Veeline to take swiss watch brand to 35 cities

Watch prices range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

Veeline Jewels & Watches Pvt Ltd, which introduced the Swiss-made Milleret jewellery watches in India earlier this year, plans to take the coveted its products to 35 cities in India by 2007-end.

Vinod Doshi, managing director of the Rs 80 crore Veeline Group, told reporters on the sidelines of a function to launch Milleret in the city that the market has been responding very warmly to the product range and the company has so far sold 70 pieces with prices ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

"We have been projecting the products as jewellery and not watches, and displaying them in exclusive jewellery showrooms only," Doshi said.

Milleret watches come in gold or silver casings with diamonds fitted on them. The company has so far introduced nine models "" two of them for men"" with 32 variants. Doshi said the company has brought in the Milleret range including 18-Forever, Round&Square, Anaconda, Gala Late Evening, La Pavee Black and White or Diva.

The company has brought in 22 pieces of the Milleret Squeleton limited edition out of the 50 made by its Biene, Switzerland-based principal. He added that the Veeline Group has been in the bullion business for many decades now and wants to capitalise on its relationship with the country's leading jewellery houses.

Milleret watches will be sold through jewellery house in Pune, PNG (P N Gadgil) Jewellers. Saurabh Gadgil, a director at PNG said the increasingly cosmopolitan city of Pune has always welcomed the latest in jewellery designs and patterns and the company will display the Milleret range in two showrooms in the city.

According to Doshi, Veeline has launched Milleret watches in 18 leading jewellery stores in India including five in Mumbai, three in Pune, two each in Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai, and one each in Surat, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Goa. The company plans to open 35 stores in all, by 2007-end, Doshi said.

Doshi said the luxury watches' segment in India is worth Rs 650 crore and is growing around 20 per cent annually. In quantitative terms the sale of watches is in this category is about 500 units, he said.

"With a sizeable spending power in the hands of the people in the 30-plus age group, the demand for high-value and exclusivity is on the rise," he added.