Swiss luxury watch brand Raymond Weil is assessing the regulatory environment in India to take a call on its expansion strategy and investments.

Olivier Bernheim, President and CEO, Raymond Weil SA, Geneva, has embarked on a tour to India. He will meet the company’s partners to get a first-hand understanding of the Government’s announcement on single- and multi-brand retail business.

During a visit to open a Raymond Weil boutique here, he said the country’s taxation norms and huge fluctuation of rupee versus dollar is impacting sales. Yet India is amongst the most promising countries for Raymond Weil. “It ranks 12th in terms of sales volumes and we expect this will be 5th by 2015,” he said.

“We have been in India since 1978 and were serving even clientele in Assam. Raymond Weil was the first luxury watch brand to make it big in India. In 2010, we decided to set up an Indian subsidiary to address the growing market. Since then there is no looking back. We have 55 outlets, including 6 boutiques,” he said.

Raymond Weil now plans to get into tier II and III cities as there is huge potential there. One of the important aspects for growth is the need for luxury malls in the country.

“We just don’t want to be in high streets as we prefer luxury malls,” Sebastian Lukose, Vice-President, Sales, said.

Asked why he was wearing two watches, Bernheim said he has to keep track of two time zones. Mechanical watches do not have dual-time option.

>rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in

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