Titan’s Helios to launch exclusive luxury watch stores as demand surges
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Helios—The Watch Store, a multi-brand retailer of premium watches owned by Titan Co. Ltd, plans to launch exclusive outlets for luxury timepieces to cater to demand in the world’s fastest-growing market.
Its ‘Helios Luxe’ stores—each attracting an investment of ₹3.5 crore—will start operations across five locations this financial year, Rahul Shukla, vice-president and chief sales and marketing officer of watches and wearables at Titan, said in an exclusive interview with Mint last month. The first one will open at Delhi’s T1 terminal later this month, followed by stores in Goa, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The prices of luxury watches start at ₹50,000.
Luxury and fashion watch categories are performing profitably, driven by a premiumization trend, he said. Shukla attributed it to the rise in India’s mid- and upper-middle-income households. The nation’s share in demand for Swiss timepieces from Rolex and TAG Heuer to Omega may be small but it is growing at the fastest pace globally.
In the first nine months of 2024, imports in the category stood at 164.2 million Swiss Francs (about ₹1,620 crore), a 23% rise on year and a 45% jump over the same period in 2022, according to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. That rivals 20% growth for Mexico, another fast-growing market, and a 5% rise for the US. Demand from China contracted 21% during the period.
To be sure, part of value growth in Indian imports can attributed to the depreciation of the rupee against the Swiss Franc. The local currency has weakened to ₹99.5 per Swiss Franc from ₹77.8 in 2022. Helios is also the fastest-growing segment for the watches and wearables business of Titan, which also operates Tanishq
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