The topic that we seem to be unable to shake is the topic of pricing.
Earlier, we shed some light on where we were sitting margin wise when it came to this project and as you can all imagine a 1.38 markup does not leave us with a viable business model, but leaves our supporters with a ton of value. For HORAGE this a once in a lifetime fun project to bring as many of you together and your love for this project is the reason we are doing the unthinkable.
In discussing our pricing we have made it as best as we possibly could and will offer a few different additional add-ons that we just could not fit in our base price. The additional add-ons are the colour blue, possible COSC certification, gold case upgrades, numbered case selection and additional straps.
We discussed the pricing openly last week on the Scottish Watches podcast which is set to go live either this week or next. Here is Andi diving into the details of the event and spilling the beans as they say on the tourbillon price.
So without further adieu, here is the touribllon price.
6,990 CHF*
7,528.23 CHF inclusive Swiss VAT
*Tax will vary and is dependent on your local tax authority.
The reason we are able to achieve this price is not only due to our razor thin margin, but due to many other contributing factors. First off, the product design costing has been reduced by utilizing a very complicated CNC machining process. The machining is still quite costly, but it helps offset the amount of hand work traditionally needed for decoration such as in bevelling the bridges and the main plate. We have already hedged our bets on this project and have locked in pricing for a maximum of 500 movements. This enables us to produce based on what is ordered and without the need of keeping stock on hand. Additionally this keeps our production schedule more efficient by ensuring our watchmakers are producing only what is needed rather than producing for the sake of future sales. The pre-payment is non-refundable and this further ensures we can avoid having to increase margin to offset risk on potentially cancelled orders.
Finally, just like the project name "Mission Tourbillon", this project was no short of a mission that pushed us to deliver a premium tourbillon at the absolute best value price.
The above pricing is for the silver, grey and gold colours and the watch can be selected with either the grade 5 titanium or 904L stainless steel case. In addition it includes the strap of your choice.
We recommend adding a few additional watch straps to your order so that you have a few colours to work with. The watch straps are 180CHF each, excluding tax.
Rather than raise the entire price of the watch to accommodate the blue movement we decided to make the price as fair as possible. For those loving the blue colour movement we will have an additional upgrade fee of 350CHF excluding tax due to the costly PVD process for the blue.
Any members of our forum and those who have supported us in previous campaigns or have attended one of our launch events will be able to take part in our VIP Bird pre-order.
This VIP Bird pre-order will start on February 29th and run for the month of March and will have some additional items/options included that will not be available for our public pre-order happening in June. One such additional item is the ability to select your case number on a first come first serve basis. There will be no case number selection for our public pre-order in June. Financing of a non-refundable half payment during the VIP Bird with the remaining payment due in September will also be made available. As well anyone who orders during the VIP Bird through or website will receive an additional secret bonus.
The tourbillon making an appearance last week at the RedBar Glasgow event organized together with Scottish Watches
We will also be offering a solid 18K light rose gold case. The colour is very subtle and appears to be a warm, rich colour that sits between yellow and what one would deem a traditional rose gold. The gold case option will need 50 orders to make it a success, this is because we have a 50 piece production minimum to reach. Of course should we not reach the minimum you will be refunded the amount. The upgrade cost of the gold case is 3500 CHF excluding tax and the price will remain stable as long as the price of gold does not go above 50 USD/gram.
The COSC certification is in the process of being finalized and we are checking the costs related to that, but we believe it will be a 160 CHF upgrade excluding tax. However if it becomes logistically challenging to get watches in for COSC we will ship with every watch our in-house machine run-time data. On that note we have already ran some tests which you will find in the picture below that show we are running well within COSC precision standards. Additionally the standard power reserve of this movement is 60 hours and with our silicon escapement we have extended the run time by an additional 12 hours for a total of 72 hours. This is quite an achievement considering how much this tourbillon had previously been optimized.
For those that simply cannot wait to reserve their watch we are preparing our VIP Bird launch page and will be running our first pre-order starting February 29th which will run through the month of March. February 29th only happens every four years and this tourbillon watch is a once in a lifetime project for us. Following the VIP Bird launch we will have the official Public Pre-Order open in June. Keep in mind that only the VIP Birds have access to the added bonuses.
Be ready for our VIP Bird to go live February 29th. If you have partial funds at the time we go live, we will accept a partial non-refundable payment at the time of order with the remaining payable 1 month prior to delivery. Delivery is planned for October 2020.
We still have not forgotten about the name and we will be going live on Instagram next week to draw a favourite from the hat as well as open things up for a live Q & A. Be sure to follow us on IG to be a part of the action!
Till next time…
Landon Stirling
@landonstirling thanks for the cross link to this page, what events will you be holding near the Los Angeles area? I’d love to have a chance to join the VIP bird group.
Astounding watch for an astounding price. I will be thinking very hard about this over the next few weeks.
I’m assuming the February early bird and June public pre-order will be the only order windows, or are you planning to keep the K-Tou generally available and in stock? What will you accept as a partial non-refundable payment... 10, 20, 50%? Also how about letting us know if you’ll host a launch event in Oct/Nov, as could be fun to come collect in person! All this needs some planning on both sides...
More naming options? How about Mission Possible, Disruptor, Evolution, Revolution, Apogee etc something that speaks to the journey Horage has been on...
Sweet. can’t wait for the video podcast. Curious what happened to the custom rubber-leather straps you tempted us with through the early concept stages?
Hope more HD photos of the actual watches could be posted.
Good to see the news releasing! Thank you all for all the efforts you devoted to this watch:) I have couple questions for you!
1. Are the hands for the watch finalized yet? I found the hands in the IG and here are different.
2. What will be the price for oil maintenance in the future?
3. Can you release more pictures/videos to show how the finalized watch look like and how the tourbillon moving to thrill our thirst? Thought I did found some from the IG, I still hope that i can know more about this watch!
4. Is that possible for you to also release the future price for non-VIP BIRDS?
Nah, the month won't be painful; it gives time to get the finances in order, while the anticipation grows, so the the 29th will be like the fireworks going off, the dam bursting, or whatever image of release occurs to you ;-) And, as you say, February 29 is a very special day. (Plus, at least in the pictures above, I still prefer the grey to either the silver or the blue.)
Nah, the month won't be painful; it gives time to get the finances in order, while the anticipation grows, so the the 29th will be like the fireworks going off, the dam bursting, or whatever image of release occurs to you ;-) And, as you say, February 29 is a very special day. (Plus, at least in the pictures above, I still prefer the grey to either the silver or the blue.)
Great update and really interesting news—but now you make us wait a month! I may have to swing by Biel to get a preview of the watch in person.
wow.... i hope that it have the folding clasp as other option for chance.
Looking forward to the videopodcast with Scottishwatches. 😊 what great project.