Evolution of Indian Watch Industry

1960s
1960: Indian Watch Industry came into being. Government took the decision to set up the countrys first watch factory 1961: HMT set up Indias first watch factory at Bangalore in collaboration with M/s Citizen Watch Co., Japan.

1980s
1981: Hyderabad Allwyn Limited entered the watch industry in collaboration with Seiko of Japan 1987: The beginning of a new era - entry of Titan, the Tata TIDCO joint sector company

1990s
1990: Timex enters the Indian market in partnership with Titan, targeting the lower price segment

1997: Timex breaks away from Titan increasing the already fierce competition

Indian watches market was for long dominated by public sector organizations like Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd. (HMT) and Allwyn (also famous for its refrigerators once upon a time!), and has now left the pioneers far behind or nowhere in market by private sector enterprises like Titan, Sonata, Ajanta and Timex along with foreign entities jostling for display space in the smallest of shops selling these products. Before the establishment of HMT as the dominant player in the Indian markets initially, the country was solely dependent on imports to meet the internal demand. However, establishment of HMT as the leading player in the wrist watch segment in the 1960s, changed the scenario. HMT set up a watch manufacturing Unit at Bangalore in collaboration with M/s Citizen Watch Co., Japan in 1961. As the first manufacturer of Wrist watches in the country, HMT successfully absorbed the totally new precision manufacturing technology for mass production, and assembly of micro sized components. This tryst with firsts continued and led to launch of Indias first Automatic Day-Date watch , first Quartz watch , first Braille watch, first Ana-Digi watch and so on. Popularity and demand of watches was increasing which led the company to expand its capacity. In 1972, Watch factory II was set up alongside the Bangalore Factory to manufacture Automatic Day Date Watches with Japanese Technology. Watch factory III was set up at Srinagar in 1972 with the entire Technical Knowhow from HMT engineers.

In 1975, Watch factory at Bangalore was further expanded to manufacture Main Spring, Hair spring and Shock absorber components. By this, HMT totally acquired the technology of Mechanical Watch making. Later on HMT set up manufacturing facility to produce 2 million watch components sets at Tumkur and Ranibagh in the year 1978 and 1985 respectively and watches were assembled at various assembly units spread over the country. This was done with the objective of dispersal of Industry and creation of employment besides catering to the demand for the product which got accepted very well in the market. In line with the market trend, Watch factory at Tumkur was partially converted to manufacture Quartz Analog Watches in collaboration with M/S Citizen Watch Co, Japan. To cater to the Niche market, a specialized watch case manufacturing facility was set up at Bangalore in 1983 .The project was implemented with in-house expertise, without any foreign collaboration. Since 1985, HMT Watches has been actively involved in making Floral Clocks, Solar Clocks, International Clocks, Master-Slave clocks and Tower Clocks. The Garden clock at Bangalore thrills thousands of visitors every day. In the year 2000, HMT Watch Business group was re-structured as HMT Watches Limited (a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of HMT Limited). Hyderabad Allwyn entered the watch business in 1981 in collaboration with Seiko of Japan. The watch division is now closed and is pending before BIFR. Allwyn along with HMT & Titan Industries had dominated the Indian watch market with almost 10% of the market share. Titan Industries Limited is the world's fifth largest wrist watch manufacturer and India's leading producer of watches under the Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Nebula, RAGA, Regalia, Octane & Xylys brand names. Titan Watch division was started in 1987. At launch it was the third watch company in India after HMT and Allwyn. It is a joint venture between the Tata Group, and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). It set up its 1st manufacturing factory at Hosur where it Manufactured quartz analog electronic watches. It made Financial and technical collaboration with Ebauches, France and in 1988 it established a component manufacturing facility. In 1990 it established a case manufacturing plant and in 1992 Integrated backwards to manufacture step motors. It made Joint venture with EDC to manufacture electronic circuit blocks. In post liberalization India, the market stood to witness intensive competition between foreign and Indian manufacturers like Timex, Titan, Movado, Longines, Rado, Rolex, Frderique Constant, Mont Blanc, Swatch, and many others. Many watch makers have made significant inroads in the industry and others are in the process of establishing themselves, currently. Government Policies that reserved the manufacture of straps and dials to the small scale industry and imposed restrictions on import & manufacture of External commercial borrowing (ECBs) were relaxed. Timex Watches Ltd was started as the Waterbury Company, in Connecticut's Naugatuck's Valley (the Switzerland of America). Timex enters the Indian market in partnership with Titan in 1990, targeting the lower price segment which was broken in 1997. Its most of the watches were imported from America but latter Assembled in Timex factories in Noida.It Launched the Indiglo technology in 1992 which was first electroluminescent watch in India.