Soon after Abhinav Bindra?s golden feat, the mementoes presented to him included a limited edition Seamaster Aqua Terra watch by Omega president Stephen Urquhart. No surprises there, for the Swiss watch brand is the official timekeeper of the Olympics. Wherever you look in Beijing Olympic stadia, they are everywhere. As they have been in every Olympics since the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Omega watches have been the games? official timekeepers and have seen constant innovations ? cellular photoelectric eye and the first photo finish camera, Magic Eye (1948), the first hundredth of second (1952), the first semi-automatic timekeeping device for swimming (1956), the Omegascope, which allowed real time in televised sport reporting by superimposing luminous numbers on the screen?
But even as sports watches have become the hallmark of a number of top end watch brands, few have been able to equal the hype of Omega. ?Something that we have brought to India as well,? says Raymand Aeschlimann, vice president, who visited India just before the games as part of the promotion activity for the games. And the watch brand realised the potential of the market early enough, coming to India about seven years ago. ?Starting earlier gave us the advantage in positioning ourselves in this market,? he asserts. Nor were there any fears about Indians not taking to the watches. ?The culture of the people who buy Omega is same as that of a client in Europe.? The brand has been showing a year-on-year growth of about 20% since it started its India operations but Aeschlimann thinks the ?sales in India are less than they can be.? Challenges for further expansion also include the still considerably high duty structure and the presence of a substantial grey market ? parameters he describes as unique for India.
Especially when compared to China, with which the company has admittedly has had a ?love story?. ?China has got to a stage where the development of the luxury category is much faster,? explains Aeschlimann. ?India still has no high street like New York?s Fifth Avenue and for us, in India we need both the high street and the mall to reach out to our customers. Omega already as five boutiques among its 50 points of sale in the country and plans more such exclusive outlets, including in Bangalore?s UB City and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, places he describes as ?temples of the brand?.
He is confident however that the ?gen new? Indian is going to adopt the brand even more. ?The younger Indians are truly international in their brand awareness,? he observes. Nor does the current US-led recession leads him to think about going slow. ?It?s in difficult times that the customer goes after real value, and now it?s going to be a real fight,? he says. In true Olympian style, perhaps!