Bangalore, Oct. 24 With a rising demand for high-end watches in the country, luxury watch brands are eying India as a lucrative market.

Indian consumers are keen to buy luxury watches, a life style statement for many.

For watchmakers, the 12 billion dollars high-end watches market offers lucrative options.

A sign of growing importance of the Indian market, luxury Swiss watch brand Raymond Weil is setting up an Indian subsidiary, Raymond Weil India Pvt. Ltd.

Oliver Bernheim, CEO and President, Raymond Weil Watches says that Indians today are evincing interest in the watches with a 'global' appeal.

"Indian end consumers are very innovative today. They want to see nuances, they want to be global, they want to see a watch that would fit to their waist. So, I love Indian end consumer because he is open for fresh products for nuance. It is a market that doesn't stop being interested by development," said Oliver Bernheim, CEO and President, Raymond Weil Watches.

The company expects India to contribute 7 percent to the company's global sales by 2010 end.

Market insiders opine that awareness of Indian consumer is spurring the demand.

"Indian consumers are very very aware of International luxury and premium brands. Many Indians travel abroad today. Many luxury and premium brands also advertise in India so brands like Raymond Weil, Chico, Citizen, Fossil, Casio are very well known to Indian consumer today," said Harish Bhatt, COO, Titan Watches.

According to experts, the luxury watch market has been impacted by the global slowdown.(ANI)