As Apple unveiled its next smart watch in California last week, with waterproof and built in GPS function, a bunch of Indian watchmakers attending the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair rued how they had lost out wrists to unexpected competition.

“Who would have thought that a day would come when Rolex is the world’s Number 1 watch brand and Apple the Number Two,” said Manisha Sangani, Director and CEO of Priority Marketing, the company behind the Aspen brand of watches. At the Apple event, a slide that caught attention was that ranked on worldwide sales (revenues) in 2015, Apple was just behind Rolex and ahead of players like Fossil and Omega.

Ruing that watchmakers were losing out wrists to tech giants, even if calling a wearable a watch was an euphemism, Sangani pointed to her own wrist – she was sported an eye-catching trendy yellow connected watch from German brand Blinkked, which she said she was testing to see if she could bring to the India market, even as she sought buyer interest for her affordable luxury fashion watch brand Aspen at the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair.

For the more than 20,000 buyers at the Fair, which was hosting its 35th edition, the big attraction this year was the new OEM Smart Watches Zone, where exhibitors were showcasing wearable tech.

Several European buyers could be seen flocking to the Smart Watch arena. Franck Boudrie, President of Noveaux Bijoutiers, representing 170 retailers from France, forecast that half of the French population would be using smart watches in the next five to 10 years.

Interestingly, here in the Smart Watch zone, amidst the tech companies showcasing wearable devices that could measure heart rate and blood pressure, there were also old fashioned watchmakers too, showcasing traditional time pieces to which they had added smart features. Hong Kong-based Montrichard, for instance, had made the switch – moving from traditional watches to light smart watches.

Changing times

Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s (HKTDC) Executive Director Benjamin Chau felt we could soon be seeing a plethora of varieties introduced in the smart watches market.

“Since the smart and light smart watch market is booming, more and more traditional watch companies are seeking to gain a share in the sector,” he noted.

Sangani felt that trend would be seen in India too. Pointing to the robust growth of the wearable tech market in India, she said watchmakers would need to add smart features to not lose further ground to tech players, or change strategy and focus more on style and jewellery.

She pushes her own brand Aspen now as a dial-and-strap talker, rather than a time keeper. “We don’t sell time, but we sell a feel good factor on the wrist,” she said.

Sangani said focusing on jewellery, rather than time piece, was a good strategy as globally watches are 30 per cent of the jewellery market. But in India, barely one to 2 per cent of the jewellery sector are watches. “India’s ₹6,000-crore watch industry is quite under-penetrated in the jewellery segment,” she noted. According to International Data Corporation’s recent report, wearable market in India clocked over 400,000 units in first quarter of 2016, driven largely by fitness bands.

Mumbai based Jitendra Nagpal, Director of Designer Watches, who was showcasing his occasion wear watch brands D’signer and Escort at the fair, also talked about how Smart Watches were eating into traditional watches pie. Although buoyed at the buyer interest for his brands from African and West Asian buyers, he said, “we may do smart watches soon”.

As the fair drew to a close, HKTDC’s survey of delegates at the exhibition also showed a clear trend towards smart watches. It interviewed 834 buyers and exhibitors, and 54 per cent of those surveyed felt that when it came to product development strategies for 2017, watches that are ‘interactable’ with smart devices would be most prevalent, while only 39 per cent voted for collections that align with seasonal fashion trends and 24 per cent for wearable technology with time functions.

The writer was in Hong Kong attending the Watch and Clock Fair, at the invitation of the HKTDC.

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