Seagull 1963: Transforming a Watchmaking Legacy

From WooCommerce struggles to a premium Shopify experience powering global watch drops.
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Introduction

Seagull1963 is not just another watch brand. With roots in Chinese watchmaking history and an iconic chronograph design from the early 1960s, the brand has become a cult favorite among collectors and a new generation of watch enthusiasts worldwide. Their timepieces carry a unique story, but their old e-commerce platform failed to deliver the same level of premium experience.
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The Challenge

Before 2024, Seagull1963 operated on WooCommerce. While functional, the platform became a barrier to growth:

- Slow performance that hurt user experience.
- Poor multilingual support — essential for a global watch community.
- An outdated design that didn’t match the prestige of the brand.
- Frequent technical issues that made self-management frustrating for the internal team.

That led to a digital storefront that didn’t reflect the premium product it was selling.
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The Solution

In 2024, RocketCare migrated Seagull1963 to Shopify, laying the foundation for a future-proof e-commerce platform.
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- Shopify Markets rollout: Launched in 6 languages and 3 currencies to serve collectors worldwide.
- Premium design & performance: A faster, more scalable store with high-quality visuals, modern UX, and frictionless navigation.
- Conversion-driven experiments (2025 onwards): Testing new product page layouts, cart elements, and a redesigned premium menu.
- Support for six-figure watch drops: Custom pre-launch pages, CRO-backed drop strategies, and a stable technical infrastructure to handle high demand.

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This was more than a platform migration, it was a repositioning of Seagull1963 as a premium, global-first brand experience.
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Results & Impact

The impact was immediate and measurable:
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- Significant year-on-year growth in both sales and international traffic.
- A premium brand perception that finally matched the historical prestige of Seagull1963 watches.
- A happy internal team, empowered to manage content without technical bottlenecks.
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And most importantly, watch drops  selling six figures worth of inventory in a matter of days, now run smoothly and reliably.

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