Kickstarter Whales

[GreyLord]

The watch is a discontinued watch selling at twice retail. It is not new. I don’t know what else to say to you. I’m sure they are reliable and respectable. I have no opinion on them or their reliability or respectability. Are they friends of yours?

No. But they are rather well known in the watch world. I'm surprised you don't know about them. I'm not a collector at all, but if I want a decent watch they are a good place to check out. It's like a reliable business that you've found. If you like it, you may tell others about it. They were referred to me by others who also buy decent watches. They check out as far as authenticity goes and are rather well regarded.

Much more reliable than ebay.

However, patience can be key with them. If they don't have the watch readily available...it may take time. If they eventually find they don't have it available they will tell you, otherwise, sit tight. Other times it is quick and painless. If you check the serial number to see if it is official and recognized, it will check out, at least in my experience.

These are items I would probably never trust to ebay...that's just me...personally speaking...of course. Nothing against those who would buy on ebay, but to me it would be too risky for me...speaking soley in regards to my preference.

PS: Where can you buy the Rolex Submariner Hulk at 10K USD at retail currently? Not any Submariner, that specific one? Even at authenticwatches.com I'm not sure it would be readily in stock and may be an eventual one that could not be attained (which they'd eventually inform you about). If they do have it, if you want one, you might look into it.

PPS: Ah, I think I understand the misunderstanding. Yes, the watch originally retailed for around 9000+ several years ago. It's out of production and thus, normally unavailable. It's due to the grey market that it's available on that site. They, obviously, raise prices to match what it may be worth currently, but their watch is guaranteed to be authentic and normally new (if you consider store display models...new...if not...than slightly handled). Gray market can be delayed from what is currently being sold, for obvious reasons.

 

[GreyLord]

For those wondering about this conversation on watches, in some ways it is similar to the Kickstarter idea (going back to the original topic on whales). Watches can and do go in and out of print. Just like Kickstarter, sometimes it depends on who is willing to pay how much for a watch.

The particular one I posted is no longer produced. It is still highly sought after. It originally retailed somewhere between 9K and 10K (which I believe is why Morrus stated it being only worth 10K retail). Now days, it is almost impossible to find in retail as it went out of production and is no longer normally sold via normal retail venues.

The price has risen dramatically if you want one. Thus...only those who are willing to go all out (aka...the whales) will be able to get one that is "new" rather than used. A new one in this instance can refer to one that has never been used. Some will get them from collectors, others will have other means of obtaining them. From what I understand, the site I posted it from gets their models new, but they normally are from something like a display model (think like Walmart, when you go in and you see all those TVs or computers that are on display that show you what they look like outside the box). Some people would rather not get those particular models or copies of watches.

Many times the retailers refuse to sell these display copies (or sometimes it will be from another thing such as a box that was imperfect, or something to that effect, depending on the seller) but they still want to make some money off of it. Hence, you get the Grey Market (Gray) which is where you have sellers that sell authentic merchandise, but it's not at the official retailers.

Some Gray Market will sell returns or even get second hand from collectors who have never opened or used the watch and call it new. The site I linked to, as far as I know only sells new (so not...pre-owned by anyone but a retailer) as far as I know. I am not a collector of these things though, so I can't verify that this is always the case.

However, for that watch (and others) you would probably be a "whale" if you were trying to get it now. You are going to be paying a lot more than many would be willing to pay for it (when it was at retail), which is also a good way how it links back to the whales of Kickstarter.

 

[Bryan Sycamore]

I backed Shadowdark, the most recent expansion. Got drawn in by the hype. I managed to cancel after it finished, quite recently. I hope it’s good for those still invested with it.

 

[Distracted DM]

I'm again reminded that even though I'm a Superbacker, I very rarely am in for more than $20-30 dollars on anything, my average may well be lower than that, and I don't think I've ever gone in for more than $100 (and that was for a computer game KS, not an RPG one; the highest I've ever gone within the hobby was, I think, $50 (though it would probably be more expensive now since it was one of my rare in-it-at-physical-book-level cases).

I'm a superbacker as well, does it require 2k projects or can it have just been a certain amount of $$$? I've back a ton of projects but I don't think I've done 2000 lol... But I have the tag so....

 

[Distracted DM]

I backed Shadowdark, the most recent expansion. Got drawn in by the hype. I managed to cancel after it finished, quite recently. I hope it’s good for those still invested with it.

Can you elaborate on that a bit? I'm curious.

 

[Morrus]

I'm a superbacker as well, does it require 2k projects or can it have just been a certain amount of $$$? I've back a ton of projects but I don't think I've done 2000 lol... But I have the tag so....

Where did you get 2000 from?

 

[...m...]

Kickstarter Superbacker = 25 Projects (> US$10) within Past Year
BackerKit Star Backer = 20 Projects in 2026 (15 in 2024-2025, 10 in 2023)

...apparently backerkit used to give enamel pins to star backers?..

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm a superbacker as well, does it require 2k projects or can it have just been a certain amount of $$$? I've back a ton of projects but I don't think I've done 2000 lol... But I have the tag so....

I might theoretically have actually chunked up to that by tons of small projects over the years, but I have to doubt it. Like I said, most things I backed were at less than $30 other than a couple of things I went in on physical books and probably a couple of the computer game KSes, and I never did many of those (I'd want to say no more than 4-5).

 

[Distracted DM]

I'm a superbacker - just on kickstarter I'm approaching 2k projects. But I never put that much into any one project. Just too much risk vs reward for me. And I back for the process more than anything - one day I'll get my project up there and use all that I've learned (I've used a lot of it in the cottage industry of reviewing projects). And in all honesty, the whale tiers include things that are red flags to me in a lot of cases. If I come in for a TTRPG and see that they're offering plushies and backpacks and all sorts of things that are out of the wheelhouse of a ttrpg publisher, it makes me side-eye them.

Where did you get 2000 from?

Just late night misreading :'D

 

[Thomas Shey]

Kickstarter Superbacker = 25 Projects (> US$10) within Past Year
BackerKit Star Backer = 20 Projects in 2026 (15 in 2024-2025, 10 in 2023)

...apparently backerkit used to give enamel pins to star backers?..

I'm still a little boggled that I apparently was averaging four projects a month at some point.