Rolex to Hublot: Indians find more time for Swiss luxury
NEW DELHI : Swiss watch imports swelled 16% to cross a record ₹2,000 crore in 2023 as more aspirational Indians snapped up luxury timepieces, led by a sharp rise in December. Imports touched ₹2,093 crore during the year, up from the previous year’s ₹1,500 crore, data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Association showed. With this, India has become the world’s 22nd largest Swiss watch importer, moving up one place from last year’s position.
“The year 2023 performed very well for the watch market, especially luxury," said Pushpa Bector, senior executive director of DLF Retail, the retail arm of the real estate development company. “People are aspiring to buy luxury, and in 2024, there will be more exclusive brand outlets coming up for luxury brands. This is because some of these brands are very successful in multi-brand outlet formats, and they now want to have an exclusive presence for customers.
One such example is Rolex. There will also be newer luxury brands that will come into the country in 2024," Bector said. Shopping for wedding trousseaus kept up demand across categories, Bector said; however, watches in the mid-market to premium category did not perform as well as those at the higher end.
In December alone, Indians snapped up Swiss watches worth ₹179.74 crore, up 31% from ₹135.26 crore a year earlier (at current exchange rates), becoming the world’s No. 17 buyer of these timepieces. However, India still trails richer countries like the US, the No.
1 importer of Swiss watches at 4.16 billion Swiss francs ( ₹39,193 crore) in 2023. Virtually all good brands grew in imports, said Ashok Goel, founder of Delhi-based Luxury Time Pvt. Ltd, which distributes brands including Hublot, Tag Heuer and Zenith.
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