Español
Français
Pусский
繁體中文
简体中文
Select another language
he visionary behind India’s Titan Group, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024, was Xerxes Desai (1937-2016). As the founder of the Tata Group’s watchmaking arm (a group that posted sales of more than 165 billion dollars in its last fiscal year) he was regularly featured in Europa Star, as our archives show.
“He was someone with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, whom the group trusted to develop new activities,” explains Mahendra Chauhan, who has overseen Titan’s entire design operation for almost 20 years, splitting his time between India and Switzerland.
According to Mahendra Chauhan, after launching a publishing company for the Tata Group, Xerxes Desai felt there was “enormous potential in watchmaking.”
-
- Mahendra Chauhan, Head of Design for Titan’s entire watch portfolio
In the mid-1970s, Xerxes Desai and a few colleagues at Tata began looking for ways to diversify their business. After evaluating multiple options, they decided to explore the watch industry. At the time, Indian consumers were increasingly drawn to stylish, branded watches that were becoming increasingly popular worldwide. Swiss and Japanese brands were widely available in India and were highly sought after, but local production couldn’t keep up with the growing demand.
By the mid-1970s a handful of smaller Indian companies had sprung up, but they were producing only about a million watches annually – far below the needs of a vast country like India. Spotting this unfulfilled demand, Xerxes Desai and his team saw a promising opportunity in the watch market.
However, they encountered a significant roadblock. The Indian government’s policies at the time prevented large private companies like Tata from entering the watch industry, which was reserved for small-scale industries and government enterprises. This period was known as the “Licence Raj,” when many business sectors were heavily regulated by government.
-
- The launch of Titan, the watchmaking arm of the Tata Group, reported in 1985 in Europa Star
- ©Archives Europa Star
Soon after, TIDCO (Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation), a state-owned firm licensed to produce watches, approached Tata Press to propose a partnership. TIDCO had been in talks with France Ébauches, a French watchmaker, but needed a local partner to move forward. Xerxes Desai realised this was a golden opportunity. With Tata’s involvement, the project gained momentum.
In 1983 Tata Group, TIDCO and France Ébauches formalised their partnership by signing an agreement in Paris. This marked the beginning of the liberalisation phase, which was what allowed the watch project to move forward.
This was the time that quartz watches were becoming the new global trend. Newly minted watch brand Titan wisely chose to follow this shift. This decision paid off, as Indian customers were eager for watches that were both fashionable and affordable. By 1987, Titan’s factory was fully operational, staff were hired, and the marketing team was ready to launch the Titan brand to the Indian market.
-
- Alongside Japanese manufacturers, France Ebauches contributed to the transfer of technology that enabled Titan to produce its own movements and watches in the early days of the company, as shown in this archive from 1985.
- ©Archives Europa Star
With this new focus came an urgent need to develop an ad hoc manufacturing infrastructure. The Indian company called on both Japanese and French expertise, forging strategic partnerships with Casio, Seiko and Citizen, the world’s leading quartz manufacturers, and also, as our archives below show, French manufacturer France Ebauches, which later folded (and has recently been revived, see here).
“Strategic relationships with Japanese brands continue to this day,” says Mahendra Chauhan. “These skills transfers have enabled us to develop a movement manufacturing unit in India, while importing some components from Switzerland, China and Japan. We have also developed two units entirely dedicated to the production of high end watch cases, and we’ve built up a local and international network of dial and strap suppliers.”
-
- In 1991, a visit to Titan’s facilities, which established itself as the leading player in the Indian watchmaking industry
- ©Archives Europa Star
With a 65% share of a domestic market of 1.4 billion people, the Titan group is a giant. It employs some 7,500 people (including in the extensive jewellery business operating under the Tanishq brand) and produces some 18 million watches a year, making it the world’s fifth-largest manufacturer by volume.
-
- To this day, quartz, which enables the group to reach every stratum of the vast Indian population and to produce a wide range of affordable designs, accounts for 90% of Titan’s output.
- ©Archives Europa Star
“Thanks to a strong focus on design from the outset, Titan has been able to capture the hearts of different sections of the population with very distinct tastes,” Mahendra Chauhan points out. “When the first collections were launched in 1984, they were unprecedented in the country. Over time we have segmented our offer to meet the needs of all categories of the population, while upholding our original design ethos.”
Over the last 40 years Titan has developed multiple brands targeting every section of the Indian market. The company’s generous umbrella covers a variety of mass-market brands as well as a luxury label that makes 18K gold watches. Its overall portfolio spans models priced from 20 to 7,000 dollars – a broad spectrum of products for an incredibly diverse country.
Parent brand Titan, which retains considerable prestige in India, focuses on more classic and elegant watches. Sonata is the entry-level fashion brand, while Fastrack targets GenZ with a smartwatch offering. (Titan, which is based in Bangalore, at the heart of India’s fertile tech ecosystem, has acquired several start-ups to develop this specific segment).
-
- Europa Star’s report from Titan’s workshops in Bangalore in 1996
- ©Archives Europa Star
And that’s not all. The top-of-the-range brand Edge by Titan is a showcase for the group’s technical horological achievements. It boasts a surprisingly thin quartz mechanism, coming in at just 1.1 mm thick. Edge focuses on highly innovative products with superior craftsmanship and cutting-edge materials.
Another premium brand, Nebula by Titan, offers models inspired by Indian culture, with some automatic movements and gold cases. The Xylys brand is also equipped with Swiss movements, while Raga by Titan, which has seen strong growth in recent years, is aimed specifically at Indian women (in addition to watches, the Titan group produces jewellery and even saris).
Titan also has a vast, diverse and ubiquitous retail network within India. It operates some 1,200 directly-operated or franchised points of sale, and is present in a total of 7,500 outlets, including multi-brand stores and shopping centres. This network covers the whole of India in depth, not just the major cities. Titan also carries Swiss brands such as Tissot and Frederique Constant, as well as Japanese brands and a wide range of fashion labels through its Helios chain of multi-brand boutiques.
Some thirty years ago, Europa Star reported that Titan was demonstrating international ambition through a stronger presence at the Basel Fair (see below). Since then, however, even though it has a presence in 33 countries, the brand seems to have refocused on its fast-growing Indian clientele, both in the domestic market and abroad.
-
- In the mid-1990s, the Indian brand first announced its international ambitions, before refocusing on its domestic market. Thirty years later, Titan is back on the offensive in a new watchmaking landscape.
- ©Archives Europa Star
But Titan is once again showing an ambition for change, and that’s because its customer base is changing too. As the growth of the Chinese market has stalled, there was been much talk of a new Indian ‘El Dorado’ for luxury goods. And while this promised land has yet to materialise, it’s true that the consumption patterns of younger generations have changed.
“We are witnessing a ‘premiumisation’ of India, whether in terms of watchmaking, fashion or luxury in general. Luxury is no longer just for a few billionaires; a large part of the population is thirsty for self-affirmation. The new generation travels a lot more, a large number of young people are launching or want to launch their own businesses in a favourable economic environment, and there is a real confidence in the future, which is reflected in luxury purchases. India is a young country, with access to better education, which is fundamental to development: 65% of the population is under 35,” Mahendra Chauhan observes.
The new generation’s willingness to indulge in luxury purchases is reflected in a new appreciation of mechanical watchmaking, which is exclusive, artisanal and heritage-based, and has become something of a status symbol in recent years, in India as in the rest of the world. This new situation is forcing Titan to adapt, at a time when the group is still largely focused on quartz production.
Accordingly, Mahendra Chauhan confirms that the group has announced major investments in developing “new platforms dedicated to automatic watches and complications over the next five years.” A new collection named Stellar, dedicated to astronomical complications, which are highly symbolic in Indian culture, gives a foretaste of this ambition, with the promise of numerous developments.
In the same vein, the Raga by Titan women’s collection is also set to move upmarket with a more contemporary approach. At the same time, some brands, such as Nebula, will continue to follow a traditional creative approach, highlighting the use of gold and Indian craftsmanship.
-
- Stellar Meteorite
Titan plans to focus on more sophisticated, contemporary and universal designs, breaking away from the imperatives specific to its domestic market. For the first time, two of its models have been entered for the GPHG, a prize renowned for the legitimacy it bestows on its winners.
While he supervises several teams for various Titan brands, Mahendra Chauhan is directly responsible for the Edge line, which is central to the Indian brand’s current strategy. Two Edge models were presented at this year’s GPHG. More than their calibre (quartz), it is their distinctive aesthetic that sets them apart.
-
- Edge Ultra Slim
“Edge represents for us the meeting of simplicity and innovation, craftsmanship and engineering,” explains the designer. “This line is our avant-garde. It has never been shown outside India, which was why we wanted to enter it for the GPHG.”
The Edge Ultra-Slim, 40.5 mm in diameter and sporting a finely beaded white silver dial, abandons the traditional display in favour of a single-hand disc movement that glides over the dial, making the hand pinions invisible. The Edge Calibre T9081 movement is housed in an ultra-thin 3.3 mm case in grade 5 titanium, and the stepper motor has been optimised, making it one of the slimmest quartz movements at just 1.15 mm thick.
The Edge Squircle in matte black ceramic merges the geometries of the square and the circle to offer an original new format measuring 38 x 45 mm, with a thickness of 4.4 mm. The clear and expressive dial consists of two hemispheres that feature different textures.
-
- Titan’s office in Bangalore
Titan’s strategy towards premiumisation is a way of keeping a very strong national footing while opening up to more modern inspirations suitable for global audiences. Eventually, this will lead to the development of new collections and brands. Titan is also a reflection of India, the world’s largest and youngest democracy, which has a strong sense of national pride. “Our fan community is large enough for us to be able to extend our reach without losing our historical base,” emphasises Mahendra Chauhan.
He points out that, in order to make significant progress towards premiumisation, distribution and retail points need to be adapted to reflect the new strategy, as do the product experience, marketing and communications. With these developments, Titan will have a stronger focus on mechanicals and horology, which will be central to the brand’s discourse, along with high-end finishes. In this move towards luxury, Titan can draw on the experience already acquired within its jewellery division and in particular its luxury jewellery brand Zoya, which aims to rival Cartier, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels in India.
-
- Edge Squircle
Is this also about attracting new consumers outside Indian communities around the world, as was already attempted in the 1990s? “We don’t really think like that,” replies Mahendra Chauhan. “Above all, we want to create new products that are more universal in their design and that use the best available materials and know-how. Our traditional customers will certainly be the first to follow us, but it’s possible that other markets will open up along the way.”
This new Indian pride is even prompting the brand to waive the Swiss made label for certain models that could legitimately claim it. But Titan’s new strategy is also a defensive posture, at a time the free trade agreement recently concluded between Switzerland/EFTA and India will make Swiss watches more accessible locally. With this in mind, it is important for the group to occupy the entire market, including luxury watches.
“We are preparing ourselves for tougher competition, but this is pushing us to improve. And this new situation is also an opportunity for us: don’t forget that alongside our own production, we are also distributors of Swiss brands in India.” And that’s a market where Titan has no intention of relaxing its grip.
