Bulgari

gary161
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Meeting with the Bulgari rep at my AD

On Saturday, I met  the Bulgari rep for this part of the states plus all of Canada. Before the rep came out from the back of the store, my AD said he had already discussed comments from him and his customers (including me) about the dislike of the Bulgari name taking over the watch faces and partly because of that it was decided not to put any of the new designs in the display.

My AD doesn't care for any of the new ones and also told them that the movement pictured in the catalog for one of the new watches is not the movement that's actually in the watch. The rep at first disagreed but then compared the two and my AD was correct. The rep was surprised and will check it out -- but apparently it's true that changes have been made with at least some of the movements compared to what's pictured in the catlogues.

When I finally met the rep I was at least pleased to here that there was agreement that putting the Bulgari name more prominently than DR or GG was going to alienate many collectors and that they needed to strike a better balance. I said that while they might win over some new customers who are familiar with the Bulgari name, they risk alienating the DR and GG fans who have been loyal followers and collectors for many years. The rep said this feedback was being communicated to the corporate people. I further expressed my concern that if they are trying to give Bulgari more prominence as a high end watch brand that they should not diminish DR and GG in the process. That seems to be the main reason it was decided not to showcase any of the new watches even though they were in the store (tucked away in the back room). My AD did show me one or two of them. On one I couldn't even find the Daniel Roth name. While the Bulgari name was very prominent we finally discovered the Daniel Roth name in very small type nearer to the bottom of the watch.

My parting comment to the rep (who was very nice and understanding by the way -- we parted on good terms) was that I would not find it totally objectionable to see the words "by Bulgari" in smaller type added below the Daniel Roth or Gerald Genta name as a compromise, but that I didn't really see the need for the Bulgari name to be on the face of these watches at all. Just as Ford does not put their name on the Jaguars they sell or Toyota on a Lexus, the Bulgari name can establish itself as a high-end brand on its own. Meanwhile I'm happy with my four DR's.

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