Longines expects India to be in its top 10 global market in 6 years

NEW DELHI: Swiss luxury watch brand Longines expects India to figure among its top 10 markets in the next 5-6 years as it taps into the increasing spending by middle class on luxury products.

"India is one of the priority countries. It is developing nicely but it is not as big as say China, but bigger than Brazil. We expect India to become top 10 market in the next 5-6 years as the middle class increases spending on luxury products," Longines Vice-President and Head of International Sales Charles Villoz told PTI.

India is amongst Longines top 15 market at present, he said without specifying the exact position of the Indian market.

Longines' top global markets include China, Switzerland, Germany, the US, Switzerland, the UK and Italy.

The company, however, said it would stay from directly entering the single brand retail segment in India despite government allowing foreign firms up 100 per cent FDI.

"We are not looking at that option (company owned boutiques). Globally also we follow the franchise model for our boutiques. Out of 140 boutiques that Longines has, only 18 are company-owned," Villoz added.

Longines has 80 points of sales in India at present. It is going slow on addition of more stores and will add only three boutique showrooms by next financial year.

"We will go slow with expansion. We would not enlarge our distribution. It is more or less the level we wanted. We would open three more boutiques by next year," Villioz said.

He said that apart from increasing sales from Indian operations, his priority is to build that brand and educate customers about luxury watches.

Sold in over 130 countries, Longines watches are available for Rs 40,000 to Rs 5 lakh in India.

Longines, which shipped its first product in 1878, is planning to facilitate the owners of the oldest Longines watches in India.