Firm hopes to sell at least 200 pieces as elite evince interest

Seiko Watch India, a fully-owned subsidiary of Seiko Holdings Corp., is planning to unveil a Grand Seiko watch priced at the upper band of ₹60 lakh by the end of this year to compete with global brands such as Tissot, Rao and TAG Heuer and to tap a growing list of Indian millionaires.

“We are going to get watches in the price range of between ₹50 lakh and ₹60 lakh by the end of the year,” Niladri Mazumder, president of Seiko Watch India, said in an interview. “It has got an eight-day power reserve.” The idea happened on an ad-hoc basis when the company got enquiries from about 1,000 people.

“We did not have any watches,” Mr. Mazumder said. “From this year and starting next year, we will go with 10 stores and six boutiques maximum. We are trying a get a sale of at least 200 watches.”

Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani heads a list of Indian billionaires and India is home to the world’s fourth highest number of billionaires, according to a 2017 list released by Forbes magazine in March. The Forbes list consists of 2,043 of the world’s richest people who have a combined net worth of $7.67 trillion, an 18% increase over the previous year.

The customers, including industrialists, doctors and top management leaders, who have evinced interest in the Grand Seiko watch “have a pre-determined mindset,” Mr. Mazumder said.

Long-time desire

“They had this desire for a long time and the time has come to vent their desire at this point in time.”

“In smart watches, Apple’s iWatches are the only threat but that is confined to people who love the technology. People who buy Seiko want to move beyond that feeling. It is a competitive market where retail has not yet grown to its full potential,” he said.

“Watch is a product where the price tag or the manufacturer is not visible. You cannot make out how much is one watch worth by just looking at it,” Mr. Mazumder said.

Seiko Watch India, which sells the end product made in Japan, is present in five segments in the country. Pressage, which is automatic starting from ₹45,500 to ₹1,00,000, Premier, based on a kinetic auto relay, is in the price range of ₹59,500 to ₹79,500, and the sports category called Prospects. In Grand Seiko, prices start from ₹2,45,000.

The organised watch industry in India is worth about ₹10,000 crore including Titan, Sonata and Timex. The unorganised segment watches “is perhaps equal to the organised sector or more. So it is not a huge industry,” Mr. Mazumder said. Seiko, in Japanese, means ‘the house of accurate products’.

“Our traditional watches were mechanical and then we moved to quartz, kinetic, spring down and Astron, which is the first solar-powered GPS-enabled watch. Anywhere in the world you go, the time will set itself. Up to 11 satellites will find out where you are and the signal will be taken by the watch and it will display the time and the date. It is perfect for a traveller,” he said.

“The kinetic perpetual auto relay watch worked perfectly for us in India. It is powered by the movement of the body. If it is fully charged it can stay idle for up to four years. Anytime you pick it up and start moving your hands, it will set the time and date within 15 seconds. It costs between ₹1.25 lakh and ₹2.48 lakh.

“Our CAGR in the last five years is about 18-20%. This year, if we grow by 15%, it will be good. We lost two months due to the GST uncertainty. India is one of the most important markets for Seiko Corp. Indian consumers are one of the most educated consumers in the world. You cannot dump products here at a lower price. Especially for the premium watches, they do their research. They are not fooled by gimmicky stuff,” he said.

As per the new GST rules, luxury watches attract a tax of 28%, four percentage points higher than earlier. Seiko Watch India has a Lord collection, tailor-made for the Indian customer, Mr. Mazumder said. “Today it accounts for 24% of our sales. We are working toward a ladies-centric collection now.”