Privacy Policy
Last updated September 13, 2026
This policy explains what personal data Watch&Cie collects when you use watchcie.com and our related services (the “Service”), why, who we share it with, and your rights. Sections 8–10 add what the law requires in the EU/UK, the United States and South Korea. Read it with our Terms of Service.
In short: the Service is free, we may earn affiliate commission when you click through to a dealer, we never see your payment details because no purchase happens here, and we do not sell your data or share it with advertisers.
1. Who we are
Watch&Cie is the controller of the personal data described below.
| Operated by | Seunghyun Lee |
| Location | Republic of Korea |
| Contact / Privacy Officer | stevelee@watchcie.com |
2. What we collect
You give us:
| Category | Items |
|---|---|
| Account | Email address; password (stored only as a hash by our authentication provider); nickname |
| Age | Date of birth, used only to confirm you are 16 or over |
| Third-party sign-in | If you use Google or Apple sign-in, the name, email and profile picture they share with us |
| Preferences | Language, currency, theme, newsletter opt-in, alert settings, date you accepted the Terms |
| Your content | Profile, posts, photographs, comments, follows, and reports you send us |
| Messages | Anything you send to our contact address, including attachments |
We collect automatically: IP address, browser and device type, operating system, referring page, pages viewed, dealer links clicked, approximate location from your IP at country level, timestamps, and error logs. Only after you accept analytics: pages and features used, clicks, and a pseudonymous identifier.
We do not collect payment or card details (no purchase happens here), advertising identifiers, or special-category data such as health, religion or political opinions — other than anything you choose to put in your own profile or posts. Please don’t.
Dealer listings we display are business information published by dealers, not personal data about you.
3. Why we use it, and our legal basis
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Run your account, sign you in, keep it secure; sync your saved watches, alerts and preferences; send the price alerts you set up; show your nickname and posts to other users | Contract |
| Confirm you meet the minimum age | Legal obligation; legitimate interest |
| Send newsletters and deal emails | Consent — withdrawable at any time |
| Measure which brands, models and dealers people look at, and which outbound links are clicked | Consent for analytics cookies; legitimate interest for aggregate non-cookie counts |
| Detect bots, scraping, spam, fraud and abuse; enforce our Terms; respond to your messages | Legitimate interest |
| Keep records, respond to legal claims, comply with orders | Legal obligation |
Where we rely on legitimate interest, we have weighed it against your rights; you can object at any time and we will stop unless we have compelling grounds. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting past processing.
We do not carry out automated decision-making producing legal or similarly significant effects.
4. Who we share it with
Processors acting on our instructions. None may use your data for their own purposes.
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Authentication, database and file storage |
| Cloudflare | DNS, content delivery and network security |
| PostHog | Product analytics — only after you accept analytics |
| Resend | Sending account, alert and newsletter email |
These providers operate infrastructure outside Korea, including in the United States. Google and Apple act as independent controllers for their sign-in services, not as our processors.
Others. When you click a listing you leave the Service; the outbound link tells the dealer the visit came from Watch&Cie and may carry an anonymous click identifier for commission attribution — we do not send dealers your name, email or account data. Other users see your nickname, profile and public posts, never your email. We disclose data to authorities or advisers where required by law or to defend legal claims, and to a successor if the Service is transferred, with notice to you.
We do not sell personal data or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
5. International transfers and security
Our providers process data in other countries, including the United States. Where the law requires a safeguard we rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and UK Addendum, the EU–US / UK–US Data Privacy Framework where a provider is certified, the European Commission’s adequacy decision for the Republic of Korea, or your explicit consent.
Traffic is encrypted in transit using TLS, passwords are hashed by our authentication provider and never visible to us, and access to production data is restricted to the operator. No service can promise perfect security; if a breach affects your data we will notify the authorities and affected users within the periods the law requires.
6. Cookies and analytics
Strictly necessary cookies and browser storage keep you signed in and remember your preferences and your cookie choice. These need no consent — the Service cannot work without them.
The cookie notice shown on your first visit lets you choose between four optional categories: analytics and performance (understanding how the Service is used and fixing what is slow or broken), functional (remembering choices such as language, currency and saved watches across visits), targeting (showing offers and content that match your interests) and marketing (measuring our campaigns and reaching you with relevant deals). Pressing “OK” allows all four; “Settings” lets you switch off any of them before you start browsing. Whatever you choose, the Service works the same.
Analytics runs only while the analytics category is allowed. We currently set no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies; if the targeting or marketing categories are used in future, they will only operate for visitors who left them on. To withdraw or change your choice, email us or clear this site’s data in your browser, which brings the notice back.
7. Retention and your rights
We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes in section 3. Account data, posts and saved items are kept while your account exists; a deleted account is removed without undue delay, with residual copies cleared as routine backups cycle. Logs, analytics and records of abuse or legal complaints are kept for a limited period, and records required by Korean e-commerce and tax law for the statutory period. When a period ends, data is deleted or irreversibly anonymised.
You can edit your profile, preferences and alerts, and unsubscribe from the newsletter using the link in any email. You may also ask us to:
| Right | |
|---|---|
| Access | Get a copy of the data we hold about you |
| Correction | Fix inaccurate or incomplete data |
| Deletion | Delete your data, subject to legal retention duties |
| Portability | Receive your data in a machine-readable format |
| Restriction | Pause processing while a dispute is resolved |
| Objection | Object to legitimate-interest processing, and to direct marketing at any time |
| Withdraw consent | Withdraw analytics or marketing consent |
Email stevelee@watchcie.com. We respond within one month, or sooner where required, and may extend by two months for complex requests. We may verify your identity by confirming control of the account email. Exercising a right is free and will never cause us to treat you differently.
8. EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland
The legal bases in section 3 apply under the GDPR and UK GDPR. You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection, and the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions with legal effect — we make none.
You may complain to your supervisory authority, for example the Irish DPC, the French CNIL or the UK ICO (ico.org.uk). Transfers from the EEA to Korea are covered by the European Commission’s adequacy decision for the Republic of Korea.
9. United States
We do not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, or use it for profiling with legal effect. Depending on your state — including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut and Texas — you may have the right to know, access, correct, delete and port your information, and to opt out of sale, sharing and targeted advertising. Email stevelee@watchcie.com.
Appeals: if we deny a request, reply to our decision or write with “Appeal” in the subject line. We will respond within 45 days. If we deny the appeal, you may contact your state Attorney General. You may use an authorised agent; we will ask for proof and may verify with you directly.
10. Users in the Republic of Korea
This policy also serves as our personal information processing policy under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).
- Items collected — Required: email address, password (stored as a hash), nickname, date of birth. Optional: profile, posts, photographs, comments, language, currency and theme settings, newsletter opt-in. Collected automatically: IP address, device and browser information, access logs, cookies.
- Retention and destruction — As set out in section 7. Data is destroyed without undue delay when you close your account, and retained for the statutory period where the law requires. Electronic files are deleted so that they cannot be recovered; printed material is shredded or incinerated.
- Outsourced processing — Supabase Inc. (authentication and storage), Cloudflare, Inc. (DNS, delivery and security), PostHog Inc. (usage analytics, only with your consent), Resend (email delivery).
- Overseas transfer — The processors above operate infrastructure in countries outside the Republic of Korea, including the United States, and personal data is transmitted to those countries over the network when you use the Service. The items, purposes and retention periods transferred are as described above. You may object by notifying stevelee@watchcie.com; however, because these transfers are essential to providing the Service, objecting will restrict your use of it.
- Your rights — You and your legal representative may at any time request access, correction, deletion or suspension of processing at stevelee@watchcie.com. A request made through an agent requires a power of attorney.
- Cookies — You may refuse cookies in your browser settings; blocking strictly necessary cookies will prevent sign-in and some other features from working.
- Privacy Officer — Seunghyun Lee / stevelee@watchcie.com
- Remedies — Personal Information Infringement Report Center (privacy.kisa.or.kr, 118) · Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee (kopico.go.kr, 1833-6972)
- Marketing — Sent only with your separate opt-in consent, which you can withdraw at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email.
11. Children and changes
The Service is not directed at children. You must be at least 16, or older where local law requires. If we learn we hold data from anyone younger, we will delete it. Parents or guardians should contact stevelee@watchcie.com.
We will post changes here and update the date above. Where a change is material we will tell you on the Service or by email before it takes effect, and ask for consent again where the law requires.
12. Contact
All privacy questions, rights requests and appeals: stevelee@watchcie.com
See also our Terms of Service, Community Guidelines and Legal notice.