It's Time For Luxury Watches!

Trends N Style

oi-Staff

By Staff

Thursday, January 15, 2009, 17:22

Luxury watches make a huge come back in India, especially in the state of Punjab. Price does not seems to be the relevant factor, as people are ready to for the luxurious pieces of time.

According to the Industry experts, this is believed to be the best time to enter the watch market, and the multi-million dollar industry holds huge potentials. This is the same industry that was dominated by the likes of HMT and Allwyn brands, today the scene has changed for the better.

Punjab boasts of the highest per capita income in the country for the luxury watches, where various national and international brands have created the new market. These basic collection start from 200 to 2000 dollars, luxury pieces reaching from 2,000 to 20,000 dollars with the prestige section soaring up to a whooping 200,000 dollars.

Some, like Navneet Saxena from Chandigarh believe that a good watch makes him stand out from the crowd. He is an engineer by profession and his fetish for watches saw him gift an exclusive Omega watch for his 40th birthday.

"I had it customized, which nearly took me three months. I wanted it certainly different from what others are wearing to be a little more exclusive. So, I got my name and date done on my watch and these people took it nearly 3 months. It was a very delicate process and fortunately I was a part of it. They did call me over a couple of times to see and approve. I celebrate life with my watch," said Navneet.

"For every product the cost is one thing, what is more important is the value. So what's the perceived value, what does a customer see in it? You may feel a watch is expensive or not expensive, a car is expensive or not expensive. The real test is our people will pay money to buy those things. And the answer is that they are," said Yashovardhan Saboo, the Chief Executive Officer of ETHOS.

Though things in the west are quite slow, but watchmakers in the subcontinent are targeting India's new found taste for luxury. The watch market in India has currently worth 500 million dollars, with 150 million dollars made from luxury watches alone.

The country has grown from being a testing ground to a more lucrative market, with brands like LVMH, A Lange & Sohne and Jaegerle Coultre making it to become common names here. "The way India has been exposed to the world, be in IT or telecom sector so all these things made them the numbers which are growing in India. They are the potential buyers, so they are investing right now. They may not be making money at present but all these companies were very well aware when they entered into a new market. First three to five years was a time they spent into it to build a market and their revenue started coming and that's what they are doing in India. This was the right time when they came to India," said Sandeep Kapoor, the Director of Kapoor Watch Co.Pvt. Ltd.

However, the current market, like the others has also been affected by the recession, but the industry is still aggressively growing with the demands.