Prestons Diamonds, a luxury retailer selling new and pre-owned wristwatches, bespoke engagement rings, earrings and necklaces. They are the epitome of opulence and luxury, with four prestigious showrooms in the UK, and an appointment-only workshop in London.
Rolex’s business model is to release very little stock to the market, making their watches extremely desirable for a discerning timepiece collector. As one of the top three stockists of Rolex in the UK, Prestons Diamonds have a very strong relationship with the watchmaker.
They’ve worked extremely hard over the years building that relationship in order to maintain consistent stock supply for their clients. As you’ll see, I’ve completed a variety of projects for Prestons.
Every year an event called Watches and Wonders takes place in Geneva. World renowned watchmakers come together to showcase their latest timepieces and technology. The world’s elite and uber-rich, as well as stockists are invited to network, see the pieces for themselves and broker deals.
Rolex wanted to redesign their entire global website with new imagery, fonts, text alignment, colours, navigation structure and align with core Google updates. We had to be mindful that stockists like Prestons effectively integrate the Rolex experience within their own site using iframes.
To ensure they continue to receive preferential stock opportunities with Rolex, Prestons aim to be one of the first stockists to display the latest timepieces.
It was my responsibility to work with the devs and PM team on implementing the Rolex design systems and look out for any inconsistencies on the staging environment. I worked closely with the technical lead and front-end devs, sourcing and implementing solutions to deliver the site in record time.
We used FigmaJam to share progress with product owners, developers and departments. The client team at Prestons were also able to QA the work, access guidelines and drop comments on a specific assets and content.
Throughout my time working for Prestons, I’ve updated many areas of the website. Not being as restricted from the Rolex design system, our work has always been informed and driven by the customers’ buying behaviour, audience demographics, photography, and the brand’s tone of voice.
During the pandemic, pre-owned watches became the most popular service. In response to this change in behaviour, we adapted the language in the navigation and placement of links to enhance the conversion funnel.
Another feature we introduced to improve conversion rates was video content. We created a video library that exclusively showcased pre-owned watches. Experts at Prestons explained in detail about the timepieces, the care that’s gone into their making and servicing information. We then linked off to product pages with purchasing details.
As the business grows in the real world, we adapted the showroom components used across the website. This included the key information users would be looking for such as, opening times.
Our solution was to introduce a map view split with showroom cards. The user would be able to expand the card, see the most requested details first and then if needed, click to navigate to more specific information about that branch.
By appointment only, clients can visit Ely Place in London, to meet the jewellery designers, goldsmiths and setters who design and make their bespoke jewellery. As a proactive piece from us, we scoped out and created the Ely Place experience online.
We began by understanding how a Prestons’ expert interacts with a client, and what options they offer if a client isn't sure about what they want. A user refines their options from a selection of up to 220 styles of engagement rings, and is then guided to the PDP and invited to make an enquiry.
Users who don’t know where to start, can begin by selecting ‘Need inspiration?’ where we ask more specific questions like price range and style preferences. Users can compare up to four rings at a time, a technique the showrooms use so as not to overwhelm a client with too much choice.
We also built in additional interactivity like a choice of product views, so the user can see the piece in different settings and light sources. We've used hotspot technology on product shots for annotations to highlight the fascinating detail they would ordinarily hear in the showroom.
Got any questions or a new project in mind? Drop me a line.
