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Work

Vaudrey

NDA

A Shopify theme for a Geneva watch house: a storefront that prints the price, turns the watch to its movement, and writes your place in the register before it asks for a deposit.

Built for a client under NDA. We can't reveal the brand, so the name and identity you see here stand in for theirs.

  • NDA
  • Haute horlogerie
  • Online Store 2.0

Vaudrey, Genève theme preview: the home page, starting with the video banner.

Challenge

Vaudrey makes a few hundred hand-finished watches a year in Geneva, at CHF 36,000 to CHF 64,000, and sells each reference in a stated number: forty Quai 38 in 2027. A watch like that is bought on trust and on a place in a queue. The old site sold it the way the trade always has: a price on request, a waiting list with no date, and a button that said to contact a boutique.

  • The price was a phone call, so the first thing a collector learned was that he had to ask
  • The waiting list had no place and no season, only a promise to be in touch
  • The movement sat behind a caseback that no photograph turned, so the finishing was described and never seen
  • Pieces were named by reference number, and the one button on the page was to write to a boutique

The brief was a theme that prints the price, shows the movement before the deposit, and writes the place in the register on the page.

How we worked

01 Discover: What a collector needs to see before paying a deposit on a watch made in a stated number

02 Define: Three proto-personas and the journey from "price on request" to a written place

03 Design: Wireframes first, then the storefront, section by section

04 Optimise: The product page, the watch in the hand and how we'd test them

01 · Discover

The brief

Vaudrey, Genève

Sell a CHF 42,000 watch from a register of forty Quai 38 a year to collectors who have only ever seen "price on request", and who need to see the movement before they trust the house.

The price is on the page: every reference shows its figure in francs, with the deposit and what comes back, and nothing is ever on request.

The register is written plainly: pieces per year, your place, the expected season and the CHF 1,000 deposit, in one line before the button.

The movement is shown, not hidden: the caseback turns into view and a loupe reads the finishing under the pointer.

The register

02 · Define

From "price on request" to a written place

A counter of the hours of finishing, 0 to 1,200, across five stages.

  1. Bevelling: hands bevelling a bridge with a file under a loupe

    The collector

    Discover

    DoubtAnother house that answers a price with a phone call?

    MoveA masthead that says the price is on the page, forty pieces a year, and a service for life in Geneva.

  2. Côtes de Genève: a rotating tool cutting Côtes de Genève stripes into a brass disc

    The collector

    Browse

    DoubtWhich reference is made in what number?

    MoveThree references, six pieces, and under each one its price, its calibre, its place in the register and its season.

  3. Black polishing: tweezers holding a screw above a polishing plate

    The first-piece buyer

    Examine

    DoubtIs the finishing real, or only a photograph?

    MoveThe watch turns by hand to the caseback, and a loupe reads the bridge, the jewels and the screw head under the pointer.

  4. Jewel setting: a jewel set into a movement under a needle

    The gift buyer

    Register

    DoubtWhat exactly do I pay today, and what comes back?

    MoveOne line before the button: CHF 1,000 deposit, refundable until delivery, your place and the expected season.

  5. Regulating: a hand turning a regulating screw under a lamp

    The gift buyer

    Wait

    DoubtIs my place really fixed?

    MoveThe place is written when the deposit is paid, the season is stated, and a viewing in Geneva or Zürich is one click away.

03 · Design

Wireframe to storefront

Ten sections, from the price line to the footer, each one the team can move, edit or switch off in the theme editor. Wireframes first, then the design.

Home page, Online Store 2.0 · 10 sections. The home page as ten parts in a velvet tray, each laid out in turn: from the announcement bar to the footer. Each part is drawn as a wireframe and then as the finished storefront section.

04 · Optimise

The product page, decision by decision

A watch placed on a register is bought on trust and on a stated place. Each number marks a decision on the product page and the reason for it.

The Quai 38's movement through the sapphire caseback: a hand-bevelled bridge with three rubies in gold settings, a blued screw and the balance wheel

  1. Calibre, millimetres, reserve and finishing hours sit under the name in a single line, with the price and the deposit beside it.

  2. Rose gold or platinum with its price, slate or ivory enamel as swatches: one reference is one page, never six.

  3. Three alligator straps at CHF 480 as chips, and the caseback engraving as a plain field with its price: none.

  4. Pieces per year, your place and the expected season in one card, where the doubt is and not on a policy page.

  5. Serviced in Geneva for life and two salons to try it on, one line each, before the button.

  6. Join the register · CHF 1,000 deposit is the only filled button; a viewing in Geneva is an outline and the house is a plain link.

Vaudrey, Genève product page buy box, six numbered decisions: 1. The spec, in one line; 2. Metal and dial together; 3. Strap, then initials; 4. The register, said plainly; 5. Service and salons; 6. One filled button.

04 · Optimise

In the hand

Three steps from the theme, in order: turn the watch to its caseback, read the finishing under a loupe, then choose a reference and see your place in the register. The place and the total follow every choice.

Step 1: Turn it

Drag to turn, or use the arrow keys

Step 2: Under the loupe

Close view of the Quai 38's movement through the sapphire caseback: a bridge, a ruby in its gold setting and a blued screw

Move the loupe; arrow keys move it too

Step 3: The register

Two or three letters, any form · No charge

Quai 38 · forty pieces in 2027 · your place would be 23rd · expected autumn 2027

The price is on the page, not on request. Forty Quai 38 a year; your place in the register is written here.

Serviced in Geneva for life; every part remade by hand.

Design tokens

The dial book

Colour

Colour

Headings & wordmark · Bodoni Moda

The price is on the page.

Interface · Jost

Three references · Hand-finished in Geneva

Specs & prices · Jost Medium

Quai 38 · 38 mm CHF 42,000

Components

Join the register · CHF 1,000 deposit; In the hand

CHF 42,000 The price is on the page · Forty Quai 38 in 2027

04 · Optimise

How we'd test it

These are the first three experiments we'd run after launch, and what each one has to prove.

  1. Quarter1

    If
    every reference states its price in francs on the collection tile, with no request form in the way
    Then
    more shoppers who reach the collection open a product page
    Because
    the collector no longer has to write to learn a figure
    Metric
    Product page views per collection visit
    Guardrail
    Viewing bookings

  2. Quarter2

    If
    the register line names the place, the pieces per year and the season above the button
    Then
    more started registrations are completed
    Because
    the first-piece buyer sees an honest place before paying anything
    Metric
    Deposit completion rate
    Guardrail
    Deposit refund requests

  3. Quarter3

    If
    the caseback turns by hand and a loupe reads the finishing on the product page
    Then
    more shoppers join the register from the product page
    Because
    the movement is seen, not described, before the deposit
    Metric
    Register rate from product page
    Guardrail
    Bookings of a viewing in Geneva
Next case study Alta A Shopify theme for a Calcutta colour-cosmetics label: a storefront that draws every shade on the shopper's own skin, in the finish she picks, before it asks for money. Read the case study

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