First and foremost, how are you approaching the so-called meltdown?

At TAG Heuer I am looking at whom I am selling to. My target group is the
business community, the executive class, excluding the ultra rich. TAG Heuer,
even during the great times, offered to wait and tried to stick to the value-formoney policy. We never took advantage of easy times to boost our prices artificially. Last year we launched the Grand Carrera for about Rs 2 lakhs in retail price. At the same time we renewed a lot of the Formula One brand which
starts at Rs 30,000 and this year again in Basel, we have additional news on the Formula One, but at the same price range. The product that we are introducing with Shah Rukh Khan is the best in the category, in the range of Rs 1,50,000. We offer at each price point, the best value-for-money. My retailers tell me that my price is better. There is nothing better than this watch for Rs 1.75 lakhs. There is nothing better than the Formula One at Rs 30,000 which is an advantage as people are a bit more cautious about spending. If they can get the latest model at the best price, accompanied with very good customer service, it’s reassuring. Look at the new Carrera; it’s been there for 40 years in the market, it’s better than ever and costs Rs 1.75 lakhs.

How was 2008 and what are your forecasts for 2009?

2008 was good even though there were really two different parts; the third
semester was very much in line with 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007. I am presently
talking about Europe and will come to India later. The second half, that is
October onwards, was more difficult because of the slowdown in USA and
US-related markets, including Latin America. This acceleration of slowdown
has made the second half much tougher than the first half. So all in all, it was a
good year but if I look and project this on 2009, it will surely be a challenge.
I see no reason why short-term situation will improve much in the US. It might
stabilise but it won’t boom back rapidly to 2007-08 levels.

Do you foresee a negative or a positive growth?

I believe that even if we do a good job in US this year we are unlikely to sell
the way we did last year. It will not be reasonable to believe that we will grow.

Talking to different CEOs I realised that everyone is returning to the core
values of the brand. I also feel that somewhere down the line there will be
some realignment in geography because USA and Japan, the two biggest
markets, are more affected than the rest. This is even more relevant for
TAG, as these are huge markets for you.

At TAG Heuer, we stick to the basics; we never did fancy shapes or too much of bling. We were always steady. Last year we marketed Grand Carrera, Monaco, F1 Aquaracer, etc. We have been doing this for 40-60 years. We have a close association with some of the best car brands like Mercedes or Audi, to Formula 1 with McLaren which won the world championship with Lewis Hamilton… we have stuck to our basics.

You have invested a lot in the lines over the years.

We did lot of streamlining in the 1990s to come to these five lines which are really cemented into our roadmap. We won’t change these lines. They will be improved, like Porsche does for the 911. Our communication is very clear: ‘What are you made of?’ Since 2000 we have had the same ambassadors: Tiger Woods, SRK and Maria Sharapova. Brad Pitt made way for Leonardo DiCaprio. Apart from Lewis Hamilton, we have Räikkönen from Ferrari. So in the racing part, we have two best drivers in the world, one from McLaren and the other from Ferrari. We have Bollywood represented by SRK, Hollywood by Leonardo, golf by Tiger Woods and tennis by Sharapova.