als1678
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AP managed to do that successfully.
But it took a long while and it was painful. It started with them buying back inventory years ago ...
Being privately held allowed them to make the right long term decisions. But much more importantly they realized that the future is in sports watches and turned AP into Royal Oak. As a collector I hate it, but can't argue that commercially it worked.
Lange will always be about dress watches. And I don't see this segment improving going forward as lifestyles change. They can't starve ADs because as it currently stands they can't make money without relying on watches being sold at a huge discount in the gray market.
If they want to survive in the long term, Lange should make way fewer watches, diversify away from their current lines, buy back inventory, sell online.
Lange increased prices on March 1st of this year.
I have been a lurking member here for years. Learned an enormous amount. Was always troubled by the prevailing notion that for a purist value doesn't matter. Because if you ignore price, whether retail or after market, it is impossible to talk about value...
Your frustration is not misplaced.
These types of practices where exiting customers are not appreciated as they can always find new customers is a bad approach. You have a relationship with your existing customers and in the technology world of today nourish this one on one relationship an...
Precious metals prices....
This was part of the reason, I think. Topic has been brought up here in the forum back in 3/1. I’m sorry you felt that way but they must have a reason. Maybe they will adjust down again later like what PP did in 2015 when the CHF revaluation.
Its interesting though why they thought they could do it
The increase was actually quite big
You can see the new and old prices here...
... see the "Historic Data" or "Annual Prices" tabs at . Copy/paste/save the favorite/bookmark "http: /" (remove the space) for periodic updates.
Not surprised at all since it clearly reflects the arrogance of the current man in charge
Bad timing and I’m sure the watch community might hold this decision against them. Their watchmakers and watches are the finest the industry has but the top of this company seems sicker then I thought they were. My two pence.
Lange have misjudged this ...
But it’s their choice, as it’s my choice to take my business elsewhere.
I think this is all about Lange moving themselves up the pecking order.
Everyone raves about the quality of the pieces, the beautiful movements, the amazing service the factory gives etc etc. At some point you need to step up and say 'hey I'm better than the competition and it's time to pay'. As to whether this is wise, only ...
But surely this only works if you have complete control over pricing and point of sale. Which they don’t.
And even then how long of this complete control might it take to increase resale values. Years and years.
Pretty sure that is part of the plan.
Switching to a Boutique only sales stream seems to be the goal. Total control of the price and distribution of pieces.
If they can do that, and control everything, that can only be good.
Assuming of course they maintain production quality and numbers at high and low levels respectively. But it will takes years to improve both the perception and actuality of crappy resale
Would it be different if they had
Increased the prices on Jan 1st like some of the other brands? Would it have been more acceptable then? Whether or not this is right, I don’t think it’s completely fair to single them out, despite me agreeing with you that they could have handled it diffe...
Fair enough. But you can look at the news and the markets around that time.
It was already a different world from Jan 1st. Also when you look at demand Lange is as far from Rolex as one can imagine. It takes them years to sell a limited edition of a few hundred pieces.
True...
but I am not a fan of the Rolex policy also...Getting back to the subject, imho Lange is (getting) arrogant - they were exceptional in their early year and mid-years, but have kinda lost the feel they had with the customers (not necessarily all are collec...
Yes, unless you are a tiny independent you can't rely on collectors only.
You need to be less arrogant and reach out to a larger pool of potential customers.
Oh value does matter, while our respective tolerances differ due to personal situations EVERYONE has a point at which value matters.
And nobody wants to feel like they are being shafted. As for ALS, yes. What the..... I agree with what was said above in terms of quality, and wanting to move themselves up the chain. BUT I think this needs to come with complete control of price and point...
AP managed to do that successfully.
But it took a long while and it was painful. It started with them buying back inventory years ago ... Being privately held allowed them to make the right long term decisions. But much more importantly they realized that the future is in sports watches and...
Lange is in a very bad state
As a result of the coronavirus, sales will fall off a cliff. It’s going to be truly terrible - there will be weeks and months where Lange makes literally no sales. The critical stage could continue for up to a year. The ensuing recession will last longer ...
I agree with you. Times are tough and it would be incredibly sad if they go under.
The current CEO was not doing a great job in the best of times, definitely not the right person to run the company in the coming year.
You are right that in reality it doesn't matter. Sales would have collapsed anyway.
But the optics of it ...
I think you are describing every luxury goods manufacturer - 12 months of hell!
As to Mr Schmid, he is very much a ‘watch guy’. You only need to spend time with him to find that out! I guess I’m in the minority, I agree with reducing output and concentrating sales through Boutiques with no discount. You can’t aspire to be the best an...
Really? Patek Philippe is arguable the best, and they pretty much only run sales through ADs worldwide.
Although most popular sports and grand complication models do not need discounts to sell, you would have found that almost all other models could have been purchased from AD directly with slight discount even during the height of the nautilus hype. I do n...
Thank you very much for taking the time to write the above "rant".
You very clearly articulated what has been happening with the brand in North America and probably elsewhere. You can't just adopt the strategies of your competitors which have been put in place over many years and supported by infinitely stronger brand eq...
VERY bad business decision to say the least 🤦♂️...
I love Lange watches and think they are highly underappreciated but this move to raise prices is just a BAD business move. It is understandable that maybe it was planned for a while, maybe going back to last year, BUT with the current climate and a black ...
