Timex's Time Factory is now Timex World

The Netherlands-headquartered Timex Group has announced the repositioning of its multi-brand retail chain Time Factory in India. The chain will now be called Timex World.

There are 100 Time Factory stores in India at present. The new name Timex World has a strong connect with the mother brand Timex that will help achieve a compelling repositioning in the watch industry, company  sources maintained. As a brand, Timex believes in refreshing and reinventing itself for a constantly evolving market. The new name aims at further enhancing the retail image of Timex in India. Paolo Marai, President, Timex Business Unit, said, "Our objective in developing our new positioning and advertising campaign is to help this generation rediscover Timex".

Every Timex World store will present an assortment of the various ranges and premium interiors. The new display guidelines for the products will provide an international feel to customers.

The visual display of these stores will showcase the imagery of the newly launched brand campaign 'Wear it Well' which is in line with the global positioning. It  multi-million dollar global campaign, "Wear it well", that was launched in January this year, has now been launched in India as well.

The theme revolves around the idea that in an era of smartphones and smart watches, conventional watches have a fashion statement along with a functionality purpose. Bart Van Schijndel, International Marketing Manager Sport, Timex, said, "This campaign will run for the long term. Among other innovations around style, we are embedding features of smartphones related to health and fitness in the outdoor-inspired watches which will be launched in India around Diwali."

The sale of Expedition Field Chrono - Unisex and Timex Adventure Series Depth Gauge watches (diving watches) from the Timex portfolio have rapidly picked up pace in India. Sharmila Sahay, Managing Director, Timex Group India, said, "Times watches are sold in the range of Rs 1,000 and Rs 25,000.

The Indian watch market that is pegged at Rs 5,000 crore, the organised market is Rs 3,000 crore of which Timex holds 12 per cent market share." Looking at the watch production data, Sahay adds the Indian watch market is growing at 10 per cent to 15 per cent year-on-year. 

Timex's joint venture with Titan Industries in India ended a few years ago (1998-2000). "India is Timex's number one market in the Asia-Pacific region, while the US and Canada are its biggest markets across the globe," added Sahay.

Timex has tied up with up-market apparel brands such as Nautica and luxury fashion house Ferragamo for whom Timex designs and markets watches the world over and it added Versace too in its portfolio recently. But only 5 per cent of its India business comes from this tie-up.

According to a research, people on average own four pieces of watches today. Timex has a design centre based out of Milan and manufacturing base spread across various countries. Timex World will offer a wide assortment of brands.

In terms of price range, the stores will stock mid-priced to premium international watch collections showcasing an array of brands such as Timex, Helix, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tarun Tahiliani, and so on.

All the prominent international product families of the flagship brand Timex such as Expedition, Intelligent Quartz, Ironman and fashion will be showcased. This format of the new stores reflects larger, more sophisticated brand identity that will give competitive advantage to Timex and help increase its market visibility.