The US-based watchmaker, which has a manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh, plans to increase its capacity for both domestic and overseas sales, harnessing the unit’s potential as a sourcing hub.
“India has been a real success story for us in the past few years. We had some declines during the pandemic, but we have more than caught up and had a successful first nine months of the current fiscal year,” Tobias Reiss-Schmidt, president and chief executive officer, Timex Group, told ET.
Revenue has climbed 30% from the pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the opportunity India offers.
“Watch ownership is still very low in the country; somewhere between 10% and 15%, and India is now the most populous country in the world. So, when you put these numbers together, I think it just underlines there is a huge opportunity for growth. We are realizing this opportunity and we will work hard to continue to grow and for us as a global company, India will remain one of the key markets to invest in,” Tobias said.
Timex Group companies produce watches under several brands, including Timex, Nautica, Guess, GC, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Versus, Ted Baker, Missoni, and Furla.
“I remain confident that India will be a strong market for us. We have all the ingredients to continue to grow and we are fully committed to this market. The global resources are behind the local team, which in the end must make it happen on the ground,” the executive said. At the manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh, Timex makes most of the products it sells in India.”Outsourcing from India is still a relatively small percentage, somewhere in the 10-15% range, but it is an objective of ours to expand that, and we are investing into that as well. We have teams on the ground in India that are actively working with vendors, developing capabilities,” Tobias said.
According to experts, the pandemic was harsh on the watches category, but the premium segment recovered ahead of the mid-segment and companies reported exponential growth in online sales.
ET BureauRival Titan has targeted revenue of ₹10,000 crore (₹7,000 crore from watches and ₹3,000 crore from wearables) by FY26, securing an operating profit margin of 18%.
Timex’s current manufacturing hub is in the Philippines, and it has a watchmaking studio for Swiss-made watches in Switzerland.
“We have been investing a lot in improving the quality of our vendors over the past 5-10 years, and we are now really seeing the fruits of our labour. India as a source for export will continue to grow in the next few years,” he said.
The talk of a global recession has not affected sales yet.
“We have customers that are very worried about it, and they are watching the inventory levels very carefully. But then when we look at the sales to the end consumer, we have not seen that slowdown yet. So, it is more of an expectation at this point than a reality,” the executive said.
Timex has 5,000 points of sale in India and about 35 Timex stores.
“Our priority is working with our retail partners and continuing to strengthen that relationship. We are not the strongest retailer. It is something we are looking into and exploring whether we can improve our own model and then maybe add some stores to our portfolio,” the executive said.
According to Deepak Chhabra, Managing Director of TIMEX Group India, the metro markets offer sufficient growth opportunities for all major watchmakers.
