2020 will be the 5th anniversary of the creation of the klokers brand. Like many others, the klokers brand has caused quite a stir. It’s a powerful story, one of meetings, innovations and choices. But as anyone who is or has been an entrepreneur will tell you, there’s nothing harder than building something which will last.
With its renaissance just around the corner, I therefore felt it was important to briefly explain my position after reading certain comments on the social media.
I can understand the disappointment of certain customers of the company KLOKERS, which has today been liquidated by the Court of Annecy.
From my own viewpoint as an investor, I lost all of my shares invested in this company at the time it went bankrupt. My outright loss in this adventure totals 1/2 a million Euros, so I understand the distress of those who, like myself, have directly or indirectly been customers and/or investors.
Having had no influence in the management of the former KLOKERS company, as I was only a minor shareholder, I feel no shame at having purchased the Brand, the Patents and trademarks (protected by the French intellectual property office) from this same court in October 2019.
No one, whether a client or a long-standing investor, had come forward with any plans to take over the company. Without my offer, the brand and its products would disappear.
These assets are now held by my subsidiary KINAOOK, but my company is in no way liable for any past commitments of the company KLOKERS.
It’s important not to confuse the klokers brand and the former company of the same name.
The goal of any acquisition of assets is to capitalise on the successes and to avoid making the same mistakes. My manufacturing past has enabled me to retrospectively analyse the strategic errors made by the company KLOKERS, which had focused on the volume of watches sold and on keeping production management in-house, etc..., hence the issues with the quality of the watches created between 2015 and 2018.
I am convinced that the klokers brand and its unusual products with their distinctive design possess real legitimacy and deserve to exist on the watchmaking scene.
I therefore firmly believe that this Brand should be relaunched, targeting the “Premium” segment to achieve flawless quality levels. Therefore, I am joined by highly skilled staff both internally and externally for the production side.
Additionally, one of the conditions for relaunching the Brand is also the active collaboration of the founder of the concept for the Models and the Artistic Director of the Klokers brand, who today works with me.
In response to a few of the questions or comments posted on the social networks:
- If part of the range of watches we are proposing for this first year is identical to the former models, this is perfectly logical because we have purchased the Brand’s distinctive design and its “DNA”. The versions on sale benefit from all of the technological and watchmaking improvements at our disposal and offered by our partner watch manufacturer.
- In addition to these models, we are launching 2 graphical variants in September 2020 and we have been working for six months on the creation of two new models for 2021. Finally, in 2022, we will again be proposing the iconic Klok-02, entirely redesigned from an industrial viewpoint with stricter watchmaking standards.
- The watches produced since early 2019 are based on a stainless steel one-piece case with new lightweight discs (covered by a Patent). The watches now on sale are totally repairable and their assembly by a renowned Swiss watch manufacturer guarantees a failure rate in line with industry standards (around 3%). Because we are so confident of this quality, we now offer 1 year’s warranty in addition to the legal warranty, i.e. a 3-year warranty in all.
- For those who participate to the “Saphir” project on Kickstarter in 2017 : according to the information at our disposal, all of the “bakers” who supported this project were contacted by the former company Klokers SAS in order to receive compensation in the form of klokers products. Some have agreed to receive another product as compensation, others have refused or dit not respond to this offer.
However, we cannot make good the losses you have suffered with the defunct company but *
my team will try to offer you the best possible solution, for those who request it, according to the situation and our resources and to once again make you proud to wear a klokers-branded watch.
Patrice JOUBERT
CEO of Kinaook