On the possible motives of a Tourneau salesman
I was in San Francisco for AGU 2007, and walked by a Tourneau store on Market every day:
In the window, they had a Glashutte Original Sport Evolution Panorama Date:
Here’s a PR shot:
It’s quite nice, German made with in-house movement, gold rotor, lots of hand finishing, all the details of a luxury watch. List price is about $8800, typically discounted to 6500 or so, available used on TZ for around 4500.
I was curious to see what that much cash would get in a sport watch, and GO is widely admired for its main line of dress watches, so mid-week I venture in and ask to see it. I’m dressed reasonably well, in a pressed dress shirt, slacks and dressy boots, wearing my Marinemaster on its bracelet. Since the Marinemaster is a rare watch in the US, I didn’t expect the droid to recognize it and he surely didn’t. I’ve read of store clerks who did admire a Marinemaster, but the 20-something I got certainly didn’t.
So, he tells me that “I can’t possibly compare Japanese engineering to German” and generally treats me rather shabbily. The engineering comment is absurd on its face, and was compounded by the irony of him being of obvious Asian descent.
My thought/question is this: Was this just a rude clerk, or is it a viable sales strategy to put customers on the defensive? Perhaps “If we insult what they’re wearing, they’ll a) see us as experts and b) spend more to buy a watch we ‘respect’?”
(I was disappointed in the watch, GO doesn’t do sport very well. Nicely made, but 60-click bezel and uncoated sapphire crystal. If you have the dosh for this sort of toy, you shouldn’t have to accept that sort of thing.)
I’ve read of Saville Row tailors who do similar things, as in telling the customer “I think we can do better than that” with a sniff. I’ve loaned out my copy of Cialdini’s “Persuasion” but I seem to recall it discussed this. As with cars, I hope that its an artifact of asymmetric information to be vanquished by the Internet. It sucks to be treated shabbily, especially as an enthusiast.
Update 12/28/07: I hear from a comment and an email that this seems to be the MO for Tourneau and similar stores. Exceedingly weak if true. Consider Higuchi or KSeiya for Japanese, TimeZone for used, anything but this. It’s your money, and we all deserve better.
December 28th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Hi Paul. Like many WISes I’ve been very impressed with your watch reviews. However, your experience in Tourneau mimicks my own in several other premium watch stores. Leaving that aside, the Glashutte diver always leaves me cold. Sure, it’s high quality but over-priced. If someone wanted to spend a lot of money on a German diver then perhaps a Sinn U2 would be a better and more practical bet. I’d suggest that your sales person simply didn’t know any better and that’s why they came across as so rude. His training has probably emphasised tapping into the traits that may motivate someone into spending a huge amount of money on a chunky visible swiss or german watch without actually understanding the product. Most customers won’t actually care about the technical details of the product so he feels able to say such embarassing things to pressure them into buying. I own a jewellers shop myself (part-time) and I pride myself on taking the time to explain to the customer the pros and cons of each watch, especially when they’re buying one with an automatic movement as it simply can’t be taken for granted in the same way as a Quartz. Most of my watch customers are male and they’ve expressed approval that the person selling them the product has an interest in it. Buying an expensive and fine timepiece is something that should be careful, considered & deliberate. The service doesn’t need to be lightning fast but should always be well-informed. Unfortunately the ritual has been lost and we’re left with bland pseudo-sophistication where both shop and staff are veneer through and through.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am
I am from San Diego and I have just agreed to market a line of watches and I would like to know if you could give me some ideas on how to reach people who sell watches. These watchs are had made and start at $20,000.00. If you could give me some ideas it would be greatly appreciated.