Brand Watches

Timex, the country’s second largest watch brand, is focusing on selling watches only in the top end of the market. The company has already phased out all the products below Rs 1,000 price point to boost its bottom line.

The company is also bullish on tapping the new media for products promotion amongst the youngsters. Salil Sadanandan, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, Timex said, “By the year-end or early next year, the company would cut down on products below Rs 1,000 price points.

Initially, the company saw a dent in volumes but it has managed to increase the average price points, for better realisations.” Analysts estimate that the company’s focus on the mid and premium segment would enable it to improve average realisations, increase sales and expand margins.

During the first quarter of this financial year, Timex registered a net profit of Rs 3.8 crore compared with Rs 8.9 lakh for the corresponding period last year. Sadanandan mentioned that Timex is stimulating impulse buying by strategically locating the products in the retail space.

For instance, the company does not display watches below Rs 1000 in the Time Factory. In the long run, the company expects the core business to come from price points between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5000. He said, “There is a need to have control over retail as it has emerged as the biggest marketing medium.”

It plans to open about 150 Time Factory stores by the next year. Similarly, Timex has identified new media as one of the effective communicating mediums with the customers. Sadanandan said, “The increasing cost and fragmentation of the conventional communication tools has made new media a lucrative option.

From the consumer’s perspective companies have to adopt to the emerging mediums as they are the deciding factor in the brand connect.”

The G-Shock Mudman features shock resistant and mud resistant buttons as standard so you can enter any adventure race knowing that you’ll still be able to tell the time at the other end.

Aside from the watch the Mudman features the usual G-Shock options including World Time, Double Stopwatch, Countdown Timer and 5 multi alarms.

Those worried about losing it mid race or exercise needn’t, the watch features a dual catch on the strap for double protection.

Not as big as some of the G-Shock models the only complaint we have is the electro-luminescent backlight which will, for some, make the display (and time) hard to read.

In real terms what this means, is that rather than having the numbers black on white, it’s white on black. There is a backlight, but you still want to clearly see what it going on without having to press a button - that’s what those binary watches are for.

When it comes to personal electronic devices and neat gadgetry, it’s hard to beat the long track record of Japan’s Casio Computer Company, which has always found ways to squeeze more miniature functions into wristwatches than seems possible.
So it is with the new Pathfinder model which is geared to outdoor and weather aficionados.

This neat watch, officially known as the Pathfinder PAW1300T-7V, works as a digital compass, barometer, thermometer and altimeter. Oh yeah, it also tells time. Flawlessly, because of a technology it calls Waveceptor Atomic Timekeeping.

Somehow, those Casio engineers and designers have figured out a way to run this thing through solar power and through a super miniature antenna built right into the watch, it makes radio contact with the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology , and its military counterpart, the U. S. Naval Observatory.

Once you set the time zone the watch automatically adjusts itself several times a day with the Naval Observatory signal. That means when we here in Michigan go off Daylight Savings Time on Nov. 4, the watch will automatically fall back an hour.

Cost is $300 for a watch with a heavy black or green resin band or $350 for a titanium band. More info can be found at pathfinder.casio.com

Sports watches are a great training aid, but what about getting them to do something else, like controlling your iPod? We get out on the track with the new iControl from Timex. Should you tune-in or change the channel? Read on to find out.

Based on the company’s Ironman watch, the iControl adds, with the help of a dongle, Play, Pause, Track skip and volume controls to your watch so you can control your iPod even if it’s out of sight.

Two new dedicated buttons add the iPod control features, but Timex has made sure that the watch features have remained untouched.

There is still a plethora of stopwatches, spilt times, and features such as a 50-lap memory recall chronograph, the ability to store training logs, two interval timers for speed and endurance training, three alarms and 100m water resistance alongside its INDIGLO night light included for sports fans.

Connection is achieved using a Timex branded Belkin wireless dongle and the unit plugs into your dock connector on your iPod, and then allows you to control the MP3 player wireless via your watch.

Aside from the shuffle (it lacks the dock connector), the dongle will work with all the current iPod models including the newly announced nano, classic, touch and the even the iPhone when in flight mode. We tested our unit on an iPod 5th Gen video and a nano.

In practice and the system is incredibly easy to use, turning the unit on instantly pairs the two units and from there away you go saving you messing around with the iPod mid-run.

The results also mean you can lose it in a pocket, shoulder strap, or backpack.

Pressing the dedicated keys on the watch give you the required response and the only things you can’t do is access menu screens, or see the name of the track on the watch screen.