Any news?

[bleddrewsoe]

Inquiring minds want to know

[polishammer]

Yeah, what he said. I need a fix...

[CMSgt Bo]

Our POC went on vacation and will not be back until next month. Before she went she told me Lothar Schmidt liked our inputs and decided to release a similar watch in 2010 and offered us the first 50. I'm not real happy with this as I wanted something special for us WUS members. The up side is it will most certainly bring the cost of production (and hopefully purchase) down a little. I will see if they can make the first 50 unique from the normal run once our POC returns. I'll let you guys know when I have something concrete.

[Janne]

2010? That is a disappointment!
So mr Schmidt liked our idea, will take it and do a Sinn product with it. Nice, stealing our idea!

I am not a lawyer, but I believe that we/WUS has the intellectual property rights of the LE U concept

Edit: Thinking about it, the whole idea of a unique WUS U LE has now disappeared, it will not be an LE in low numbers anymore. Even if making the first 50 or so unique (maybe with a WUS logo or something different) it will not be "our" LE anymore, but just a variety of the Sinn production.
I am disappointed with mr Schmidt.

[Nijay]

I'm not sure if we have any legal standing as for one, this probably falls into the realm of international copyrights/patents (not sure what kind of protection we are afforded) and for another, we don't really have a copyright/patent... Legally, Sinn is clear... Morally.... Meh ->

[Janne]

I guess you are right. We did use a Sinn watch to start with. But morally, yep.

[bleddrewsoe]

It may not be that bad if the first 50 can be differentiated and if this keeps the price down.

That being said, this development seems to indicate that Sinn's management is exhibiting some questionable business practices.

Will I still buy one? Depends on the final design and the price...

[CMSgt Bo]

Well guys, it's not like we had our design 100% finalized and there wasn't over a dozen other lume faced dive watches already on the market. It sounds like Herr Schmidt had the idea long before we approached Sinn with our ideas (remember the Baselworld Mystery U1?) and maybe it took the WUS project to convince him it would be a viable watch to offer the masses.

[Nijay]

Well, either way, I still need a divers so I'll see what the final product looks like and what kind of, if any, "special" edition we may be allowed. If not satisfactory, might end up going with a nauticfish and saving myself $1k.

[david Anthony]

a very disappointing turn of events

I'm sorry if this sounds too blunt but in my opinion this is a cheap attempt by sinn to maximize profits and cover all it's bases while forgetting it's most loyal base. It currently is accepting orders for a white dialed U1 and IMHO they want to pump sales of it as much as possible. Remember that U1 watch is not a limited edition, just a "limited production" (whatever that means) and they have made it clear they will produce however many are ordered (ummm..and *how* is that "limited"?). Giving us the thumbs up on an "improved" version would only hurt the current orders of the U1 white. If as sinn claims they already had such a watch in mind (and I believe they did as a lumed dial was obvious) then why not release it NOW instead of the plain U1 white?? The answer, simple...so they can sell 2 watches instead of 1. I'm getting a little sick of this game as it seems almost all watch companies are playing it, ie; release a watch and then 6 months later release it again with just enough improvements to make everyone who bought the first one toss it out the window and buy the new one. Doxa played this game to the max and as a result lost many of it's most hardcore customers. It reeks of slick corporate hucksterism and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

You'd think during a tanking world economy it would be the perfect time to reach out and create customer loyalty, not dismiss it.