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CompaniesVaruni Khosla
6 min
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06 Jan 2025, 05:30 AM
ISTIn the first 11 months of 2024, India imported 250 million Swiss Franc or CHF worth watches, growing 27.6% over the same period in 2023.SummarySwiss watch exports to India are growing rapidly, with imports reaching ₹2400 crore in 2024’s first 11 months. High-net-worth individuals are commissioning exclusive, bespoke timepieces.
Wealthy Indians are increasingly commissioning unique, handcrafted, luxury timepieces from top global watchmakers. For instance, a business family in Maharashtra has ordered a custom-made grand fireplace clock worth ₹5-6 crore from a prestigious French watchmaker. The clock, which will be ready in the coming months, is being created by April H., a private French company that has been making luxury timepieces for over 300 years.
Then, a 40-year-old Delhi-based luxury watch connoisseur recently acquired his first Ludovic Ballouard watch. The Geneva-based independent watch company is a brand very few in the world know about, as most of its watches start at a steep price tag of $70,000 ( ₹60 lakh) apiece. The buyer customised the piece for himself and etched the dates of birth of his two children, ultimately shelling out ₹1.6 crore for the watch.
This rising interest reflects in the country’s import numbers. In the first 11 months of 2024, India imported 250 million Swiss Franc or CHF (or ₹2,360 crore) worth watches, growing 27.6% over the same period in 2023. In fact, 2024’s 11-month number is higher than that of the entire 2023, which saw imports of ₹2,093 crore, per data from Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, a non-profit, private trade association that represents the Swiss watch industry.
Also read | Rolex to Hublot: Indians find more time for Swiss luxury
The data said in the month of November, the US grew as a market at 4.7% and was the only one of the top 10 markets to post a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase. Markets like Japan, Hong Kong, the UK, Singapore, UAE and China saw varying degrees of y-o-y decline from -2.to the steepest decline of 27% in the case of China.
On the other hand, markets like India, South Korea and Spain achieved positive growth, with India leading the pack at 60% y-o-y growth in November followed by South Korea at 21.7% and Spain at 33.5%. Each of these markets continued to build on their successes of previous months, said the data.
To be sure, the top country by value for Swiss watch imports is the US, which imported 4 billion CHF worth watches in the first 11 months of 2024. China was second, with imports of 1.9 billion CHF worth Swiss watches in the same period.Segment wise growthExperts say this growth could be indicative of a mixed picture in consumption and may not necessarily be driven by pureplay luxury demand.
While the value of the domestic high-end watch market is growing on the back of high price-point watc