Richard LeGrand Watches Does The Right Thing

**Update**

Richard LeGrand has restarted their Kickstarter for the Odyssea as of February 1st, and it’s already funded. Check it out here.

At the start of December Richard Legrand Watches, a micro-boutique out of Singapore, launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign for the ‘Odyssea’ dive watch.

The Odyssea was a very, very tempting proposition for many people. Featuring the ETA 2842-2 automatic movement, 200m depth resistance, sapphire crystal, sapphire bezel overlay, and a rather low price of $399, Richard Legrand had a hit on their hands.

The project was funded within hours of launching, and everything was looking good.

If only they could deliver the watch.

On the 15th of December Richard LeGrand canceled the campaign, making sure that nobody who had backed them would be charged for the Odyssea.

They released an update stating that they had to cancel the campaign due to unforeseen circumstances.

Their manufacturer had moved the expected delivery date back half a year, so that Kickstarter backers would not have received the Odyssea for at least a year after paying for it.

This was apparently due to supply shortages and cost increases.

Why do I say they did the right thing?

It would have been way to easy for the people behind Richard LeGrand watches to simply let the campaign finish, get the money, and then make their backers wait.

Or even worse, just taken the money and run, as has happened several time before to crowd-funding campaigns.

Was the Odyssea too ambitious and that led to it’s failure? Possibly. But I’m looking forward to them relaunching the campaign in the future once they have everything sorted out.