Samples and Mass Production/Shipping
almost 9 years ago – Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 01:59:38 AM

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share some information with you regarding our steps forward as we near very close to mass production. 

Samples

We again apologize for the delay in information regarding steps forward, but we do want to share some minor tweaks that we have made with you. We have made a few minor modifications to the adapters that will allow for a better wear when in use. There was a slight horizontal wiggle in the adapter when inserted into the Apple Watch (~0.4mm) that we have modified in our latest designs. It took us a few days to pinpoint where it was coming from, but it had to do with a slight gap in the locking mechanism. We also modified the width of the adapter slightly for the 38mm versions, as it was ~0.3mm short of the end on one side, leaving that very slight gap. We have since resolved this with our latest 3D printed prototypes and have sent these designs off to our manufacturer. 

The samples will be produced in all size/finish variations so that we can see exactly what will be shipped to you. We are working very closely alongside our manufacturers to ensure that the finishes for each model are as close as possible and we have stressed our main concerns of aesthetics and durability to them and will continue to do so. These samples will take roughly 15-20 days to produce and ship to us, which will put us about two to three weeks behind where we were planning. Barring any issues, we should start to see units and be shipping in early to possibly mid August. We understand that this timeline has been pushed on numerous occasions and trust me when I say that we want to get them to you as much as you want to get them! Though this does push the timeline slightly, we feel that the time is worth the improvements to the product, as nobody would have been satisfied with the wiggling and slight shortness on the 38mm versions.

Production

As we near very close to production, we wanted to share our steps toward processing and shipping with you. Once we begin production, we will be having our manufacturer ship to us on a rolling basis as units become finished. This will allow us to begin fulfilling orders faster than if we waited for all of them to come in. With this in mind, units may not be shipped in the order of when you backed (varying depending on which units are finished first). We feel that this is a better method, as we can begin to get units to you all in a faster manner this way.

We have purchased and are assembling packaging supplies for all of our adapters so we are ready when they get in. As soon as we get them in, we will be packing and shipping units the same day!

Shipping/Address Finalization

With production nearing so close, we will be finalizing shipping addresses for our backers within the next two weeks. You will recieve an email verification from BackerKit asking you to verify your shipping information and allow you to change it if necessary. As always, please reach out to our support team at sevensixteen.freshdesk.com if you need to make any changes to your selection or address, as we will not make any further changes to those (outside of extreme cases) once we finalize addresses for production and shipping.

For any of our preorder customers, if your order has not yet been charged, your order will be charged at the time of shipment. Both Kickstarter backers and preorder customers will receive an email notification letting you know when the shipment is coming and that it has been dispatched to you. We will be using USPS for both domestic and international shipments and we will discuss more information regarding that when post our final shipping update.

When shipping begins, we will be posting daily/weekly updates outlining what we have received and what will be dispatched out to you.

Again, we apologize for the delays in getting this product to you. As many of you know, this is the first product we have brought to market, but that isn't an excuse. We underestimated timelines and we ran into unforeseen delays; That comes with our inexperience in doing this. We hope to remedy those issues by providing you with a top-tier product. We have come a long way and we thank you all for your continued support, feedback, and advice, both good and bad. You have helped to shape our product and our company and we greatly appreciate that.

Thank you and we look forward to sharing more good news with you in the next two weeks.

~Brandon

Samples Are In and Sport Leather Bands!
almost 9 years ago – Mon, Jul 13, 2015 at 03:55:29 AM

Hi everyone!

We wanted to share some great news with you as we move closer to production! 

Samples

We have received a few samples to test with and we are excited to announce that everything is working great! We assembled some of the Black Stainless Steel adapters and we have been testing them for the past week with no issues! We will now be making some very minor changes to better assist our manufacturers and we will be doing a large sample order to test each material/size/finish combination. From there we will move straight into production! Check out the images below!

*NOTE: Please do note that the color of the plastic buffers on either side of the locking mechanism will be black instead of white when we move into production.

 Also, we will be sourcing our spring bars from right here in the United States to ensure that the quality is the highest it can be. We want to make sure that your watch band is going to remain secure in our adapters at all times and ensuring the quality of the spring bars we use is a large part of our effort to make sure that is the case.

Sport Leather Watch Bands / Gap Issue

We have finally received our Sport Leather samples that we had custom designed and produced and we are proud to say that the gap issue is 100% resolved. As seen above, there is no gap present on either side of the band and there is a very minimal amount of space between the top of the watch band and the adapter, but only enough to allow it to properly move when worn. We are moving into production on these watch bands within the next one to two days!

We thank you for your continued support and we are excited to be moving so close to production, as we want nothing more than to get you adapters and bands to you!

~Brandon and the Click team

Shipping Update
almost 9 years ago – Mon, Jul 06, 2015 at 06:11:15 PM

Hi everyone,

As we move into this next week, we wanted to pass along some of the things we have/are finalizing.

Adapters

We are awaiting production samples for our adapters as we speak! We have tracking numbers and all prototype parts should arrive this week. We will then be assembling them and testing them with the watch. Barring any issues, we will move toward mass production! We have found a manufacturer that will manufacture and assemble all of our adapters, allowing us to cut down on the number of individuals needed to make our adapters a reality. The process will become increasingly more efficient than our current model, which orders raw materials and ships them to an assembler. Our manufacturer is very familiar with Apple's sliding and locking components and is manufacturing altered versions of it with very high yields. Though it will add some time to the process (roughly 2 weeks), we will be ordering bulk samples from them to verify quality, as we do not want to place an order without first ensuring that every adapter will be the highest quality possible. We do not want to risk shipping any faulty adapters to our backers, which is why we are taking so many precautionary steps and why we will be testing each adapter with our Apple Watches before we ship it. This is our seal of approval if you will.

Watch Bands

As stated before, watch bands are in production and should be arriving to us right around the same time as the adapters when we place an order for them. We will be packaging them and including them with each order, rather than shipping individually if the adapters are not in at the same exact time. This will cut down on the shipping costs and complexity, as we do not want to risk losing part of an order in the mail. We would rather ship all at once to make sure you receive all your items at the same time.

We are also awaiting the final samples for our Sport Leather watch bands, which are set to arrive within the next few days. With this, the gap issue should be 100% resolved, as we designed and developed a custom mold (alongside our watch band manufacturer) to maintain the same appearance as the faulty Sport Leather watch bands we received, but now in the correct 22mm size. The length of the watch band will remain unaltered, as we just changed the corresponding widths to make it fit perfectly.

Packaging

We have finalized our packaging concepts and have produced some samples for testing (See Images Below). We decided to go with a light-weight, folded card design that allows us to secure the adapters and prevent damage in transport while maintaining a light weight and slim profile for shipping. The adapters are attached with a removable adhesive strip that has been tested for functionality in extreme humidity and cool. Alongside our Packaging Scientist, Jennifer, I am confident in our packaging's ability to get you your adapters safely!

*Note: Please keep in mind that we quickly threw the sample packaging together for the photos, so some items may be slightly misaligned as compared to what you will receive.

Shipping

With all of these updates in mind, we have definitely been making a lot of progress toward development! We apologize for some of our inexperience with regard to accurately forecasting development timelines. In hearing from all of you, you are all just as excited as we are to receive your adapters! This is our first product launch, as many of you know, and we want to ensure that we get it right for all of you. We don't want to rush the process along and miss getting the small things right for the sake of shipping a product to you because, at the end of the day, if you are not satisfied with your adapters, we haven't done our part.

With this in mind, we are going to be ordering more samples from our new manufacturer/assembler (as stated above). This along with the delays from the locking mechanism development have set us back a few weeks. We are targeting early to mid July for shipping. We know that this is later than anticipated and may be a let down for some of you, but we want to ensure that quality and yield are correct before risking your funding on development that would not work out. 

Because of this, we want to extend an offer to you all as a thank you for your continued support and understanding of the development process. All of our Kickstarter and preorder customers will receive 10% off your next order from us, no matter what the product or when you order. If you order tomorrow, you will receive it or if you order years from now, you will get it too! We want to do this as a thank you to all of you for giving us the privilege to develop our first product and understanding the challenges that can come along with it.

Thanks for your continued support of what we're doing and we are excited to move into development very soon!

~Brandon and the Click team

Status Update
almost 9 years ago – Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 06:06:17 PM

Hi everyone,

We wanted to post an update to share our progresses with you as we move into this week! 

Watch Bands

We are moving into production on all of our watch bands. We have varying production timelines, but we are pushing to have them completed so that we can stay on track for end of the month shipping! 

Adapters

We are currently awaiting production samples of the adapters as we speak! We have both the locking mechanism components and the adapters finalized and we will be assembling and testing them as soon as they arrive from shipment! We will post pictures of them when we get them in!

Packaging

We have finalized our packaging for the adapters and we are now moving to finalize packaging for our watch bands. We opted to go with a light-weight, folded packaging to offer necessary protection for the product while also keeping a slim and light profile for shipping. This will allow us to minimize shipping cost both domestically and internationally. 

Shipping

We are striving to maintain our shipping estimates and it is looking like we will be on or very close. Given that production on units should be ramped up within the next week or so, we are still shooting for late June, but we will keep you updated if that changes. Because of the minor changes in adapter width (down to 22.0mm), this set us back slightly, as we had to scrap the samples that were being made and start fresh with the final designs. Barring any unforeseen circumstances that would delay the process, we are in good shape to be shipping close to our estimates.

Thanks for all your support and as always, we appreciate your patience and thoughts as we move forward and grow as a company!

~Brandon and the Click team

Samples are almost done!
almost 9 years ago – Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 08:24:10 AM

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share an update on our samples with you! One of our manufacturers shared this with me, so I figured I would pass it along!

It should be just a few more days before we have samples in our hands to show you how they work and barring any problems, we will be moving into production right after that!