Watch distributors in India imported luxury watches worth Swiss franc 187.6 million ($200 million) last year, rising from Swiss franc 97 million in 2020.
Imports have grown 19% over 2021. With this, India has surpassed countries such as Kuwait, Ireland, Bahrain, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, and Malaysia in luxury watch imports.
Despite the sharp increase, the waiting period for some of the most desirable watches, including Rolex and Patek Philippe, is still about six months. And while a lot of this demand is said to be fuelled by an artificial shortage being created by luxury brands themselves, several collectors accept that they never stopped buying luxury watches during the pandemic.
Ashok Goel, founder of Delhi-based Luxury Time Pvt. Ltd, a distributor of brands such as Hublot, Tag Heuer, Zenith and Bomberg, confirmed the trend is true for their products as well. The company, he said, is reporting 50% more business than it did in 2019 and 250% more business than it did in 2020.
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