The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all happy and well.

I was travelling to Athens today via Terminal 5. A delay allowed time to browse through the delightful but hazardous Mappin & Webb watch store. I could bankrupt myself in there.

Stupidly I reminded myself that an IWC Portuguese is long overdue....BUT

I resisted..

One of the salesman, excellently spotted my Emergency and commented.

"Oh, what a nice Breitling, shame they were discontinued."

I foolishly asked if he was aware of the new EII..... See doubting face....Oh dear another dillusioned customer hoping for a better life.......

I informed him of the announcement date and the HUGE pre launch campaign. I even got my iphone out to show him pictures.

I informed him of the colours, strap versions and the potential £ it will cost.

I even took time to say it was this size, twin transmitter.

Actually, I think he thought I might be one of those twits who hoax poor uninformed staff at such high end outlets to test their product knowledge....

Hey ho.

IF Mappin ever browse these sites, such an important announcement of a truly unique watch must surely be passed onto the sales staff.

They are lacking in staff training if a watch of this importance is not on their radar, especially at an Airport which, eventually, when it's on sale will have a tax rebate to ......comfort the massive layout on this beautiful but rather expensive beauty.

I left sadder when I asked if they had a Blacksteel Chronospace. And was told there was no such animal. Sad cos I want one....I liked the one I tried on in Selfridges..

Davey

It's funny you mentioned this. I was at Foxwoods over the weekend and I stopped in the the Foxwoods Watch Co. to see some potential upcoming purchases. I made some small talk with the sales rep there and he began to tell me how bored he was. So I started asking him about the newest Basel pieces including some Rolex, Tag and of course Breitling. He had a blank stare on his face and really continued to tell me he was clueless.. I thought that was quite redicilous. I guess they just don't fill the sales reps in about any of the pieces other than the ones in the store.

Never too surprising to hear this in North America as frequently the staff are retail employees rather than trained watch people (watching a brand rep trying to explain new models to staff can be a scary sight). However in Europe the staff tend to be better paid and better trained (part of the reason for higher street prices) and it's more surprising. Probably a disconnect between store management and frontline staff??

Unfortunately that is usually the case. I LOVE it when I go to an AD and they know more than I do, but it usually doesn't happen. As I near the end of my military career, I have thought about working at an AD just for fun. I don't know nearly as much about watches as a lot of the folks here, but I can hold my own with most customers.

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An ever changing collection.....

This is the case with most watch sales people unfortunately. I usually end up telling them about the watches they are trying to sell to me ha.

I've ceased to be surprised by how little knowledge most salespeople have of their stock / brands (in UK). A few weeks back I was in an Omega boutique and my young daughter, who'd clearly absorbed my internet researches, asked to see the clear caseback on the SMP I was trying on. The sales guy told us very authoritatively that it didn't have a clear caseback. And rather crumpled when we showed it to him. I then strolled along to another shop specialising in high-end stuff, including JLC, where the guy denied all knowledge of the new-but-not-particularly-new Master Control I had wanted to see, until I showed him it online (on the company's own website). I guess it's not surprising that when one's researched a specific model one might know more about it than the sales person, but in general the lack of even general brand knowledge is often startling.

Exactly as 46crew says above (1000th post, congrats...) I feel like an absolute ignoramus on here but a guru in most dealers. Thanks heavens therefore for expertise as with the forum sponsors here - long may they flourish.

dont lump us all in the same group! some of us know what we are doing!

Wow, I didn't even notice I was my 1000th post, lol. Thanks Tom.

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An ever changing collection.....

This always reminds me of the day when I overheard a saleswoman in an AD I used to frequent telling a prospective customer that Breitling "test all their watches by baking them in an oven at literally hundreds of degrees for days on end". Errrr.....OK then.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Indeed - that's why I said "Thank heavens therefore for expertise as with the forum sponsors here - long may they flourish."

I think it helps if the retail assistant has a passion for the watches they are selling

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Banks Lyon Team
http://www.bankslyon.co.uk
01524 384858

I was in my local AD this week (well by local I mean the one thats 5 hours away, but is the closest!) and even the young shop assistant who had only been there (and in watch shops) for 4 weeks knew about the E2 and it's size, and joined with me in lamenting.

Yeah but us Aussies are a clever bunch by nature.
After all we managed to convince some British authorities some years back that "paradise" would be a good place for a penal colony

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"It is just a matter of time!"

It’s dependent on how much the local AD is keeping up with developments, what product knowledge is being shared formally with staff (training), and how much of that is filtering out to the showroom for customer consumption.

It does help if staff have a real interest in the products they are advising on, and no doubt Makers keep a check on what the AD is doing for a closed quality circle. Mystery shoppers are always a reasonable way of knowing what the AD knows, and how they treat buyers. It’s the people factor in all of this and will vary from AD to AD and country to country.

As sad as the experience was, it happens all to often across many retail sectors.

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Jim

"You have Control".

shhhh they still haven't cottoned on to that one yet