Global Watch Company
November 1, 2025
Redesigned and rebuilt the Global Watch Company storefront as a custom Next.js app on top of BigCommerce. GWC carries Rolex, TUDOR, Chopard, and Panerai across four boutiques in Vancouver. The old site worked fine but didn't match the product.
Overview
GWC has four dedicated boutiques on Alberni Street in Vancouver, one per brand. The brands themselves have extremely high production standards, and the existing site didn't hold up next to them. The ask was simple: build something that actually looks like it belongs.
My Role
I did the full rebuild. BigCommerce stayed as the catalog, inventory, and checkout backend. Everything the customer sees was rebuilt from Catalyst.
Technical Approach
BigCommerce's headless APIs are sparsely documented compared to Shopify's, so a good chunk of early work was just figuring out which API to use for what. Catalog browsing and product pages run off the Storefront GraphQL API. Account stuff like orders, wishlist, and login goes through the REST API where the Storefront API doesn't cover it.
SSR mattered for SEO. Watch buyers search by reference number, colorway, specific model names. Client-rendered pages weren't going to cut it. ISR handled the catalog without needing full rebuilds every time something changed in inventory.
The design approach was intentionally slow. No aggressive CTAs, no urgency tactics. Big images, room to breathe, subtle transitions. That's how luxury retail actually works.
Key Features
- Custom headless storefront over BigCommerce Storefront GraphQL API
- Brand-specific pages for Rolex, TUDOR, Chopard, and Panerai
- ISR for product pages with on-demand revalidation
- Editorial blog for brand events and content
- Account management, wishlist, and order history via BigCommerce REST API
- Fully responsive