Titan plans new luxury watch

The Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) Titan Industries is all set to launch its third major umbrella brand -- after Titan and Sonata -- during the first half of the next financial year.

The new watch, whose brand name is being kept under wraps, will be priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000, and is targetted at the luxury segment (say Swiss-made kind) of the market.

The company already has a luxury watch, Nebula. A complete gold watch, it comes under the Titan range and is priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 45,000. The new watch under proposal will be the umbrella brand exclusively for the luxury segment.

K S Ghai, head (retailing), Titan Industries, said "There are a number of people in the country who are buying imported Swiss watches. And it is this segment which we are targetting with the new brand."

Meanwhile, the watch maker is tweaking the positioning of its FasTrack and Steel sub-brands. FasTrack, which was positioned earlier for people in the age group of upwards of 15 years, is being fine-tuned and is being wholly targetted as the youth watch for youngsters in the age group of 15-21 years. The Steel brand is being positioned towards people who are upwards of 21 years.

Titan Industries is currently testing the market in Bangalore for its fashion accessory brand, I-gear. The company is planning to launch this brand all over the country during the next financial year.

The company is also launching a new version of Raaga, a sub-brand for women. The new version, Raaga 9-5, is targetted at the working woman. "We are working on a number of other variants and these are only some of the initiatives," Ghai said.

Additionally, the company is also planning to increase the number of its franchisee outlets to 180 from the current 160 during the next financial year.