Marc Aeschbacher and Chitra Subramaniam-Duella, owners of BorgeauD, a Swiss company mentored by TCS’s Subramaniam Ramadorai, tell Anoothi Vishal about their Raahu Kaal watch.
A watch that will tell you the Raahu Kaal... explain.
BorgeauD watches has developed the first Swiss watch that incorporates aspects of the Indian calendar. The new collection is called La Collection Gravitas and its first feature is a daily 90-minute segment that is called the Raahu period which is generally avoided for taking important decisions or starting new ventures. The watch invites people to take the necessary time to arrive at decisions based on reason and reflection. In a normal watch, calculations centre around hours, minutes and seconds. In our watches, it is a seven-day cycle that forms the basis of the calculations. This is a global first in terms of research and development and manufacturing of specific components.
Who are the intended customers?
Indians and the diaspora will obviously be a key segment but the watch has attracted a lot of attention in the West because of its approach to time.
The pricing...
The watches are priced between Rs1,00,000 and Rs 2,00,000.
Is it the wrong time for such a launch?
On the contrary, we believe the timing could not have been better. People are confused about the economy and BorgeauD helps the individual to reassess, rethink and resist the urge to make decisions without examining them
What are the plans ahead?
The next collection, unveiled at the 2009 Basel Watch and Jewellery fair, is a sports-chic one for men that will be in the market by May 2009. Our products will be in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
