Black Hammer Builds Interactive E-commerce Website for Watchnetwork.com.

Business & Technology Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2000

Virtual Storefront Goes Up In Two Months and is an Immediate Success

When Manhattan's Black Hammer was selected by Scott Hockler, President, and Dan Hirsch, Vice President, of Watch Network to design and produce their e-commerce website, www.WatchNetwork.com, the job came with a catch: the deadline was almost immediate.

From start to finish the client expected the site, with all its extraordinary features, to be up and running within two months! The site's merchandise includes new, pre-owned, vintage and collectible watches and watch accessories. WatchNetwork.com founder and President Scott Hockler, who has described his twin passions as "watches and technology," was thrilled with the final results. Says Hockler: "We're just like Cellini (the elegant watch and jewelry store in New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel), only we're on the Web! The virtual storefront Black Hammer created for us exceeded our expectations. They did astonishing work and brought the project in on time and within budget. They're also a rarity--uniquely talented people who are so easy to work with!"

Working under pressure, evolving new strategies, and thrilling clients is all in a day's work for the five year old Silicon Alley New Media developer that designs and produces websites, CD-ROMs, web games and interactive kiosks. The company has been lauded in New York Magazine and other publications as one of the country's most creative and successful interactive agencies. Says Black Hammer founder and President Matthew Schlanger: "WatchNetwork.com asked us to create a sophisticated yet easy to navigate virtual storefront. Of course we needed to incorporate all the features of high-end e-commerce, including full customer service capabilities. Along with the fast deadline, we had no catalogue to work from, in fact no legacy system whatsoever. Happily, we love a challenge, and work well under pressure."

With their usual innovative approach to information architecture, Black Hammer's designers created the dynamic storefront, with attention to colors, layout and style. In order to create Virtual Reality content for the site's storefront, the watches were photographed and processed into web-ready object VER files using Apple QTVR technology. With this feature, watches can be rotated 360 degrees and viewed from the front, back or side. WatchNetwork.com is powered by a comprehensive e-commerce system that includes back-end modules for customer fulfillment, shipping, receiving, customer care services, and site maintenance, allowing for constant changes in merchandise offerings, availability and sales. Working with their staff of more than 20 professionals, Black Hammer did complete the site in two months.

WatchNetwork.com, which calls itself "The web's authorized watch dealer"(TM) offers both classic and trendy new watches, from such brands as Hugo Boss and Parallel Worlds to TechnoMarine's "TechnoDiamond," a diving watch for women, encrusted with 120 diamonds, that has attracted the Kuwaiti Royal Family and Princess Caroline of Monaco--along with those happy web surfers who bought theirs from the comfort of home at WatchNetwork.com! The site also offers pre-owned and vintage watches, from the high end Rolex and Patek Philippe to vintage watches such as Ingersol's Mickey Mouse, and their Dr. Seuss collectibles. The site offers comprehensive watch information and gift certificates, and also, as an authorized dealer, provides customers with full warranties and servicing. The highly responsive customer service module Black Hammer created is another reason for the site's rapid success with the public and with the media. In fact, Crain's New York Business recently ran a full-page feature article on WatchNetwork.com.

Comments Black Hammer's Schlanger: "Our task was to make this site a standout, with each watch attractively displayed. With the high price tag on some of the watches, we also needed to build in customer services features that would help users feel secure. Also, like all prestigious stores, this virtual storefront could not look cluttered, even with their large inventory. Most of all, we wanted to make finding and buying the right watch an enjoyable process. And WatchNetwork.com was the ideal client. They let us know exactly what they wanted, said `Go for it,' and trusted us to get the job done."

In addition to this challenging assignment, Black Hammer Productions has designed and produced interactive web sites and/or CD-ROMs for a long list of clients, including The Oxygen Network, Abbott Laboratories, IBM, Simon and Schuster, the NBA and WNBA, and many others. In addition to B2C, their innovative B2B solutions include an interactive sales presentation to help the Pyramid Companies sell their multi-billion-dollar shopping complex. The presentation included animation maps that allowed zooming in and out of sites, 3D expansion plans, and an organization chart that incorporated videotaped interviews with top executives.

Black Hammer has also created interactive trade show kiosks and video walls for major pharmaceutical companies. Their entertainment clients included WNET, for which they created a dazzling "Virtual Serengeti" CD-ROM based on the television show "Nature", Showtime, Nickelodeon and the Experimental Television Center. They developed a series of interactive online Shockwave games for General Mills' "You Rule School" children's website. Black Hammer also has a strong hold on the children's CD-ROM entertainment market through the company's development of the multiple award-winning Scholastic I Spy CD-ROM series.

For more information on Black Hammer, visit www.blackhammer.com or call Judy Walters at 212-580-8833.