The Rs 709 crore Titan Industries Limited (TIL), a joint venture between the Tata group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco), has drawn up plans to tap the absolute top-end of the watch market. It is learnt that the company is already carrying on extensive research in this segment. "We are exploring the possibility of filling up the gap in the super premium segment," says Bijou Kurien, TIL's vice president (sales and marketing).

He adds that at present only Swiss brands have a presence in this niche. "There is no Indian brand present in this segment while the demand in this segment has shown a considerable increase, we want to position it against super premium watch brands," says Kurien. TIL, however, has its Nebula range for both men and women priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 32,000. The new range is expected to be higher priced than the Nebula range.

In fact the company's focus would be on niche segments to grow the market.

By planning to launch a brand in the super premium category, Titan perhaps hopes to be present across all categories. It launched Sonata in 1999, for the lower and mid segment consumers and the thrust is to increase ownership level through the brand. At the other end of the spectrum are its jewellery watches under Tanishq brand. Meanwhile, it also has brands like Dash and Fastrack targeted towards children and youth respectively.