The next 9 days
Just wanted to give you guys a heads up about communication over the next week or so. We have a quite a number of watches and parts orders to ship before I have to fly out on the 16th. I haven’t even started on the watches that I need to take with me to the show. I expect to be working on orders every day until I leave. So while you will see me on the forum and I will do my best with e-mails it may be hard to get a hold of me or my presence may be inconsistent. If you have anything urgent please leave me a voicemail. My office phone and cell phone are linked together so you just need to dial the office phone.
I am heading out to the airport first thing in the morning on the 16th of March. If last year is any indication (and hopefully it won’t be) I was up for about 30 hours before my flight. Then got 2 hours sleep and pounded coffee and 5 hour energy shots to keep the car straight while I drove up to JFK. Hopefully this time will be more civil but it gives one an idea of how things get more and more hectic as the departure time gets closer.
I should have Internet access while in Basel but I will have to see what it is like. Last year I had good access but I had no where to sit while I was at the computer. If there is a similar situation this year I probably won’t be online or be able to reply to e-mails very well. But I will have a computer with me so I hope that I will be able to set up place to do some work where I am staying.
Hopefully I can keep everything on an even keel but I did not want to assume that it will go smoothly over the next 9 days.
With some luck…
…I will be back “online” this evening. Basically I am running on time now according to the revised schedule. The last two days were filled with watch work and some family obligations. The family obligations kept me away from e-mail and the forum.
I have been “trying” to take it easy the last few days. I saw my doctor the other day to make sure my sinus thing was clearing out. It seems to be going away but he recommended I take it easy for a day or so more.
This evening I hope to:
- post additional pictures and an update on the Kingston on the forum
- send out an e-mail update for the Paradive customers
Bad Weather coming in:
I was hoping to get to e-mails and the forum this evening but may gave to postpone that for one more day. There is another f’ing snow storm coming! The 5-7 inches predicted is not bad and the temperatures following the storm will likely mean that it will not stay long. What concerns me is the very strong wind that is predicted to accompany the storm. I do not know why but our power has a tendency to go out when the winds pick-up (this happened 3 weeks ago). The snow did not present a problem for our power earlier this month but a wind storm knocked out power for 6 hours 3 weeks ago. I will likely keep working on orders this evening in case the power goes out in the next day or two. This is because I can probably find an Internet connection in the neighborhood as the power loss tends to affect only a few blocks around my workshop.
Travel notice: Baselworld
From March 16th through the 29th I will be traveling to Basel for the annual tradeshow. Kindly note that while we will be taking orders during that time we will not be sending out order confirmations or shipping orders at that time. The last day to place an order and have it ship before I leave will be February 28th. For orders placed after that date we will do the best that we can to ship before my trip but will not be able to guarantee shipment.
If you will be attending the show and would like to meet please send me an e-mail (info@mkiiwatches.com).
Status update
Saw the doctor over the weekend and everything is under control. I am taking some anitbiotics with cocktail of OTC drugs and seem to be fine. Luckily it seems I did not catch the flu. I just have a sinus infection that was caught early. Most likely brought on from shoveling the three feet of snow we got last week. It seems that my return to exercising and maybe that H1N1 vaccine I got is doing some good. I will be working a normal schedule this week but mindful not to push to hard which is how I usually turn a recovery into a tailspin. Communication will still be spotty this week though as I focus on shipping orders.
E-mails and phone calls
I will be returning e-mails and phone calls early next week. The family is doing much better but I feel there is a good chance I am coming down with something. Given that I am spending all of my time shipping as many orders as I can. I will be seeing the doctor tomorrow morning so everything will be under control on the health front by Monday as I am quite certain what I have can be taken care of with some antibiotics (as opposed to the flu).
In the mean time I do not mean to seem like a dick but have to I ship orders as fast as I can while I still have two legs to stand on.
Weather related delay
I went out to the post office today to try make a shipment to find it closed. Based on the road conditions I saw while I was out it seems likely that the post office may be closed tomorrow as well. I will continue to work on orders and attempt to ship on Saturday.
On the road today I was stuck behind a backhoe that was drafted into clear the snow. Most of the major roads were passable but not in good condition with many lanes still only partially clear. Even though the snow stopped more than 18 hours ago it seems the road crews are having a hard time finding places to put all of the snow. My best guess is that it will take the road crews another day to clear the major streets.
Status update and the end of an era…
Status update:
I have been in a self-imposed communication blackout trying to finish up the last of the backlogged orders. Orders have been going out but not fast enough to eliminate the backlog. Over the last two weeks I have not met with much success in getting the final group of overdue orders out because of a number of issues. In reality though problems such as suppliers dropping the ball, my entire family getting sick with the flu (so far I am okay), and heavy snow storms are not the real reason that the backlog just is not getting worked down. The primary reason is that I have been working myself too hard.
Over the last year of running myself at 110% it has become obvious that I do not have the stamina to make the final push to clear out the backlogged orders in the originally scheduled accelerated time frame. What is happening is that I push myself extremely hard to work down the backlog and get burned out or worn out and then the backlog re-constitutes itself because I am forced to take a break. It ends up being a vicious circle. As a result I have re-scheduled all of the orders due after Feb 1st, pushing them back by about 3 1/2 weeks. The reason the re-scheduling should work out the backlog is because over the last 4 months I have been scheduling fewer orders to go out per week. The 3 1/2 weeks is what it would take to complete the overdue orders at the new slower pace. The end result should be a schedule that is much more accurate. This also means that lead times will not decrease significantly but at this point I think it better to be conservative with scheduling and once everything is running smoothly for a period I will re-examine the number of watches I can realistically complete each week.
E-mails with the revised ship dates went out earlier today. Since I am also quite certain that there is a large backlog of unanswered e-mails in my inbox I have also set up an online “survey” that those affected by the new ship dates can submit requests to modify the ship dates or make other delivery changes. This should improve my reaction time. A link to the survey was included in the e-mail that went out earlier today.
End of an era
After putting off a final decision for more than a year I have finally concluded that I have to stop selling watch parts (e.g. dials, hands, and case parts). Naturally we will continue to sell parts required to service our watches. We will stop selling parts that are used to modify watches in the secondary market. This was not a decision that I made lightly and one that is done with some sadness because selling parts is how this business started. However I believe that I would be doing a disservice to myself and our parts customers because…..
* I have been out of the loop as far as what watches people are customizing and I haven’t done any work on a non-Mk II watch in almost 2 years. At this point my experience and feel for what parts customers want is out of date.
* Selling parts requires a lot of knowledge and experience with watches and it is something that is very difficult to teach. In addition our parts sales occupy probably about 60% of the time spent on e-mail correspondence, order processing, and other administrative tasks but currently contributes a much smaller percentage of our revenue.
* I had hoped that as the company grew in size it would become easier to manage our suppliers. In reality it is as time consuming as it was in the beginning. As our products get more complicated and sophisticated it actually requires more time and effort to effectively manage our suppliers. In the end I need to stay focused on our core business which is selling watches. If this recession has taught me anything it is that you have to stay focused on one’s core business.
The tentative date for the closing of the parts section will be March 31st. If our work schedule is under control at that point we may extended this to May 30th (which was the original date) but given the need to re-schedule the custom watch orders it would be best to make this decision at the end of March. After March 31st Mk II parts will be available through our authorized re-assemblers through the end of 2010. After December 31st we will stop selling parts altogether.
As always I can not thank our customers enough for their support and patience. I will continue to work to make myself worthy of your trust. I should be back online in about 1 week. In the meantime I am working on watches, shoveling snow, and attending to the flu incapacitated family members 
Status report
General:
After a bumpy week last week things are back on track or will be by the weekend. Last week’s return to the office was made very exciting by my little daughter getting sick for the better part of the week, my jet lag, and later on my developing a nasty cold to boot. To top it all off we had a nice power failure on Tuesday (see below) 
Finally everyone is feeling nearly themselves now and we’ve able to build up a nice batch of prepared parts and cases to resume normal operation. E-mails will be replied to over the weekend as we try to complete as many watch orders as possible ahead of the Saturday shipping deadline. If you have an urgent matter please call.
Custom watch orders/deliveries:
At the moment we are running about 2 weeks behind schedule. The good news is that ahead of my July 18th vacation no custom watch orders have been scheduled for delivery after June 21st. This leaves time to for us work down the backlog of orders. By next week we should have most if not all of the cases for the custom orders prepped. While we won’t be able to ship everything next week it will mean that we will be able to ship as soon as we finish setting the dials, hands, and regulation.
One of the results from my business trip to Switzerland at the beginning of the month is that I have made contacts at several PVD/CVD coating firms that serve the watch industry. In the following weeks we will be having several trials performed on our parts in order to review the coatings as well as flesh out the practicality of the process.
Site update:
The site revision/price increase will be delayed for several more days as we try to tie up final details for the LRRP, other projects, and work down the e-mail backlog. The site will be taking on a much needed spit and polish and simplification. The pre-built watch section and the custom watch section are being combined into one section that will be labeled “The Collection” or something to that affect. Hopefully this will make navigation easier and also more clearly illustrate the custom versus pre-built options.
New equipment:
In our continual focus on quality and in response to expected future service requirements we have added a Pressmatic 36 watch programmable winder to our equipment list. As the number of our watches sold increases I expect that the types of issues we will be dealing with down the road will be vary more widely. This machine will enable us to review repair work done and thoroughly test the ETA 2824 movements that we received earlier this year.
These movements that will begin going into watches in August have already been checked by a Rolex certified service center and also double checked by us. However the one function we couldn’t verify 100% was the auto wind mechanism and the resulting power reserve. This piece of equipment will enable us to verify this last detail. Should it prove practical for us to do so we may use this piece of equipment in the future to “run-in” our movements to further improve accuracy over a longer period.
Status Update
I hope that everyone is having a pleasant holiday season. I scaled back my holiday plans in order to continue working on watch orders, which are currently behind schedule. In order to focus on watches orders placed this week will be scheduled and e-mail notifications sent out next week after the 1st.
I am replying to e-mails but those that I don’t get to by the evening of the 29th will be take care of after the 1st of January.
Vantage customers:
* The Swiss Made Vantages have been delivered. Half of the bracelets have been completed and I am currently waiting on a shipment date for the first half. I won’t hear from the manufacturer until after the 1st of January. In the mean time the watches are being checked. I still expect at this point to begin shipments of the pre-built and custom Vantages in January. The exact date will be determined by the delivery date of the bracelets which the large majority of the pre-orders requested.
Sea Fighter customers:
* The cases at last word were undergoing their final quality assurance review. All of the dials, movements, and other related components are in stock and being checked so that they can be sent to Switzerland for assembly as soon as the cases arrive. The 2836 movements were delivered at the end of November (almost 3 months late) but at least they are here. At this point I expect be able to begin shipments of custom Sea Fighters and to ship the components for the pre-built Sea Fighters to Switzerland for assembly by the beginning of February. An e-mail summary to the same effect will go out shortly.
Custom watch orders with delivery dates before December 31st
* I am currently working on these orders as well as a number of orders scheduled for January 5th. I expect to be able to ship most if not all of the watches scheduled for delivery prior to December 31st by this Saturday.
Please note that our office will not be closed from December 30th through January 1st. If there is anything urgent please call me at 484-683-1875
Custom Stingray ordering to be suspended Dec 1st
Due to strong demand for custom Stingrays I have to temporarily suspend ordering for custom Stingrays beginning Dec 1st. The Swiss Made pre-built Stingrays are currently in stock and will remain available for ordering. This announcement only affects the custom Stingrays. At this point I am concerned that if I continue to take orders after Dec. 1st that we will have more orders than we can fill. In addition, since the Stingray shares the same movement as the upcoming Vantage and date only version of the Sea Fighter I have to make sure that there are a reasonable number of movements available for those watches when they launch. If there are enough movements remaining I will re-open ordering for custom Stingrays sometime in the first quarter of 2008.
Just to reiterate this suspension only affects custom Stingrays. The pre-built Stingrays currently in stock will remain available for sale.