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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →India could become one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for Swiss watches, says Yashovardhan “Yasho” Saboo, chairman of Indian retailer Ethos Watches. That is Saboo’s outlook, not an independently established market forecast: the interview offers no named study validating its growth figures. His case rests on rising incomes, a wider pool of affluent buyers, a growing collector community and a shift toward organized retail.
Why Saboo sees India as a major watch-market opportunity
In a February 2024 interview with MONOCHROME, Saboo said India would “surely be among the fastest-growing markets for Swiss watches in the world.” He linked that expectation to anticipated income growth and the expansion of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth customer groups.
Saboo also compared India’s trajectory with China’s roughly 15–18 years earlier. That comparison is his interpretation, not a demonstrated equivalence between the two markets. He noted that India’s democratic decision-making can slow major economic changes because they involve discussion and negotiation.
He cited projected GDP growth of 6–8% for at least the coming decade. The interview does not name the underlying forecast or provide a method for that figure, so it should be read as Saboo’s stated outlook rather than a verified projection. The same applies to his claim that Titan had sold over 10 million watches: it is a figure he gave in the interview, not an independently checked result.
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How India’s watch retail changed, in Saboo’s account
Saboo described a transition from informal access to imported watches toward legal, professional retail. He said imported watches were not permitted until around 2000 and that Swiss watches had previously been available through smugglers. Ethos chose legal retail despite what he described as the grey market’s advantages in margin and convenience.
In his retrospective account, the period from 2005 to 2015 brought more malls, better-designed stores, customer-experience investments and professional staff. These developments made informal selling harder, and he says Swiss brands came to recognize the need to work through legitimate channels. He also described regulatory and tax changes between 2016 and 2020 as disruptive, followed by a more orderly market, and called 2020 and 2021 difficult years. These are Saboo’s recollections from the interview, not a separate history of Indian retail regulation.
Who is buying watches in India?
Saboo said more than 95% of watches sold in India go to local residents, with tourism-related watch retail representing a small share. The interview gives no underlying study or methodology for that percentage. In its 2024 context, Saboo described duty-free watch retail as concentrated in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. He said Ethos operated duty-free watch stores in New Delhi and had won a bid for a Bengaluru store it expected to open in the following months; those remarks do not establish the stores’ present status.
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He described several kinds of buyers rather than a single luxury-watch customer:
- Collectors from wealthy families, alongside collectors of varied ages and budgets. For one collector group, he gave a purchase range of USD 3,000 to USD 300,000.
- Young professionals buying a first or second luxury watch, often starting with established names before learning more about the broader market.
- People buying for special occasions, with wedding-related purchases an important reason for a first luxury watch.
Why he expects physical stores to remain important
Saboo sees the internet and social media as useful for telling stories and building interest in mechanical watches as collectibles. But he expects direct e-commerce to remain a small part of the overall business in India; this is his view, not a measured online-sales share.
His argument for stores is that complicated watches can benefit from explanation, while customers value relationships, the chance to handle a watch and a broad multi-brand selection. As he put it, “Customer relationships, customer experience and touch and feel will remain important.” The interview presents this as a retailer’s perspective on the role of stores, not a forecast supported by channel-sales data.
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Ethos’s priorities: watches first, with adjacent opportunities
Saboo said Ethos’s brand portfolio “almost wholly consists of watch brands” and that watches would remain its focus. He sees the greatest potential in premium and luxury watches in India over the next ten years. Store-by-store brand allocations, he said, depend on a city’s potential and are finalized with the relevant brand.
He also identified international branded jewellery as a possible complement in a large market he described as mainly served by traditional Indian jewellery brands. He expects that opportunity to develop over a longer horizon. Travel is another adjacent category: he pointed to Ethos’s partnership with RIMOWA. These examples indicate areas he said the company might explore, not a change away from its stated watch focus.
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Established names, independent watchmakers and collecting
In the interview, Saboo named Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Richard Mille, F.P. Journe and A. Lange & Söhne as prominent haute-horology brands not then present in India, and expected them to establish a presence. That is a statement about the market as he described it in 2024; the interview does not verify whether or when any later entered.
He also pointed to growing attention for independent watchmakers, citing collector discussion, auctions and the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. For collectors themselves, his advice was straightforward: buy what you like, wear the watch and enjoy engaging with it, its maker and other enthusiasts. He cautioned against making appreciation the primary reason for buying or keeping a watch locked away.
What this interview can—and cannot—establish
Saboo’s account offers a retailer’s view of why India may matter more to premium and luxury watch brands: local buyers, a developing collector base, rising affluence and more organized retail. It also explains why he expects physical stores and established watch brands to remain central to Ethos’s strategy.
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It does not independently establish that India is the fastest-growing Swiss-watch market, validate the GDP or local-resident sales figures, or provide a current directory of Ethos stores and represented brands. The source is Pascal Brandt’s interview, “India Will Surely Be Among The Fastest-Growing Markets,” Says Yasho Saboo, Chairman of Ethos Watches, published by MONOCHROME on 21 February 2024. Read the interview at MONOCHROME.
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