WatchPro first sat down with Leitners in November of last year.
After going to its Kickstarter market with the Ad Maiora and battling Covid-induced business issues, the campaign was a major success.
However, Covid-19 has meant a slight delay on shipping as the brand explains in conversation with WatchPro:
Since we last caught up, how has Leitners progressed as a brand?
Thanks to the successful Kickstarter campaign and support from over 400 backers, we could kick off the full development of our watch and prepare for production. In January 2021, we received many requests from interested people who missed our KS campaign. We decided to open the pre-order, and now many more people have joined our community. We have also got nearly 40 press coverage, locally and internationally, which we couldn’t imagine in the past.
Regarding Ad Maiora, this year, we have developed our own bezel technology, which can be potentially patented. Most hardware has passed final testing, including GPS, Bluetooth, NFC antenna, HR sensors, and so many more. We have also got a chance to work with excellent partners like Czech tech experts Adwitech, UX expert Dactyl for mobile app development, and Panasonic for finalizing our battery system.
What’s more, we have found a brilliant partner, Plastic Logic, who has worked with us to develop an exclusive e-paper display only for Leitners, which will make Ad Maiora indeed the watch of its own kind.
After all the hard work, now Ad Maiora has finally reached a design freeze. We have also got an experienced production manager on board who can set up a professional watch production site in our new headquarter in Brno, the Czech Republic.
How did COVID affect business?
Since we started with crowdfunding and most things online, we didn’t really feel that much influence from COVID. But after our Kickstarter campaign, as the business began transforming the ideas into reality, we started feeling the impact of the pandemic more and more. I will summarize it in 3 main points:
Communication. No matter how technology and digitalization are helping people with remote working, the limits of remote working are still there. In our team, generally, we have managed the internal communication quite well. But we are now dealing with various third-party partners daily, including hardware cooperators, software designers, components suppliers, etc. Then it is the moment you feel the inflexibility of remote working – you cannot react to changes as fast as before. And since we have partners located in different countries, sudden policy change of a city a thousand miles away might force us to change plans and schedules completely. I really feel that the communication now has been more complicated and less efficient. But it’s nobody’s fault. It’s just a fact all of us have to deal with.
Components shortage. Especially microchips. As you may have known, nowadays, the chip shortage is happening everywhere. If you want to order a new car now in the Czech Republic, you might have to wait for half a year or more. With globalization, a chip might consist of small components developed by manufacturers in various countries. If one country or a city has a lockdown, then the production has to stop or significantly be postponed.
Cost rising. And this is actually following the second point. When the supply significantly goes down, of course, all the prices of raw materials and components rise unbelievably. We have seen a drastic increase in the price of stainless steel, sapphire crystal, or even silicon. With chips, the price is rising even more. In the worst case, the price of one sensor we were looking for has become 20 times higher. And additionally, the international shipping cost is rising, regardless of it actually becoming slower due to the pandemic measures.
How did you manage that situation?
As our business started in the COVID time, we are pretty aware of the impact it might cause, and we know that we have to be proactive. Nowadays, having only a plan B is not enough. You always have to think of all possible scenarios, especially the worst case possible. Therefore, we had started contacting chip suppliers even before the global chip crisis broke out. There were still some unexpected troubles, but fortunately, we have managed to secure our chip supplier for the first round of production.
And as I mentioned about the slowed-down communication in this era, I have learned that, sometimes, you really have to be annoying. Just joking. But yes, when a fast reaction is really needed, we can organize a full day of calls and online meetings non-stop. And of course, the difficult part is, after all the calls, you still need to have the work done. At this specific period, it’s really a big challenge for managers. Because now you can immediately tell if the management is poor when you don’t see people that often but only focus on the results. For Leitners, I am pretty happy that my team can manage most projects at a good pace. The only task which had quite an unexpected delay was the configurator. However, we still managed to have it delivered to the customers not too late.
I hear of delays for customers, what’s happened there?
Yes, the estimated shipping date of Ad Maiora is now postponed to the earliest February 2022. We have just announced it to the Kickstarter backers and pre-order customers.
The reason behind this delay is something that none of us expected. There was a COVID outbreak in Taiwan this summer, where the factories of Plastic Logic are. Everybody thought the pandemic was almost over, and people were all happy about the lifted measures and being able to travel. But then the lockdown in Taiwan happened, with really tight measures. The team of Plastic Logic couldn’t go to work, and their factories had to close for quite a long time. We were tightly monitoring the situation in Taiwan and constantly kept in touch with their team. We were hoping for the best, but they eventually told us the first display set cannot be produced in time because the factories are overwhelmed with accumulated orders.
Without the display, even though we have got everything else ready, we still have to wait. Therefore, we have to move the shipping time to a later date.
How are you resolving that situation for them?
Customers and me personally, as well as all my teammates, are all looking forward to having the final watch on our wrists as soon as possible. As we are always telling people, we decided to create the watch because it is the watch we want to see in the market. Before it becomes a dream watch for all our supporters, Ad Maiora is first the dream watch of all Leitners team members.
During the delay, we will not waste our time just sitting in the office and waiting for the display.
First, we will use the existing e-paper display as compensation to run testing to guarantee the smoothest integration when we get the display from Plastic Logic. Meanwhile, Plastic Logic will try to make some sample components and deliver them to us for testing purposes.
Second, our developers will use this extra time to iterate the tests we have done and see if there’s any possibility to improve further. The firmware and software team will work on adding functionalities that were not included in the first release.
Third, we will use the extra time to work on the custom watch face (home screen). This was a Kickstarter stretch goal. It was not unlocked but still highly anticipated by our community. With this extra time, we might be able to include this function in our first release.
All of that requires extra investments from our side.
What can customers expect in terms of timeframe on this?
We will keep timely updates on Kickstarter as well as in our regular newsletter. If the sample of Plastic Logic can be delivered earlier, we might have the chance to share with customers an Ad Maiora closest to the final version. We will share as much as we can about every part of the development because we know that waiting is one of the worst experiences when you expect something you really want.
The mobile app is nearly finished. We have done research in the early stage of mobile app development, where we got many helpful inputs from our community. This is the magic and charm of the crowdfunding community, as they also helped us a lot in watch design before the Kickstarter. So, we might release a testing app with our backers and pre-order customers in November to use their magic once again.
The manufacturing of our e-paper display is now expected to happen in January/February. Based on this, we hope that the first Ad Maiora can be produced in February, and then the mass production and shipping will follow.
As business progresses, what do you see the future holding for Leitners?
I would say, although we are going through all these challenges and difficulties, I have even more faith in Ad Maiora and Leitners now.
In our workshop, under the task lights, I have been working daily with my engineer colleagues. We have put the watches in their ready form, but we just need a bit more time for the display to arrive.
Out in the world, I have met so many people with the same faith as mine in our watch. I know that founding Leitners is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I think just like its name states, Ad Maiora will take the whole Leitners team and me towards greater things.
A backer once wrote to us recently: “I haven’t seen anyone else doing a proper hybrid watch so far.” His words perfectly describe what our goal is. And now I really feel that what I wrote in my first open letter is affirmed – “The dream is ours, and the dream can be yours.”
