Founded in 1881, Seiko is a Japanese, luxury watchmaker with a long-standing legacy in timekeeping and innovation, holding a unique position in a global industry that is commonly associated with the Swiss.
Operating in India since 2007, Seiko has 20 exclusive stores across the country, which retail the Seiko and Grand Seiko models; it has seven exclusive boutiques and 13 salons. As the brand recently opened its flagship store in Mumbai,Niladri Mazumder, president & COO, Seiko Watch India spoke to Forbes India about the ways in which Japanese craftsmanship and technology make Seiko products stand apart, the lack of luxury retail spaces in India and how people who buy Apple Watches almost invariably upgrade to luxury watches. Edited excerpts:
Q. How does a Japanese luxury watchmaker stand out in an industry that is often associated only with Swiss watches?
Niladri Mazumder: There is no doubt that whenever, over centuries, watches have been spoken about, Switzerland is linked with them. Other than that, the country that has made huge headway as far as watches are concerned, alongside craftsmanship and technology, is Japan; Seiko, in fact.
Our horological history spans the last 145-odd years: We were the first to make the wristwatch in Japan; in 1913, we were pioneers in mechanical watches; in 1969, Seiko invented and sold the first quartz watch—we did not patent it for obvious reasons, so that everyone could have access—that revolutionised the industry at that time; in 1975, we made a diving watch that could be used below 600 m; we also created the first sports watch.
Then, for the Grand Seiko, we created a new technology called Spring Drive, which was researched for 25 years; it's the only technology in the world where the seconds hand glides smoothly. Typically, in a watch where you see the seconds hand gliding, it's actually stopping every one-eighth of a second, which you see with the naked eye. But in case of our Spring Drive mechanism, it actually glides smoothly; the hand doesn’t stop. If you have a chronograph spring drive, it gives you the perfect analogue time.
So, we have many firsts in the industry. Where craftsmanship comes in is our high-end products, like the Seiko and the Grand Seiko.
Q. What role does Japanese craftsmanship play in this?
NM: What we have concentrated on over the years, from Japan and from Seiko, is that we don't follow the Swiss, we don’t mimic the Swiss. We create our own identity, which is a distinct Japanese identity. We take inspiration from Japan’s nature, history and culture. Japan is a developed country like any other, and it has a distinct identity of its own, distinct food type, culture and way of life. So, while it's one of the most modern and developed countries, it has a fantastic mix of modern technology and heritage, and that's what is imbibed in our products.
Rajesh Patel [Deputy general manager, marketing]: Craftsmanship is intrinsic to the people of Japan. When it comes to Grand Seiko, we call our master craftsmen ‘Takumis’, and the spirit of the Takumi lies in every Grand Seiko they hand-create. It's carefully crafted by our Takumis in both our studios in Japan, at Shizukuishi and Shiojiri, which make our high-end movements, which are the spring drive and mechanical watches. Our craftsmen are trained for many years, and on every fine detail; they can adjust parts to one-hundredth of a millimetre.
NM: We take pride in the way we make our dials. In our Presage series, we have specific artisanal collections, like the Arita Porcelain, which is famous Japanese porcelain. Some of our dials are made with Arita porcelain, some have the famous urushi lacquer. Most of the dials that have urushi lacquer are painstakingly hand-painted. This can only be done by the greatest artists because the space is so small. So Japanese craftsmanship, its unique culture and nature are reflected in each of our products.
Q. How do you combine these age-old traditions and the latest of technologies?
NM: As far as the aesthetics of the watch go, for example for our Grand Seiko and the case, we use Zaratsu polishing, which is not present in most other brands, except one or two. Design inspirations also come from the Katana: For the case, the angles at which light reflects off the surface are almost like the angles at which light reflects off a Katana. The play of light is important as far as our case and dials are concerned.
Where our dials are concerned, in 2021, we had a model called the White Birch, which won the award for the best men’s watch at the GPHG in Geneva, the Oscars of watchmaking. If you look at the dial, it basically looks like the bark of white birch trees. The inspiration for this came from the forests on Mount Iwate near our factory. We take inspiration from nature, like the dial in our range inspired by the cherry blossom, and another that is inspired by ripple on the waters of Lake Suwa.Inside, too, the watch is Japanese technology at its best; Rajesh told you about our spring dial technology, which we researched for 25 years before putting it in a watch. If you go online, and just type in three words, ‘Grand Seiko comparison’, you will find 95 or 96 of the comparison points with only one brand in the world, Rolex. And that's a great comparison to have because Grand Seiko is only 60 years old, and it is internationally available only for 12 years or so. So, in 12 years, if our brand is being favourably compared by connoisseurs, watch lovers and critiques against Rolex, we must be doing something right. Because Rolex is the quintessential luxury brand.
Q. It is relatively recently that you started selling the Grand Seiko outside of Japan.
NM: We started Grand Seiko 60 years ago, but we made it in limited numbers. It used to sell mostly in Japan and parts of East Asia, such as Taiwan and some of these regions. The production of Seiko was so high that Grand Seiko perhaps took a back seat, although in Japan the demand for Grand Seiko was huge. Also, at that point of time, only nine craftsmen could make a Grand Seiko watch. So, given the domestic demand, we never found it feasible to go and promote it elsewhere. It’s only when global demand became high that the company realised that there is an opportunity our products are missing out on.
It was only in 2017 that we started a separate brand, and in just eight years, we have reached this level of comparison with the best of other global brands. It gives us great pride.
Q. How would you describe a Grand Seiko customer in India?
NM: We are considered a brand that is quiet luxury. Our customer is someone who knows that the watch doesn't define them; they define the watch. It is for the self-assured customer, for watch connoisseurs and watch lovers. We started selling Grand Seiko in India seriously only five years ago. When we started, Grand Seiko customers were 40 to 60 years old; today they are 25 to 35 years old.
The Indian luxury consumer is one of the most well researched, educated and informed consumers in the world. Before they make their purchase, they do their homework. It's not rare for a lot of consumers to call us and say, “There's this watch coming out and this is a fabulous feature.” It’s so inspiring that people are immersed in our brand.
Q. How long does it take to make one Grand Seiko watch?
RP: The craftsmen in our Grand Seiko studios are highly trained. Typically, a craftsman is trained for six years even before he gets to polish the actual watch. We take about 13 days to make a Grand Seiko watch; everything is hand-crafted. But the most rigorous process is the testing process. Every watch brand in the world tests a watch in five different positions; Grand Seiko is the only company that tests for a sixth position. The sixth position is basically tested like this [places his watch on the table with the dial in a vertical position]. A lot of Japanese people, at their office desks, remove their watches and keep them like this.
Grand Seiko watches go through two months of rigorous testing process, during which they are tested at temperatures of more than 50 degree C and up to minus 15 degrees C, waterproofing and all of that. It takes about 90 days before a Grand Seiko is shipped out from the studio to a consumer or for sale.
Q. Which are your biggest markets?
NM: Japan is still our biggest market; I think every individual in Japan has multiple Seikos and Grand Seikos [laughs], otherwise it couldn't have been the case. The second largest market is the US; third-largest is Australia, and Europe, if we consider Europe to be a full market, but we don’t.
The luxury industry in India has boomed after the Covid-19 pandemic. So, whether it's affordable luxury or luxury, CAGR has been 55 percent across from 2021 to 2025. This year we are growing at around 50 percent for Grand Seiko, and 60 percent-plus for Seiko. Our growth is better than the rest of the competition by quite a bit Pre-Covid we had 15 national offices in the world, which took care of more than 100 countries; India was number 14. Then Russia went into a conflict with Ukraine, and we became number 13, beating Russia.
Today it gives me great pride to say that, with a complete Indian team working in India from 2016 onwards—we don't have a Japanese person sitting here—we are poised to be the number 4 in the world as far as Seiko sales are concerned, and the total number of national offices. Our objective is to challenge Australia, perhaps in a year or two, and come up to the third position.
Q. You have earlier spoken about the lack of luxury retail spaces in India. Also, Indians shop a lot for luxury items while travelling abroad. Given these realities, what is the role that standalone luxury retail spaces play in the sale of luxury goods?When a luxury brand is sold, it's not just about the product and price point. It's the experience of buying a luxury product. One of the reasons why people were buying luxury goods outside India was a dearth or a compromise of this experience. Today, if you look at an Ethos or Zimson store or our own exclusive stores, they are at par with any store in the world. We are now beginning to take leaps ahead in luxury retail on the experience front. All other brands, whether it is Rolex, or Panerai, or Omega, are also creating flagship stores in India.
Where malls are concerned, yes, even today, there's a huge dearth of malls in India. I'll give you a simple example. There are more Louis Vuitton or Burberry or Gucci stores on one street of Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui than in the whole country of India. Just seven to eight or 10 years ago, there were more Rolex watches displayed in one shop in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui than the whole of India. It is still limited.
A city like Delhi has one Louis Vuitton or Gucci story; Mumbai has the third or fourth highest number of billionaires in the world, and I don't know how many dollar millionaires… and there is one Jio World Plaza and one Palladium. That's it.
Abroad, you go to Rodeo Drive [Los Angeles], Orchard Road in Singapore, 5th Avenue [New York City], or Ginza [Tokyo]. Those are luxury zones. We don't have any street for luxury in India. One of these big luxury houses—whether it is Reliance or Tata or Aditya Birla—should take up a street in Mumbai and create a luxury zone, and give people that experience. Indian customers are taking flights to Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and London, and buying that luxury product.
Q. What position do luxury watches have among generations that have grown up with smartwatches?
NM: About a decade ago, people were afraid of what might happen to the watch sector with Apple Watch coming into the market. Today, you get an Apple Watch lookalike for about Rs3,000. Smartwatches are affecting the watchmakers which cater to the mass consumer. So, it's rare to see a Titan or Timex grow by 40 or 50 percent today because there is huge competition. Apple is today the largest watch manufacturer and seller in the world—it's higher than Rolex—and is definitely playing a role in the Rs80,000 to Rs1 lakh segment.
What we have realised through our research is after the entry of Apple Watch, the demand for luxury watches also has increased. Very surprising, isn't it? For instance, my friends in the IT sector in Bengaluru, initially never wore watches, and then they started wearing the Apple Watch. Once they started putting something on their wrists, they got accustomed to it. But soon they started getting bored of wearing the same watch, just like you get bored of wearing the same shoe or clothes. And then they wanted to shift to something that is above that price point, not below. And that's where the affordable luxury and luxury segments come in. So, the more people wear Apple Watches, the better it is for us.
First Published: Feb 06, 2026, 11:40
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