New Delhi: Leading watchmaker Titan is betting big on premiumisation in the segment and expects watches above Rs 25,000 to contribute almost one-fourth of its revenue in around 2-3 years, a company official said.
Titan is also expanding the store count of Helios and Helios Luxe, its retail chain that sells watches priced at Rs 25,000 and above, as the premium and accessible luxury segments are growing at 30 per cent CAGR, Titan Watch Division CEO Kuruvilla Markose told PTI.
“We have close to 10 stores of Helios Luxe, and we are adding more as we go along. In this current financial year, we hope to expand that number to closer to 30 and for Helios, we have close to 300 stores, and they are doing extremely well. This format for us is growing rapidly,” said Markose.
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Moreover, rising demand for premium timepieces and a maturing domestic market could help India emerge as the world’s third major watchmaking hub, after Switzerland and the Far Eastern ecosystem of Japan and China, he said.
“We believe that time is coming,” said Markose, adding that as the market matures and consumers increasingly seek higher-quality products at higher price points, local manufacturing capabilities will continue to evolve.
According to Markose, an “inflexion point” for India’s premium watch segment has already arrived, with nearly 50 per cent of the domestic watch market now comprising products priced above Rs 25,000, a share that will continue to increase in value terms.
India is also witnessing the “emergence of a strong horology culture” focused on craftsmanship and innovation, he added.
“So to us, in Titan India, we see (India) emerging as a third country or a third power in watchmaking. And that’s what we are focusing on. We want to make sure that we bring Indian horology to the global market of watches,” he said.
However, Markose also added that the mass-market segment will continue to expand as consumers shift from unbranded to branded watches. From a volume perspective, the lower price points will continue to dominate. Through its retail chains FastTrack and Titan World, the company will also continue to focus on opportunities in the mass and Masstige (a blend of “mass” and “prestige”) segments.
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“So the interesting thing about India is all of these segments are doing well. For us even FastTrack and Sonata are growing very well, and premium brands like Xylys and Edge that we have, they are all doing well,” he added.
Titan has two affordable offerings in this segment – Poze, a sub-brand under Sonata, and Vyb, a sub-brand under Fastrack – with price points starting at around Rs 1,000-1,500.
“In terms of revenue contribution, all the watches, about Rs 25,000 together, for us are about 15 per cent of revenue,” he said.
He expects this segment to contribute over 25 per cent of Titan’s watch segment revenue.
When asked about the time frame, he said: “In the next two to three years, we would see it significantly grow. We are growing at about 30 per cent in those segments, in certain cases, maybe more. So if we do the math, hopefully, it will lead to more than that number happening in the next few years.”
He also expects a rise in sales of Swiss watches in India following the recent India-EU Free Trade Agreement, which has further lowered import duties on such products.
Duties on Swiss watches have already come down from about 22 per cent to 15 per cent under the India-EFTA pact, which came into force on October 1, 2025. The India-EU FTA is expected to bring further reductions.
“The duties have dropped from around 22 per cent to 16 per cent and it will drop further eventually all the way to zero by 2031,” he said, adding “this makes products coming in from Europe and Switzerland more attractive”.
Titan has brought a bunch of Swiss brands like Herbelin, Auguste Raymond and U-Boat. “Will continue to bring more as it goes along,” said Markose.
