India to be one of Omega's top markets by 2014: Jean Claude Monachon

The makers of luxury watch brand Omega expect India to figure among their top 10 global markets by next year. Currently Omega sells the most in China, followed by Hong Kong and the United States. India ranks 12th by market size. Omega has been in the country since 2002.

Omega is owned by the Swatch Group, the world's biggest watchmaker.

The brand recently launched its anti-magnetic watch in India with actor Abhishek Bachchan, its brand ambassador.

The company expects to grow by setting up more boutique stores, which it calls 'mono brand' stores. In India, Omega currently has seven mono brand stores in the country, and plans to add one more (in Kolkata) by the end of this year and two more in 2014.

"The future of watches is in boutiques," says Jean Claude Monachon, Omega's Vice President and Head of Product Development. "It helps if one can showcase the collection and train people the right way."

Monachon, however points out that companies like his have issues with the taxes on imports and also that India lags behind in watch purchases. "India is the country that uses the most gold in the world. It's number two if you look at private airplanes," he says.

The company still makes mechanical watches and gets about 70 per cent of its turnover from them. The rest obviously are quartz watches. "The ratio is the same in India too," says P.H. Narayanan, Brand Manager for Omega in India.

Monachon, who has been with the company since 1997, says more than 52 per cent of its customer base is women. The same holds true for India, adds Narayanan. "Previously women preferred smaller dials, but lately they have been more than happy to wear big dials and (the trend in India) has been changing over the past five years," adds Narayanan.