Chapter 204 Superman Watch (1/2)

"Dad, what is this?"

"Kandor City, Superman's home."

At the door of the toy store, the customer pointed to the Kandor City Lego building blocks in the window and explained to the child.

Beside him, people stopped from time to time to look at the novel toy in the window, and occasionally people could be seen coming out of the store with a Kandor City toy box.

In front of the window, Stanley stared at the Kandor City Lego toys behind the glass with his eyes wide open.

He had been standing at the door for almost two hours.

"Child, do you like it very much?"

Just when Stanley was lost in thought, a questioning voice suddenly came from behind him.

Stanley turned his head and saw a man in a neat suit and a bowler hat looking at him.

Looking at the man who appeared behind him, Stanley moved his steps carefully, gave up the window position, and nodded timidly.

Seeing Stanley's cautious look, Colin smiled and took out a Lego Superman from his arms and handed it forward, saying: "This is for you."

His eyes stayed on the small Lego Superman in Colin's hand for a long time. Stanley's eyes flashed with excitement. He wanted to reach out to take the toy but stopped subconsciously, opened his mouth and whispered.

"Sir, I don't have money..."

Sensing the hesitation in Stanley's expression, Colin stuffed the Lego Superman in his hand into his hand and said: "This is just a small gift, as a gift for your love of Superman."

He only occasionally passed by the toy store and wanted to see the sales of Lego in Kandor City. He happened to see Stanley outside the window, so the following scene happened.

In front of the toy store, Stanley watched Colin's back as he left and looked down at the Lego Superman in his hand, silently lost in thought.

It was not until many years later that Stanley knew that the person who gave him the Lego Superman was the author of Superman-Mr. Colin Luper.

"In my childhood memories, the appearance of Mr. Colin Luper was like a real superhero, lighting up my life."

...

"Sorry, I'm a few minutes late..."

In a coffee shop on Fifth Avenue in New York, Colin apologized to the person who had been waiting for the invitation.

"It's okay. In fact, I just arrived not long ago."

The head of Waterbury Clock Company shook his head and expressed his understanding after taking his eyes off the exquisite watch on his wrist.

After a brief greeting and signaling the waiter to come over and order coffee, the head of Waterbury Clock Company spoke again to express his gratitude: "It's an honor to meet Mr. Colin Luper here. Your presence is extremely important to our Waterbury Clock Company."

"No, I also have high expectations for this cooperation."

The hot sales of Lego bricks in Kando City brought Colin considerable profits, but the competition in the stock market forced him to invest more funds in it.

At present, in terms of oil stocks, Luo Stone and Paul Getty, who represent Colin, are still in a fierce competition. Through the acquisition of Mission, he has now mastered more than 20% of Mission's shares and indirectly controlled part of the shares of Seacoast United Oil Company, but Paul Getty did not want to be outdone and fought back and began to compete with him for Mission's shares.

In order to maintain his advantage in this battle for oil stocks, Colin had to continue his old path of Superman authorization and cooperation.

And this time, the company that actively sought cooperation was the Waterbury Watch Company in front of him.

Speaking of Waterbury Watch Company, its brand also has a very long history. The company's predecessor was R H Ingersoll & Bro (Ingersoll Watch Company), which was once the famous American Eagle Watch.

The company's predecessor was a mail-order company that initially sold low-cost products such as rubber stamps. It was not until 1892 that the first Ingersoll watch was launched, known as "Universal".

The watches were actually small spring-driven clocks, about 3 inches in diameter and more than 1 inch thick. They were placed in a case with a bow and crown hanging from the bracelet, just like a contemporary watch. The crown had no function, the watch was hinged to a spring on a fixed key, and there was a wheel in the center of the dial for the hands, both of which could be used when the case was opened like a clock.

At first, the "universal" watches were wholesaled to dealers, but later in 1892, a mail order catalog was produced and the watches were sold directly to the public.

As watches became more popular, the Ingersoll Watch Company gradually transformed its business and became a watch manufacturer.

Ingersoll Watch Company has been committed to launching new watches for a period of time. Over the past 20 years, nearly $40 million worth of watches have been sold. Ingersoll created "the watch that makes the dollar famous!"

It was only later that the outbreak of World War I led to a recession and the Ingersoll Watch Company had to declare bankruptcy, and it was under such circumstances that the Waterbury Watch Company bought it.

However, the Waterbury Watch Company, which acquired the Ingersoll Watch Company at that time, never imagined that in just less than ten years, it would be on the verge of bankruptcy.

The onset of the Great Depression greatly reduced people's demand for watches, and the Waterbury Watch Company's revenue also dropped sharply.

At present, the cooperation with Colin also hopes to rely on the popularity of "Superman" to help the company get out of difficulties.

Therefore, when meeting with Colin, the person in charge of Waterbury Watch Company was extremely sincere, because once the cooperation failed, the company would most likely miss the opportunity and go bankrupt.

"Thanks."

After taking the coffee from the waiter, Colin nodded and thanked him, then took a sip of the coffee.

"Mr. Looper..."

On the other side, after Colin put down his coffee, the person in charge of the watch company took out the design drawings he had prepared.

This was the result of the Waterbury Clock Company spending several nights designing a piece that would satisfy Colin.

Taking over the design draft from the person in charge, Colin was first attracted by the bright image of Superman on the watch. The entire watch was almost designed around Superman without any cover-up. The clock dial clearly depicts Superman standing with his chest raised, and the two arms representing the hour and second hands are clearly Superman.

At the same time, the careful thinking of Waterbury Watch Company can also be seen on the wrist. The watch is also designed with a superhuman flying action.

It can be said that Waterbury Watch Company has integrated almost all Superman elements into the design of this watch.

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From a personal aesthetic point of view, this watch with the image of Superman as its main axis does not look very good.

However, aesthetics aside, from the perspective of the licensor, Colin is happy to see this happen. After all, in addition to obtaining financial benefits for himself, he also authorized Superman to let more people know about Superman. The purpose, if this is the case, how do you make yourself conspicuous and how do you make Superman appear on authorized products?

Although he was satisfied with the watch company's design in his heart, Colin still acted very calmly on the surface.

"If Mr. Looper is not satisfied with this design, Waterbury has other design drawings, which also use the image of Superman as the core..."

Seeing that Colin in front of him didn't react much, the person in charge of the company immediately opened his mouth to explain, and at the same time took out more drawings from his arms.

From these design drawings, we can still see the design ideas of the watch company.

On the large and small clock dials, a variety of clock designs based on Superman shapes can be said to have opened Colin's eyes. Some have heat vision instead of hour hands and seconds, and some have cloaks. Of course, the more exaggerated ones are Superman legs.

It is foreseeable that if the final design product is really determined to be produced, everyone who buys a watch in the future will see a scene of Superman doing the splits on the watch, and it will be a full 360-degree split.

Thinking of this scene, Colin felt inexplicably trembling.

He shook his head and looked away from the last design drawing in his hand. Compared with this obviously speechless design, what caught Colin's eye the most was the idea of ​​using heat vision as the hour and second hands. Not only does it make reasonable use of Superman's abilities, it also gives people a rather novel feeling.

As for, if this design is actually used in production, that is not what Colin needs to pay attention to.

Anyway, he is only the licensor of the product, and all he needs is that the final result is in line with his wishes. The rest is entirely up to Waterbury Watch Company.

"The design of this thermal sight is very thoughtful."

Colin picked out the one he liked from the drawings and expressed his opinion to the person in charge of the watch company in front of him.

After receiving his response, the latter immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

At least on the contract issue, both parties have reached a preliminary consensus, which at least represents the possibility of successful cooperation authorization.

Taking a deep breath, he took the design that Colin liked. The person in charge nodded and agreed: "Indeed, this design is also one of the favorite designs within Waterbury Watch Company."

There is no doubt that the person in charge lied a little in this regard. After all, if it was as unanimous as the other party said, he would not need to bring so many design drawings to Colin for screening.

Without revealing the politeness of the person in charge, Colin started to guide the topic to a more practical topic, that is, the profit sharing of the licensing contract.

"... As long as Mr. Luper is willing to cooperate with Waterbury, we are willing to give up three levels of profits as licensing fees."

A 30% profit authorization is already considered a considerable expense.

In comparison, as the licensee, Waterbury Watch Company not only needs to design the image of the clock but also produces and sells the products, but Colin does not need to do anything in this regard, just license the image of Superman. You can make money just sitting down.

Of course, although the Waterbury Watch Company has expressed great sincerity, Colin has no reason to miss the money he should make.

After taking a sip of coffee, Colin said to the person in charge in front of him: "Fifty percent."

"Fifty percent?!"

In response, the person in charge of the Waterbury Watch Company showed an obviously embarrassed expression on his face.

You know, this 50% is the net profit after the watch is sold, which is a huge profit requirement for any company.

"Mr. Luper, if it is 50%, Waterbury doesn't have much to earn..."

The person in charge revealed the current difficult situation of Waterbury in an embarrassed tone, but the expression on Colin's face was still somewhat unmoved.

Business negotiations have never been a place for talking about feelings.

Waterbury's situation may be difficult, but there are countless companies with similar situations in the Great Depression. Colin can't give up his bottom line just because of this.

After all, Superman's current popularity did not come out of thin air.

Whether it is the serialization of the Daily Courier, the Courier Comics, or the radio drama of Superman Adventures, they are all created by Colin bit by bit.

Faced with Colin's firm stance, the person in charge of Waterbury was obviously in a dilemma. In fact, the bottom line given by the watch company was 40%. He could lower it and also planned to give in at that time, but he did not expect that Colin would exceed the initial preset share of Waterbury, which caught the person in charge off guard.

"Sorry, Mr. Lupo, the 50% share contract is not something I can decide."

Therefore, in the cafe, the person in charge struggled for a long time and had to speak up.

"I need to ask the company for instructions and then give you a reply."

"Okay."

Colin also knew that the negotiation of the authorization contract could not be completed in one go, but before the end of the meeting, he still reminded the person in charge: "However, there is one thing that needs to be explained, that is, Waterbury is not the only watch company that hopes to obtain Superman authorization. From my personal standpoint, I prefer the image designed by Waterbury, so I hope you can give me a reply as soon as possible."

"..."

Colin's last seemingly unintentional reminder obviously made the expression on the face of the person in charge of Waterbury stiffen a little.

During the Great Depression, there were many watch companies similar to Waterbury. Even though he knew that this was probably just a means for Colin to pressure the contract, the person in charge couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Sure enough, three days after the meeting, Colin received opinions from Waterbury.

The watch company is willing to accept a 5:5 profit share, but as a condition, Colin cannot cooperate with other watch companies to produce similar products before the production of this Superman watch.

Colin did not have much opinion on this. In fact, Waterbury was the first watch company to cooperate with him.

Soon, the Courier signed a Superman authorization contract with Waterbury Watch Company and started to produce Superman watches at the first time.

Please remember the domain name of the first release of this book:. Shuquge mobile reading website:

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