The Hindu : Business : Swiss watch unit planned in State

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Friday, Sep 01, 2006

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Swiss watch unit planned in State

Special Correspondent

The company would invest Rs.100 crore in the project

KOCHI: Chancellor Timepieces S.A., a Swiss watch manufacturer, plans to set up a manufacturing facility in the State.

The company would invest Rs.100 crore in the project. It would also set up a horology engineering college where watch design, manufacture and marketing would be taught.

It would be the first such college in India, said Chancellor group president and chief executive officer C.C. Alexander at a news conference here on Tuesday.

There was a booming market for watches in the country. The demand for high-end brands was leap-frogging because of the higher disposable incomes of the well-off sections, for whom watches were a fashion statement, the Kerala-born Mr. Alexander said.

Chancellor used to make only exclusive diamond-and-gold-studded watches, but was now catering to a wider market by lowering the price range.

The manufacturing unit would be a fully Indian company and would attract investment by Indians.

The company would produce watches mainly for the Indian subcontinent.

Mr. Alexander told The Hindu that the project was still on the drawing board, but he hoped production would start in two years. The target was to produce 5,000 watches a day. The manufacturing facility and the horology college would require nearly 40 acres of land, but the location was yet to be determined.

Certain components and technology would be imported from Switzerland. The company would offer jobs to nearly 1,500 persons.

The horology college would facilitate manufacture of new-design watches. Horology courses were at present offered by very few educational institutions in Switzerland, Russia and the United States. Chancellor would employ those trained at the proposed college.

The company carried out a market survey and found that only five per cent of the people wore watches, thus revealing a large future market.

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