Arun Malhotra, one of the two exclusive distributors in India, for Franck Muller luxury watches is confident that he'll manage to sell 100 watches in three years. With a host of international players jockeying for marquee position in retailing luxury watches, Malhotra has his work cut out for him.

The Franck Muller watches, available in India, start from Rs 200,000 and touch Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million). An industry watcher says that the size of the market for watches priced above Rs 10,000 is around Rs 500-600 crore (Rs 5-6 billion), while those above Rs 100,000 (what is known as the luxury watch segment) is about Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion).

While the former is growing at 20 per cent a year, the latter's growth is 15 per cent. Retail industry sources say that the Indian market absorbs nearly 40 million pieces of premium and luxury watches a year.

While a major segment of this is taken up by brands in the lower price brackets, watches above Rs 10,000 has a market of 120,000 and the luxury ones sell about 2,500 pieces.

At the moment the Indian market is flooded with premium brands. Connoisseurs, with bulging wallets, can take their pick from Patek Philippe, A Lange & Sohne, Bvlgari, Cartier and Harry Winston to name just a few.

Says Philippe R Pluss, agent, Franck Muller, and in charge of business in south Asia: "We are not looking at mass marketing our product. In fact we do not consider our watches as products. They are pieces of art." He goes on to add that though the market for luxury watches in India is small, it is growing steadily.

Pluss says that Franck Muller makes only 35,000 watches annually and is aimed at an extremely niche consumer. Malhotra says that there is no question of using the mass media to market his product. Instead he, like other luxury watch distributors, holds select preview for his clients.

Another way to reach to his target consumer is to felicitate a public figure. Earlier this month Franck Muller presented one of its watches to actor Preity Zinta at an exclusive social do in Delhi.

"Over the last year we have been promoting the brand very subtly through these previews and social dos. That will continue to be our vehicle in the near future," says Malhotra.