realy hope you make it on Indiegogo
Hey aduteau, thanks for the support and I'm really glad you liked the Revo! And I'm happy you like the quality and the seamless fit. I know other ones currently out there are using more generic endpieces that don't look like they were necessarily made for bracelets, but I can't criticize them because some like that look...and they'll definitely be able to sell to a wider audience because their cost is lower. However, I'm just trying to do something different and I hope, better.
I'd really appreciate if you (all) can help me spread the word because most of the major gadget and gear blogs aren't too interested in picking this story up despite my efforts to reach out to them, other than iPhone In Canada (which was reposted by WatchAware and TechBlock). I'm really trying to make some great products but the marketing side of this business is something new and challenging for me.
Thanks so much for your support!
Hi Phil, I can't argue with you there. I had already made prototypes of the 38mm Revo as well...but struggled with the decision on whether to launch them at the same time, based on these unconfirmed analyst reports. I decided not to because with a different size, it would be another minimum order quantity for me that the factory will request, so I didn't want to add to my target funding by 50% just to break-even...I felt that $100K was way too high of a goal. But I did want to though, and there are some photos of the 38mm polished Revo on my website actually.
Hey Eugene. These bracelets are beautiful man. I am certainly considering backing you. I am just curious about the polished finish though. As it is a polished stainless steel, would it be expected to scratch fairly easily? And if so, would it be easily polished up again? Kind of like the SS Apple watch has been found to be? And would the brushed or matte finish be more resistant to scratches?
Thanks. I hope this goal is met.
Thanks. I hope this goal is met.
Hey fishmd, you're totally right on the money there, polished finishes do scratch more easily. I've never tried polishing them back to a normal shine, but if you're able to polish up the Watch, the bracelet would be no different. To be honest, I'm more of a brushed finish guy myself so I've never owned an all-polished watch before so I've never had the need to try self-polishing. At the factory, these are done on a high RPM wheel with a soft brush.
As for matte and brushed...I think you can say that they're more "resistant" to scratches, but I think they just hide them better because it's not a mirror finish. It'll still scratch the same but the fine scratches won't be nearly as visible as on the polished finish.
Having said that my preference is usually brushed though, I must admit these polished bracelets do match up with the Watch very well and I've been wearing my polished Locarno a lot. It's pretty shiny and looks like jewelry, which I'm not into at all, but it just matches so well that it's surprised even myself that I like it as much as I do.
And thanks for the compliment...I'm very happy to hear that you like them!
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Hi Eugene, I just started a forum thread about your Indiegogo on Apple Insider , to try and spread the word elsewhere too !
This thread should be front page material on Mac Rumours to help meet the Indiegogo goal!
Thanks aduteau! I'd better quit the self-promotion here though
...I already received a warning from the moderators about posting my link...which I understand and think is fair. I appreciate your help though!
Haha, thanks...I wished for that too! They weren't interested. :-| It's understandable though, we're just another brand who thinks we have something special, but they get bombarded with these requests daily so it's no big deal to them.
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