Titan bets big on luxury as watch sales above ₹25,000 double YoY

Titan Company’s watches division is aggressively steering its focus toward the premium and luxury segments—a strategic move driven by rising income levels and growing consumer appetite for exclusive, high-value products in India.

Kuruvilla Markose, CEO of Titan’s Watches and Wearables division, said this premiumization journey is a direct response to the changing Indian consumer. “The premiumization journey itself is in response to how the country is changing. With rising incomes, people are looking for products that are special and have stories,” he noted.

The company is segmenting the market into distinct tiers of luxury to capture a wider range of high-end consumers. The watches division is witnessing explosive growth in the upper segments, with volumes for watches priced above ₹25,000 doubling year-on-year. Titan has even raised the base price of its watches to ₹3,000, marking a clear shift from its traditional positioning.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Markose outlined Titan’s new market segmentation:

• Mid-Market: Watches below ₹10,000


• Premium End: Above mid-market


• Accessible Luxury: Above premium end


• Aspirational Luxury: Above accessible luxury


• Absolute Luxury: The top tier

He said new launches are purposefully designed for these elevated spaces. Titan has already made inroads into ‘Absolute Luxury’ with the Nebula Jalsa, a limited-edition flying tourbillon priced at ₹40.5 lakh, blending haute horology with Indian miniature art. Jalsa was also Titan’s official entry to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) 2025, with dials hand-painted by Padma Shri awardee Shakir Ali.

More recently, the Stellar 3.0 collection marked another step in this premium direction—featuring horological complexity and innovative materials to justify higher price points. The collection spans the premium and accessible luxury segments, with prices between ₹96,000 and ₹1.8 lakh.

Its highlights include:

• The Stellar Three Wandering Hour – India’s first of its kind, priced at ₹1.8 lakh


• The Ice Meteorite Dial – featuring a 120,000-year-old meteorite, priced at ₹1.4 lakh


• The Aurora Kalem – inspired by the Northern Lights, priced at ₹96,000

“The most exciting is the Wandering Hour, which is India’s first. Nobody else in India has ever made one before. Who wouldn’t want to own one of the 500 pieces?” Markose said, positioning it as a collector’s item in the accessible luxury space.

Markose, who recently took charge as CEO after heading Titan’s international business, said his immediate priorities include sustaining growth in the core analog segment, expanding premium offerings, reviving smartwatches, and boosting international sales.

“Keep the mainline analog business—our bread and butter—growing at 20% plus. Expanding premium launches like Stellar and our ultra-slim range will be another key focus,” he said.

On smartwatches, he added that Titan aims to revive the category by emphasizing functionality and building an ecosystem. “The idea is to make smartwatches look as exciting as analog watches,” he said.

Internationally, Titan plans to leverage its premium lines, including Stellar, for global expansion. “We see premiumization and products like Stellar being received extremely well internationally,” Markose said.

According to Titan’s Q2 update, the watches division grew 12% YoY, led by 17% growth in the analog segment. Smart wearables, however, declined 23% YoY, mirroring the broader industry slowdown. The division added 15 new stores during the quarter—five Titan World, seven Helios, and three Fastrack outlets.