IWC

Forgive the impertinence as a "newbie" so to speak, but it stands to reason that the majority of members here probably own an IWC...so why no forum?

Thanks in advance,

Young

but this has been long time mystery and
one of characteristics of PuristS Pro
+
it is very hardworking job to moderate forum
once or twice the "system" by mistake gave me the Moderators
authorities and I'll tell you I pissed my pants :0)
+
here on PuristS everything as a name says must be as closest to perfection as possible
and when this demand will be fulfilled trust me we will have IWC forum in all his glory
as we have Rolex after long years of waiting

Sincerely
Damian

... it's a matter of voluntary self-censorship.

Apparently IWC thinks it has 'enough of a presence' on the interwebs (mystifying to me as a marketer - how can one have enough brand awareness?) and as a result would not be happy if The Purists opened yet another IWC forum.

And as always, forums like The Purists walk a thin line between doing what their users want, and keeping horology executives happy. Which is easy when interests converge (i.e. when the brand feels it needs publicity) and difficult when interests diverge, as is the case here.

Personally I find this fascinating. The world used to be a simple place, with professional journalists and their code of independence; and marketing and PR people whose clear job it was to to see after the advertisers' interests; and consumers, who in principle could always see what's what, to take it all in.

Now the picture's become so much more complicated. We consumers, in the form of bloggers and forum posters have become a major channel of information; but we're essentially amateurs, without the help of training and professional codes of conduct and such. Especially Haute Horology seems to be at the vanguard of this development. Sometimes I get the impression horology UGC (User Generated Content - yes, it's an officially recognised phenomenon so it has its own TLA) has become the most important channel by now, with 'professional' publications coming in a distant second. And the advertisers recognise this, lavishing forever more attention on bloggers, posters and moderators, and providing fewer and fewer free lunches to those poor, hungry journalists.

One hopes that transparency won't become the victim of these strong currents. I get the impression it already suffers to some degree, especially where bloggers do not make crystal clear wo's buttering their bread. But in many cases there's already some balance being found. For instance, I commend The Purists for telling its users clearly that IWC has asked not to start an IWC Forum, and telling them why they made the decision to comply.

Having said that, and speaking not as a marketer any more but as an IWC lover and collector again, it's a darn shame The Purists of al places has no IWC corner and I hope the decision gets reversed soon!

Best,
Jos.

PS anyone from The Purists, if I misquoted your motives and decisions, please correct me!

here are a couple past threads:

click here

click here

click here

Cheers,
Anthony

... maybe it's time to lobby with Georges Kern to reverse the decision?

Incidentally, I quoted from memory above but here's the literal quote:

'[T]he "IWC" forum does not exist because IWC has asked us not to.

'They feel they currently have enough "coverage" on the brand, and we generally tend to respect the wishes of the brand CEO. We also will not open new dedicated brand forums wothout direct recognition and support from the brand. As you may have surmised, all of our brand forums are recognized and "supported" in terms of information and access by the brand HQ.'

The link: click here

Couple of remarks: again, re-reading this, I'm baffled, literally shaking my head as I'm sitting here. Enough coverage? My utmost respect for Mr Georges Kern and what he and IWC have achieved, but is he out of his mind?? I mean, image if we got more coverage! It would become easier to sell our watches! God forbid! If I were his Marketing Director I would've quit my job after reading this. But maybe that's me.

Secondly, I respect The Purists' position on this as I imagine it's not easy to run a dedicated forum without the brand's support (doable, but probably not easy). But users should be aware of this context, to properly place the forum and the information it contains in the right perspective. And new users should be able to find a policy like this, which is not the case if it's buried three deep in a Nov 2008 post or so. So my suggestion is to have it in some accessible place under 'policies', so people can find out if they feel the need.

All the best,
Jos.

Each forum provides to his moderator a lot of work.

If the brand doesn't want to play the game, I don't see why we would invest our time.

It's sad for IWC Lovers, I agree, but this is the situation...For now.

Best,

Nicolas

Brands and Decisions can shift like desert sands with the passage of time.

Previous 'positions' were established before the current economic depression.

Executives have to shift their mindset from 'churning out as many pieces as possible' because sales exceeded production .........to hanging onto their fan base and come out on the other side of the recession with the same or better share-of-voice.

Let's see what develops..............................

 

Regards,

MTF

In this forum , I gain many thing : knownledge , vision , inspiration...I think good watch brand should be happy to present themself on this forum . Sometime, they are not happy with bad comment which we speake here , but in fact the bad comment will help them to see their weakness, and the demand of customer . Also, I see our moderator do their best to create and support the inspiration of watch .

Sorry for rudeness in my comment .

IMHO

 

I agree with you about bad comments, which are constructive when they are elaborated.

This can't be only " I love " , or " I don't love ", this is not that simple, or this doesn't have to be.

Here, we are not perfect ( at least, me ), but we try our best to share this commmon Passion.

We agree or disagree, it doesn't matter, finally.

Best,

Nicolas

For example we have Journe so we can speculate about the stock ETA gear train he uses, or Lange so we can whisper about JLC making its parts, or Omega so we can carp about its parts made in China.

- SJX

... both are signs of caring. If I don't care for a brand, I neither love it or hate it. And if I love a brand and there's a blemish (remember, nobody's perfect) then I hate the blemish. So no love without hate, and no hate without love.

Speaking for myself, there's exquisitely much to love and hate about IWC. Love: Portugiesers, non-Spitfire Fliegers, innovative Aquatimers, real vintage Ingenieurs, Portofino Moonphases with silver dials, ceramic cases and beautiful in-house calibers but also the incredible things they've done based on the V7750. Hate: blingy new Da Vincis, ugly old Da Vincis, Ceramic Pilots with ludicrous Top Gun logos on the side, and the fact that they call their new series Vintage Somethings in order to make it forever difficult to talk about their real vintage models.

Just to mention a few. The list is endless. Which brings me back to the necessity of a forum.

With strong feelings,
Jos.

Shocking!!!!

Why you never joke like this when we are face-to-face? Too amaze with my youth and beautiful eyelashes?

cen@jkt

I also noticed the absence of an IWC forum very quickly upon joining PuristS.

All of the individual forums have a moderator directly assigned to manage said forum. It is substantial work to maintain a forum to the high quality currently exhibited by PuristS management. You may notice that the PuristS website has become the destination for horological information worldwide, PuristS even surpasses older established websites in terms of the knowledge and information we have on this site (honestly, I'm not trying to flatter our moderators, but I do want to thank them for bringing together such a great group of watch-fans and providing quality in the information we receive).

I'm sure that we will have an IWC forum in the future, but baby steps ensure a strong foundation. Grow too fast and you'll experience growing pains and disorganization.

Nevertheless, we are bound to have extensive coverage of IWC watches, including more information and pictures about the new models that premiered at SIHH as soon as the information becomes available.