Watches (India)

Watches, although not as popular as old days amongst the common folk ever since the rise of cell phones. It certainly has a timeless charm.
Watches are and always have been a luxury for the bourgeoise society. The working class has had a more practical approach toward them.
Initially, only a handful of the elite in the society had access to wristwatches brought or mostly smuggled from Japan and Switzerland
In India, the first watches available for consumers were developed in 1961 by HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools) a state-owned company in collaboration with Japan’s Citizen watches. The first batch of HMT watches was released by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru himself. The underlying idea was to encourage punctuality among the workers in the young country providing them with affordable wristwatches.
Their most popular model was a hand-wound watch named ‘Janata’ as it was manufactured primarily for the masses.
HMT also ventured into automatic and quartz as well. Some of the famous ones were, the first automatic watch ‘Kanchan’. There were also other mechanical watches like HMT Pilot, HMT ‘Jhalak’ (semi skeletal), HMT ‘Sona’, Quartz, and also a beautiful fully skeletal watch.
The brand became extremely popular (also because they had a monopoly over the market) in the country and was worn by the masses till the late 90s. Where people stood in queues to purchase the newly released models.
The company experienced a prominent decline in sales after the late 1990s and started incurring huge losses during the early 2000s. The reasons being, several new companies entered the market in the 1980s with newer designs and more modern production techniques, HMT is said to have been hobbled by slow decision making, rendering them was unable to compete
The first competition of HMT came about in 1986 when Titan Watches (established in 1984) in Tamil Nadu signed an MoU with Japanese company Casio proposing to manufacture 2 million digital and analog-digital watches. In 1989, a satellite case plant was set up in Dehradun, Uttarakhand with a manufacturing capacity of 500,000 watch cases annually.
Their model ‘Sonata’ became a household name across the country and a popular gift for the bride and groom at all weddings as I remember.
The company has grown exponentially ever since. The watch division comprises brands Fastrack, Sonata, Raga, Octane, and Xylys. In 2011, the company secured the license for the marketing and distribution of Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss watches.
Xylys is an exclusive brand of Swiss-made watches brought home by Titan. The tagline, Different by Design represents the array of products under Xylys that are aesthetically and ergonomically designed.
Another noteworthy company is ‘Chumbak’ primarily a home décor and jewelry brand from Bengaluru founded in 2010. They are selling handmade watches designed to reflect the indigenous art of the Indian subcontinent. Some intriguing craftsmanship and extremely competitive pricing. The brand is getting quite popular as well.
In 1990 another player that entered the market was Maxima. Mr. GS Purewal, Chairman of PA Group of Industries set up P.A. Time Industries to manufacture electronic watch components and quartz wristwatches. Maxima is currently the 2nd largest selling watch company in India.
The Economic liberalization ended the Import substitution industrialization allowing foreign companies to sell products in the Indian market. The watch companies across the globe entered the market and almost every major watch brads were available for Indians to buy.
Although companies like Titan and Maxima are still ruling the market mostly due to their sense of familiarity and competitive price range.
Now a day watches from almost every international brand are available in the country be it high-end watches like Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Panerai, Cartier, Frank Muller, and numerous other brands. We also have a huge market for brands like Casio, Tissot, and Longines.
The credit for making these luxury watches available goes to companies like Kapoor Watch Co. and Ethos watches.
Kapoor Watch Company is an authorized luxury watch retailer and after-sales service provider in India. It was established in 1967 as a watch servicing center.
The privately-owned company is operational to this date with the third generation actively involved in growing the venture. The business regularly attends international trade shows such as the SIHH and Baselworld in Switzerland.
Dalip Singh Kapoor founded Kapoor & Co. as a repair service for watches in 1967. By 1975, the business set up its first retail store in South Extension-I in the national capital. The store eventually became a flagship establishment that provided after-sales services for luxury and non-luxury watches in India.
Kapoor Watch Co. inaugurated its latest store at South Extension II, New Delhi in 2018. The store became the new Kapoor Watch Co. flagship establishment harboring the highest number of brands under one roof.
Apart from its retailing business, Kapoor Watch Co. is known for its accredited service center for after-sales services of watches. Kapoor Watch Co. service center is one of the biggest service centers with the largest portfolio of luxury watch brands in India. The company is known to send its employees and technicians to training camps every year to ensure a firm grip over the latest products and innovations in the industry.
Another such company is Ethos Watches. Found in 2003, and with 50 stores in India and over 60 premium luxury Watch brands, Ethos Watches is India’s largest chain of luxury watch boutiques.
With 50 stores, over 60 premium luxury Watch brands, and over 5000 varied watches at any given time, they have one of the largest selections in every brand.
Not only that, Ethos has taken it a step further with their loyalty program whereas a part of Ethos’s Club ECHO Loyalty Programme, you not only get access to points that you can collect and redeem regularly but also get invited to watch collector events, wine tasting sessions, gifts, rewards and more!
The parent company of Ethos Watches is KDDL Ltd (Found in 1981). KDDL is one of the leading companies in India engaged in the manufacture of watch components, high-quality precision stamped components, and progressive tools for a wide range of engineering applications.
The company has grown massively in the recent past, their recent achievement was the acquisition of ESTIMA a prominent Watch Hand factory in Grenchen, Switzerland, established in 1924.
Besides these companies, we also have comparatively smaller but quite able platforms like Shoppers Stop and there are numerous showrooms across the country as well.
E-commerce companies like Amazon ad Flipkart have also made it very easy for us to get our hand on branded watches from across the globe.
It is evident that as far as wristwatches are concerning times are truly changing in India. Watches have become more of a status symbol especially the way cricketers, film stars, and other celebrities are frequently spotted sporting high-end luxury watches. The craze is here to stary and grow.
Of course, the sky is the limit when it comes to prices or stature but one can always find a beautiful timepiece if we keep an eye up.
All the best in finding something that tickles your fancy.