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Titan launches 'world's slimmest watch'

Titan Industries Ltd, India's leading watchmaker, on Thursday launched what it said was the world's slimmest watch in a bid to boost its image and revenue in a competitive market hit by a demand slump.

Company officials told a news conference that watches in the Titan Edge series were just 3.5 millimetres thick, compared with the 3.95 mm thickness of the Swiss Swatch group's Skin range, which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

They said Titan would now apply for a Guinness listing.

"The slimmer the watch, the slimmer the movement, the better the technical prowess," said Bijou Kurien, chief operating officer of the watch division of Titan, which also makes branded jewellery.

With a movement of 1.15 mm inside, the Edge range is aimed at well-heeled Indians and hopes to stand out as sleek but affordable amid 30 global brands that have entered India after the government lowered barriers to consumer goods imports.

The watches, which come in 13 variations, are priced at Rs 4,495-4,995, and Titan would also seek an overseas market for them, company officials said.

Kurien said Titan aimed for Rs 150 million in revenue from the Edge range in the first year, which would modestly boost total revenue to about Rs 7.1 billion in the year ended March 2001.

Titan holds a 50 per cent market share in the organised sector, representing large firms, in a domestic watch industry increasingly crowded with small and nimble players.

Watches accounted for 70 per cent of Titan's revenue, and of this, about nine per cent came from exports, Kurien said.

Titan hopes to reap higher volumes and margins with value-added engineering and savvy design and marketing, company officials said.

It sells watches that cost Rs 400 for first-time rural buyers to gold-plated ones priced around Rs 36,000 for the affluent.

Titan's shares closed down 3.45 per cent at Rs 53.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, whose benchmark index shed nearly two per cent amid fears that India could go to war with Pakistan.

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