The Cost of Quality

As many people who follow the changes and new model announcements from Janis Trading know, we’re always listening to feedback from customers, and looking for ways to improve what we’re doing.

To that end, earlier this year, I went to visit a number of our suppliers’ factories, to see how each component gets made, and to ask questions, in order to get more of what we want out of the production process.

Although the NTH brand has enjoyed much success since launching in 2016, we’ve heard a few comments/complaints repeated often enough to know they were worth addressing in our next production of NTH Subs.

While the feedback we’ve gotten about the NTH Subs has been overwhelmingly positive, there were some comments about the quality and finishing of our bracelets and clasps, ranging from “too thin” to “too sharp” and “clasp is a letdown”.

To address these comments, we’ve made a number of improvements, which I wanted to enumerate, as they will have an effect on our prices. 

The new NTH Subs due for delivery in October will have a bracelet and clasp which have been significantly changed in several ways:

• Slightly thicker links, to address comments about the bracelet’s thinness.
• Slightly shorter links, as shorter links generally equate to greater flexibility in a bracelet, which means better comfort.
• The bracelet has been re-designed, to reposition the center links so that those links can pivot at both ends, like the true 3-link bracelet it is, rather than just one end, as in our previous bracelet. This will increase the flexibility and articulation in the bracelet, which will also increase comfort.
• The links will be oval in shape, with convex-curved inner surfaces, rather than the c-shaped curve of the previous bracelet.
• We have made it clear to our bracelet supplier that we want the edges of the links given a softer finish, to address comments about the sharp edge finishing in the previous versions.
• We have found a new, more sturdy clasp, with a nice chamfered top edge, and twice as many micro-adjustment positions. The new clasp is the same length overall as the original clasp, and will only be 0.1mm thicker, to maintain a streamlined profile.
• We have likewise made it clear to our clasp supplier that we want a softer finish on the edges of the clasp. 

Since launching the NTH brand with the NTH Subs in 2016, we have not raised prices. In fact, we held prices down even as our costs have gone up.

The price of Miyota 9015 movements has gone up by more than ⅓ in the last 3 years. That alone would justify a $50 increase in retail prices. Likewise, the new bracelet and clasp are more expensive to produce. 

As such, we are forced to increase the prices of the NTH Subs, but in order to keep our prices affordable, we are only increasing the Subs’ prices by $25 on all models, from $600-$625 to $625-$650. 

In addition to the improvements to the product, you may have noticed recently that we haven’t been doing a months-long pre-order for each new model. 

It’s always been our goal to shorten waiting times on pre-orders, and for this business to become more financially self-sufficient, alleviating the need for pre-orders as a means of financing production costs.

As mentioned earlier, the next batch of NTH Subs have been in production since June, and are set to be in-stock this coming October. Although we don't need to do pre-orders to finance production, we know many people want to be able to reserve the watches they want sooner, so we will allow customers to reserve pieces with a “pre-order”, but with a much shorter wait - just a few weeks, instead of a few months.

Pre-orders placed this past June were delivered in July, just 6 weeks later. Likewise, we’ll be starting pre-orders again sometime in early September, with deliveries scheduled for sometime in October. As such, we will not be discounting prices during pre-order.

We hope you enjoy our newest creations and the improvements we’ve made to both the product and our service!