2024 was a landmark year for Titan. With the launch of the second edition of its cosmos-inspired Stellar collection; the unveiling of Titan Unity Automatic, a collaborative watch with legendary Indian cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma; and two of its watches - the Edge UltraSlim and the Edge Squircle - getting long-listed in the ‘Challenge’ and ‘Time Only’ categories respectively of the 2024 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), there was a lot excitement at the brand. To add to that, 2024 was the year Titan turned 40. The anniversary celebrations last month were marked by the launch of four special watches, all a part of its 1984 Commemorative Collection.
These included the vintage-inspired Classique (quartz, and in two sizes of 40mm and 34mm) and Multifunction, a quartz annual calendar with moonphase (in 40mm and 34mm as well). The former, limited to a 1000 pieces, reimagines the very first cases crafted by Titan (a three-part construction) and features an 18K rose gold-plated stainless steel case, a silver white lacquered dial, and rose gold-plated indexes, while the latter, limited to 900 pieces, features faceted indexes, blue hour and minute hands, and deep red subdial hands where the three sub-dials are encircled by a diamond-cut rose gold-plated ring.
Giving an idea of the direction the brand is set to take in the coming years – into the high-watchmaking and premium category that targets collectors and watch enthusiasts - Titan unveiled the 18K rose gold Mechanical with the iconic in-house Slim Edge Mechanical Calibre 903, a 2.2mm hand-wound movement with 42 hours of power reserve. The 38mm watch, of which there are 80 pieces, features contoured lugs and a slim bezel, while the dial is silver-white lacquered and has polished hour indexes and golden dotted minute markings. Lastly, the piece de resistance of the Commemorative collection is the Flying Tourbillon watch featuring the in-house 7TH1 Calibre, the first in-house tourbillon movement by not just Titan, but by any Indian brand. Its tourbillon bridge has been fashioned to represent Titan’s T, and also serves as a seconds hand. The 44mm 18K rose gold watch has a dial that features hand-done guilloche, with a Peacock blue off-centre dial featuring a ‘flinque’ guilloche pattern. The movement, visible via the caseback's sapphire glass, displays finishes like perlage, Côte de Genève, spiral satin, and circular satin. This calibre boasts a frequency of 4Hz and a power reserve of 36 hours. The caseback is also engraved with the limited edition's number, and ‘INDIA’ at the 6 o'clock position.
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To highlight the brand's 40-year journey, all the watches have been engraved with the original ‘Tau’ Titan logo.
Given the eventful year, and the 40th anniversary releases, WatchTime India sat down with Suparna Mitra, CEO, Watches & Wearables, Titan Company Ltd, and Kalpana Rangamani, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Premium and Luxury Watches, to understand more about the development of the watches and where the brand is headed to in the coming years.
WatchTime India: 2024 was the 40th anniversary of Titan. What was the year like, for the brand?
Suparna Mitra: Great, outstanding in terms of business, there was a great amount of innovation, and a lot of path-breaking launches. And there was success across different price points, and different brands.
WTI: Can you talk a little bit about the development of the new pieces?
Kalpana Rangamani: We’ve called our collection the 1984 Commemorative Collection and it's more than just a name. It's actually because we have 1984 watches in this limited collection. A part of the collection is really a homage to the past. So they are reissues, reimaginations of some of our best-sellers. And there is one watch, of course, which is very special, which is our tribute to the future. So it's really forward-looking more than looking at the past 40 years. The first watch is what we call the Classique. It was stunning when it was launched, and continues to be stunning for good reason. I think it was one of our first best-sellers, so a lot of old-timers will recognise it. The watch number 111 and 142 – these are the original Classiques, and so that's a beautiful reissue. It's contemporized for size, beautiful dials, has a huge upgrade on materials. It is rose-gold-plated stainless steel, sapphire glass - but is in keeping the spirit of the original, which was stunner and a best-seller even then. The larger size for men is available for Rs 25,000, and a smaller size, for women, for Rs 21,000. This is limited to 1000 pieces.
The second watch is actually a reimagination of the first multifunction watch that Titan launched. I am told that when it was launched it was huge news and when you see the watch, you will see that it is not surprising at all - it is so beautiful. A lot of collectors even today ask for that watch. Multifunction is a stunning reissue, and again in two sizes for men and women, again upgraded for overall look, feel, and material. The Multifunction is limited to 900 units.
The third is the gold Mechanical, limited to 80 pieces. We launched the Slim Mechanical in 2021, and that was really building on our Edge platform. So we had always had Edge, which was a slim quartz platform, and in 2021 we launched the Slim Edge Mechanical. So this is building on the Slim Edge Mechanical platform. It’s made in 18K gold, in-house mechanical movement.
And then we have the star of the show. The dial is a peacock blue, because, why not - we're celebrating the colours of India! And it's a beautiful, stunning dial design because I think it allows you to simultaneously appreciate the guilloche as well as the tourbillon. And I think most people would look at it and say, "This is Titan". It’s been in the works for 2.5 years and the movement is all developed in house. It’s made in 18K rose gold, has an exhibition caseback, beautiful finishes on the movement. And of course, there is the guilloche on the dial, alligator strap, and it’s only 4 pieces. It's all heart.
WTI: How does one acquire it?
KR: Of course, you can't just walk into a store and get it. But yes, through our network of stores. Our customers, plus a lot of new customers, have suddenly emerged, saying, "Wow, this is Titan in a new light". And this is fantastic because we've always dreamt about an Indian brand that would do a tourbillon and this beautiful 40 years presented itself as an opportunity for us to do this.
WTI: Suparna, which of Titan’s milestones do you personally love?
SM: I'm not saying it because it is today, but it is today. You go back, you ask people who've been in Titan in the early 90s, and it was a given that one day we would make a mechanical watch. But that we would make a tourbillon? It's all put together by us, it's the highest quality. It's goosebumps.
WTI: Kalpana, what do you consider as Titan's milestones in this 40-year-long journey?
KR: I have a dramatically different answer from Suparna's. I genuinely believe that I can walk out in this country and ask almost any single person and they would have a memory linked to a Titan. So for example, today, I thought about what what should I wear, and the watch I'm wearing is the first watch that my husband bought for me after we got married. It is 24 years old. And I'm sure every person I know will have a story about Titan. It'll be the first watch, it'll be the watch they got in Class 10, the watch they got when they started going to college, a wedding present, a lot of anniversaries and milestones etc. So I really think it's very difficult to pick a milestone because I would like to believe everybody has a milestone which has a Titan in it.
WTI: Watch culture in India is also changing. People are collecting watches, looking at watches in a different way. It's not just an accessory anymore, but something serious. Does that impact how Titan makes watches across the board?
SM: We've been doing this for a long time. It's just now that there are lots of takers. This is nothing new. Starting with Raga, the city collections, so many limited editions. We did one for Bombay after 26/11. One of it went to charity, for the people who had suffered. We've done a Bengal collection, a Tamil Nadu collection, a Punjab collection. I have an Assam watch, which I was wearing yesterday. We have been listening to our consumers and bringing out a lot of stuff. Maybe it was not so publicised, and maybe the interest in watches also is now heightened and it will get stronger. It also says something about a nation. Every nation has a phase and era when these passions become prominent and people have both the leisure for cultivating the passion, as well as the money.
WTI: But, like with the Rakesh Sharma edition that was just launched, the stories associated with these watches have deep resonance, right?
KR: Yes, so who is going to tell the stories that tug at our heartstrings, right? Who's going to tell India’s stories? If not us, then who?
WTI: Suparna, when you took on the role of CEO, what was the vision that you had for Titan?
SM: There was no vision. The first month was COVID. My boss, who doesn't live very far from my house, came cycling because we weren't allowed to drive any more, wearing a mask. And we stood so far apart, and he said congratulations. There was zero sales, zero production. So the vision was just to stay alive. It was dark days. People wrote off watches in general and us in particular.
WTI: How did you want to lead the brand then?
SM: We used those tough times, when nothing was happening, to reimagine everything and basically committed ourselves to dream big. It's like you have nothing to lose and everything to gain because you already lost everything, right? And then we said let's do big things.
WTI: What's next?
KR: This is just the beginning of the next 40 years.
Images: Courtesy Titan
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