Yes, Draken has been a bit quiet since we pulled the Peregrine from Kickstarter. I had been working flat out to make the Peregrine launch, and doing all the promotion can be exhausting. I needed a break. I did actually have one – my folks were visiting from SA, so my wife and I have been touring around the north of New Zealand with them for the past two weeks. But back to the Peregrine Kickstarter…
There is a omen for Kickstarters – ‘If you don’t hit 50% on your first day, you won’t reach your goal’. The launch got of to a reasonable start, but it was well under 50% after the first day. We decided to be optimistic and see how things went for a few more days. After a week it was clear from the pledge trajectory that it would not reach it’s goal.
If you don’t hit 50% on your first day, you won’t reach your goal
The main reason why it failed was because we set the goal too high. For the Tugela we took a fairly safe approach to setting the goal – making sure we covered all our expenses. Luckily this paid off, but it was likely because of the pre-campaign work we did for that campaign, that led to it’s success.
The Peregine’s goal was always going to be higher since it’s a more expensive watch to produce. We actually thought we were setting the goal low compared to the safe goal we set for the Tugela. We have now learnt how much psychology plays a role in the success of a Kickstarter, but I will save that discussion for another post. For now we are going to focus on quality, not quantity. I have spoken to my supplier and they are happy to do a smaller run of the Peregrine. We are no longer restrained by the MOQ (minimum order quantity) we had with the Tugela which gives us more flexibility for the campaign.
We are no longer restrained by the MOQ
The other thing we need to do to improve the Peregrines odds of success, is to build up the hype. So from now on we are going to do a lot more to get the word of the Peregrine out there. Email, social media, reviews, forums, and meetups – these are the areas we are going to focus. You are going to hear and see a lot more about the Peregrine.
There are a couple minor changes we are making to the Peregrine that we should also tell you about. We are waiting for new samples of the Peregrine with C3 luminous dials. These dials are much brighter than the BGW9 lume and glow with a green pigment instead of the blue. Once we have the new samples, we would love to get your feedback as to which one you prefer.
We’ve also requested that the case back for the DLC black model also be black. This is something we should have insisted on earlier, but we are glad to finally get it right. We’ll be sharing photos of these as soon as possible.
We are yet to confirm a new launch date for the Peregrine, but it will be in the next month or so. Thanks you to all of those that have supported us so far. Please stay tuned for more information.
Hi Mike,
Congrats on some smart moves. Thanks for accepting my suggestion on the matching Black DLC caseback, it is a must, IMHO. Please consider the New X1-C3 Lume mixture, that is the strongest Lume intensity ever. Just received it on a Borealis Cascais White dial, it is “Incredibly Strong, and Long-lasting”. Also please consider using a higher quality (maybe real Italian calf/bomber) soft leather strap. The Tugela ones are not so good, I have already had the sliding keepers expand and tear, and the skin side of the strap is not finished, and is irritating to the Moist skin. Also, please check and be sensitive to current competition pricing, here in the USA, similar pilot watches with (miyota 9015, STP-11, Sellita 200) auto movements are available for around $200 – $250USD, Deep Blue/Air Blue’s series (Charlie, Bravo) look very similar, and are hugely popular right now. Much success…
Hi Mark. You will be glad to hear that the new Peregrine dials I have ordered do use the new X1 – C3 lume. I am waiting for the samples to arrive and expect the brightness will be hugely improved. You are also right about the straps. The new leather straps are much better quality and are extremely soft and supple. As far as pricing goes, I can’t really budge on the $300 Super Early Bird price. The Miyota movement price has increased a lot lately which has pushed the price per unit up. I also believe the Peregrine will have more detail than the stock case/hands/dial combo that Deep Blue is offering, plus the Peregrine’s rotor is decorated with a luminous logo!
See your making the same mistake as they did when sending out the original watches with pricing the watches are sold New Zealand dollars but get put through customs in American dollars which really clobbers you with import taxes on the watches, but love to buy another one but the 40% plus import tax is just too much to take a chance on
Hi Brian. We have to list the price in NZD when running a Kickstarter from New Zealand. For the Peregrine, we may be shipping from New Zealand in which case I will be managing all the shipping myself. I will make sure that the value is declared in NZD.
Wow. Just been to ‘Watch it all about’ and seen this watch. It pretty much ticks every box I have. Perfect size, sapphire glass, exhibition back, mechanical movement and waterproof. Can’t wait for the launch. Will the fabric straps be waterproof also.
Picked up on Draken watches a few weeks back via Watch It All About too (been following Josh for a several years now) as I’m up & over in UK.
I like my Pilot watches and at a chunky 44mm this is right up my street, particularly as the Peregrine has some design cues not readily seen elsewhere. Love the Power Reserve design too.
Reading your blogs, interested to hear the white dial will be lumed. At the moment I’m undecided whether to target a black or white dial version, could be interesting to compare the X1-C3 with the C1 used on my white dial Damasko.
I’m all subscribed up and waiting with baited breath for the 17th. Good luck.
PS> DLC case back to match the DLC cases is perfect. So often watches come with a polished caseback which, to me, defeats the whole object of having a DLC case!
Thanks Guy. Appreciate your comments. I’m still wating for the X1-C3 samples to arrive, but I have no doubt they will be way better than the BGW9. It’s really hard to find a dial maker that does a full lume dial well. I may actually go with the guy who did the date wheels on the Tugela. He does the dials for Steinhart and other big German brands so the quality is really good. Will probably update you through the course of the Kickstarter.
Belated thanks for your comments and, more importantly, CONGRATULATIONS on getting to target on your Kickstarter launch.
I was fortunate enough to get in ‘super early bird’ in the first couple of hours; my problem now is to decide which version to get as they all have their merits. Might have to be the black case, white dial as I have other pilot watches that replicate the colourway of the other three versions.