Karnataka - Bangalore

Getting people to make a style statement

Special Correspondent

`There is a growing middle class that can afford to buy an expensive watch'

Bangalore: A premium watch with a price tag of Rs. 2.82 lakhs for the red-gold version and Rs. 3.18 lakhs for the white-gold one. Who will buy it? Stephen Urquhart, president of Switzerland-based Omega International, part of the world's largest watchmaker, The Swatch Group Ltd, says: "You cannot speak to a queen and a soldier on the same footing. Also, you don't have to be a tycoon to buy an Omega watch. There is a growing middle class in India with double income who can afford to buy an Omega watch."

Conceding that the premium segment is a "small section" today, Mr. Urquhart said that it is "growing with the country... growing in a natural way. In fact, the premium market will grow more than the normal market."

Mr. Urquhart told The Hindu during his first visit to India to coincide with the opening of exclusive "Omega boutiques" in Bangalore and Chennai that a "watch is way down the list of necessities when a person starts earning." But, when he or she "moves up in life, sporting a watch becomes much more attractive. It then becomes a style statement. The market for premium watches in India belongs to imported watches. It is basically a Swiss watch market," he says nonchalantly, but sticks to his initial statement that India is "not a very transparent market for watches."

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