"INDIA WILL GROW FASTER THAN CHINA; THE OVERALL LUXURY MARKET THERE IS SHRINKING."

H. Moser & Cie., the renowned independent Swiss watch manufacturer with a nearly 200-year-old history has just opened its first standalone boutique in Gurugram, India, which is also its sixth globally after Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Menlo Park and Seoul. The India boutique has been launched in partnership with Ethos Limited which has been the exclusive distributor of the brand since 2019. The boutique brings to the Indian watch collector not only the brand's iconic collections but more specifically the Streamliner Tourbillon Skeleton Boutique Edition, limited to only 17 pieces worldwide.

- By Smita Tripathi

In a freewheeling chat with India Today Spice, Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & Cie who took over in 2012, speaks about the importance of India as a market for the brand, watches as heirlooms, sustainability, smartwatches and a lot more.

How important is India as a market for you and how do you assess India's luxury watch landscape compared to other established markets?

India is one of the fastest growing markets at the moment. Globally for the watch industry, it is considered as the 17th largest market, for us it is the 10th. We have been present here since 2019, thanks to our partners, Ethos Limited. Since India is a very large country, our approach has been to value quality over quantity. We are not looking at too many points of sale but high visibility through the boutique.

As far as India's luxury watch landscape is concerned, we see a fast- growing community of watch aficionados. There is a lot of knowledge coming in. They are well travelled, aware of the trends and do their research. I think this is just the beginning. We were discussing plans for the future and we see a faster growth in India than any other market.

So, will India grow faster than established markets like the US and China?