The Hindu Business Line : French jewellery, luxury watch makers eyeing India

The French luxury watches and jewellery products industry is now eyeing India for potential rich clientele to add to its portfolio of customers worldwide. For this, six French manufacturers recently set off their exploratory B2B foray here.

At the just-concluded three-day JCK show here, organised by Reed Exhibitions, three French manufacturers of high-end watches and two manufacturers of jewellery and one of luxury jewellery watches exhibited their collections.

The Managing Director of Regnier Paris, Mr Phillippe Barro, told Business Line here that people here have shown zest in the purchase of luxury goods as "they are used to buying diamond and jewellery". This offers "great potential". He said that his objective here was to find a distributor or even a partner and to build up a strong customer base in India. Mr Barro was quite satisfied with the response to the display of French collections in the capital. "People liked our products. We are using our French style diamond designs in Swiss watches which are known for their quality," he said.

On pricing of luxury Regnier watches for the Indian market, he said, "Our target here is to attract the middle class people. Though we have been selling watches in China for over a year, there is a big difference between India and China as the latter is not at the moment a diamond market, while Indians prefer diamond-studded watches. The value of our product will be higher in India than China".

He said with a minimum 3-year guarantee, Regnier watches are sold in the price range from 150-1,000 (Rs 8,750- Rs 58,365) with diamond studs. The General Manager of another French studded-jewellery firm Marchak, Mr Alain Neplaz, and its CEO, Ms Dominique de Blanchard, told Business Line that, "Marchak is a brand specialising in exclusive pieces. Our goal is to find someone who could rope in wealthy people and with this firm or person, we could have a special agency relationship for sale and exhibition of out products." They said their studded-jewellery ranged from 4,000 to the one displayed at the JCK fair that costs 100,000. According to them, one per cent of the India population has the means to purchase Marchak high-end jewellery that are designer products.

"We have more chances in India than China for our products as Indians are more receptive to creativity and new stuff from Europe, especially from France," Mr Neplaz said. The director of another luxury watchmaker Navitec, Mr David Attias, said his company specialised in navigation instruments as his firm had transformed its chronographs for navigation into designer pieces, giving birth to "Tango Charlie" - a line of watches specially designed for both aviators and the general public. Having established sales in Dubai and Hong Kong, Mr Attias said that India was on the priority list. The watches are priced in the range of 1650-4200 apiece, he added.

More Stories on : Outlook | Gems & Jewellery | Watches & Accessories

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French jewellery, luxury watch makers eyeing India