New Delhi: Six-year-old homegrown startup, Bangalore Watch Company wants to build a Swiss-quality luxury watch brand from India.
Banking on Indian consumers’ growing discretionary spending coupled with an increased affinity towards homegrown brands, the company aims to reach the mark of 5,000 watches annually in the next 3 years, shared Nirupesh Joshi, co-founder and creative director, Bangalore Watch Company.
“We wanted high-quality watches from India matching the Swiss quality. Further, we wanted to break the stereotype of the design language used in Indian watches,” said Joshi.
Started by the couple duo, the brand currently produces about 1,000 watches a year. Bangalore Watch Company’s average prices are at a ballpark of Rs 1 lakh.
The Indian wristwatch market, worth over Rs 13,500 crore is growing at a CAGR of 10-12 per cent, shared Joshi adding that segments such as affordable luxury are growing faster than the overall market at 14 per cent. The affordable luxury market is around 3-5 lakh watches a year in India, marking a massive opportunity for brands like Bangalore Watch Company.
“There is a small niche consumer who already own Swiss watches, an Omega, and a Rolex in their collection, but now want to have something which can become a conversation piece. This consumer will come to Bangalore Watch Company.”
The comments on the growth opportunity come against the company’s recent launch of its Apogee series wristwatch which has been tested and survived in outer space.
The brand currently sells in 30-plus countries via its D2C website.
Commenting on growth plans, Joshi shared that the brand is launching two exclusive brand outlets in the next few months, and plans to add more outlets over three years.
Further, to fuel its retail expansion, the bootstrapped retailer is aiming to raise initial funding.
