Titan, the story … and their watches are well known to most of us on the other side of 30.
We have all seen their rise, we have all proudly owned one or have gifted one or have received one as a gift at some point of time in our life.
But this is not the story of one such watch. This is the story of many such watches and how they kept slipping OFF!
Titan, admittedly you weren’t my first.
My first was this Timex – IRONMAN – back when most people hadn’t heard of Marvel or Robert Downey Jr.
This IS one of my most cherished ones and is still functional. Albeit quite beaten up.
(if anybody has any leads on acquiring an original case of this Timex, please drop in your source in the comments).
My first Titan was not actually a watch … it was a CLOCK!
From what I understand these were a limited number of pieces.
My first Titan did have an interesting story. I fancied the ‘design’ of a watch I saw on a poster in a movie theatre. I was barely 18 then. The watch was by a lesser known brand (back then) called Cizer.
I showed the poster to my Dad and told him, I am ready to move up from a digital watch to this beautiful analogue piece.
He looked at me and said – ‘Design is nice, but if you must buy a watch – buy Titan.’
And the very next day he took me to the World of Titan – a new world indeed – and I couldn’t believe it – they DID have the exact design in a better finish, cleaner look and at a very reasonable price.
It was love at first sight …
This is still one of my favourites.
Since then for almost 2 decades my wrist has been adorned ONLY by a Titan.
Tycoon, Obaku, Octane, HTSE, Edge many many variants… many different models.
Each brought with it a unique joy, many memories and a solid reliability.
Given my affinity to new ‘tech’ – it was but natural that I started exploring the world of wearables right from the original Xiaomi Mi Band and I even owned the long-forgotten Micromax Yu band back then! (A blog post from way back, comparing the two ,way back in 2011 I might add, which amassed more than a 1000 hits back then!)
But, but – these would ALWAYS be on the other wrist. None of them could take the place of my Titan.
As much as I enjoyed the ‘connectivity’ and notifications – I am on my 6th such band now – I could never bring myself to wear a device which – is my primary source of TIME – needs to be ‘charged’.
I just simply abhor the feeling of lifting my wrist and
– pressing a button to see the time
– worse, finding a blank black screen since the device is out of juice.
Say what you will, most ‘smartwatches’ today are worn with the ‘power saving’ mode on, which means you have to interact with it in some fixed way (press a button, double-tap, lift to wake etc.) to just be able to see the TIME !
Unacceptable!
I need that at a glance.
But, the penetration and utility of these wearables are unparalleled. And their penetration has been rapid, to say the least.
From kids, to Swiggy / Uber delivery guys to even some senior citizens, the likes of Xiaomi Mi Band and Huawei Honor Band have become the default ‘timepiece’ / wrist jewellery – which DOES tell them the time and some more!
I have to be honest, I have been wanting a good smart watch since more than 2 years now.
But given my conundrum I find myself vying for a good Analogue-Digital mix/fusion solution.
One of my favourites in this variant is the Withings Steel HR (better known as the Nokia Steel HR in some markets). Yes, you read that right – Nokia. They bought over Withings and then sold it too.
What a beautiful timepiece. Smart yet suave. Modern yet rooted in retro.
Even if you run out of ‘juice’, it will still tell the time!
Sadly, the status of the company meant I never could bring myself to buy one of these. Also, their availability in India was highly dubious.
Meanwhile this INNOVATION from Sony caught my eye too! Typically, ‘Don’t fix what ain’t broke formula’ !
Sadly, this one didn’t catch on too.
Meanwhile, thanks to some genuinely good folks at Titan – who do take customer feedback seriously and always strive to keep making the brand better – Titan DID come out with a smart watch!
The ‘JUXT’.
With Vir Das, Kabir Khan and Pritam as brand ambassadors no less!
I was at the launch, in the ballroom at the Taj Palace. I heard the guys from HP talk loftily about this WebOS based abomination which seemed like a ‘me too’ game rather than innovation or a solid foot through the door attempt.
Which is what it was – not just for Titan, but for many big names who tried to ride on the same solution from HP – and they ALL failed.
But Titan, being Titan – didn’t give up. They gave it another shot with the ‘Juxt Pro’.
Titan, being a Tata venture, should know – the Indian market doesn’t forgive brands (& brand names) who fail.
It’s been 2 years since then – and Titan STILL does NOT have a HEART RATE sensor in ANY of their wearables!
Their extra CHUNKY Reflex transformed into the sleek, unique (& expensive) WAV but – yet – no HR!
Why, Titan, why?!
Remember, earlier, how I mentioned most of us over 30 would be familiar with Titan?
Those younger are more familiar with Fastrack and not as much with Titan.
Given the advent of these bands, most young ones have gone all ‘digital’ and as is often seen, they just do NOT know how to read a CLOCK!
Unbelievable, but it is true.
Hence, as a combination of these factors and to try and NOT gift a ‘Chinese’ gift – we make it a point to try and gift a ‘Zoop’ to children. Thus, their FIRST Titan and a reliable one at that, plus it comes with all possible brand endorsements – from Avengers to Doraemon to Disney! No rip-offs, the R-E-A-L Deal!
So every time I go to buy a Zoop, I take a deep breath and walk past the ‘Fossil and FitBit’ smartwatches – with a silent prayer, that Titan will come up with something soon … soon …
But, alas, what came through was the BEAUTIFUL, yet incomplete – Connected series in Titan as well as Sonata.
Lovely ANALOGUE smartwatches. They connect to your phone via Bluetooth and manage to do a lot of things, WITHOUT a screen!
Excellent work Titan!
Just as I was about to buy one of these, I noticed it has a pedometer and calorie counter but NO Heart Rate sensor!
It just felt so odd, so wrong that after more than 2 years Titan hasn’t managed a SINGLE wearable in it’s arsenal with a heart rate sensor.
Apple, Samsung, Huawei are monitoring ECGs and saving lives with their ‘watches’ – but the real Indian watch company has not made any movement in that direction.
Be it ‘Watch Faces’ (something which is their forte) in other smart wearables or better ‘gadgets’ that are worn around a wrist – Titan has not upgraded their armoury to join the race.
Finally, while heavily debating between a AmazFit Bip, Samsung Gear, Samsung Watch Active and a Fossil … I ended up stumbling upon an old flame. A long time desire to own one … the Casio ProTrek.
It used to be called the PathFinder a few years ago. This is the lesser known, more functional, more utilitarian brother of the G-Shock series.
I found one which was Analogue + Digital. It had glow in the dark straps for crying out loud! It had enough features to satiate the kid in me, while being absolutely functional about it’s job. It was the ‘smartest’ non-processor and OS based WATCH I could think of.
Thus, after 18 years +, for the first time I started wearing a brand other than TITAN on a regular basis…
Titan… you didn’t keep up with the times. You played it too slow … and you slipped off my wrist.
Along with the wrists of MANY others as I mentioned above.
And for all of those people, they will have very few reasons to go BACK to analogue watches
(few, not zero, but few).
And Titan will have to give them many more reasons to try and trust DIGITAL offerings from their stable!
A steep climb indeed.
But, there are 3 un-tapped markets that Titan can still foray into and carve some space for themselves:
1. Kids GPS tracking watches.
In case you haven’t heard or seen one – parents are spending more than 3,000 Rs on these watches which carry a SIM card, have a touch screen – often a camera which helps the kids communicate with their parents as well as aids the parents keep track of their kids – geo-fencing along with GPS.
Sadly, ALL of these devices come from China with a Chinese app that parents are forced to log in into and use. Well known brand Xiaomi has also recently forayed into this space.
Titan can offer a good robust alternative to the same where at least we, Indian parents, are assured of our kid’s data and privacy being in the hands of a trustworthy Indian company!
Also, the service and repairs of these watches from China are… well … ZERO! Within a year these expensive devices are rendered useless owing to their rapidly depleting batteries with no option of replacing those.
2. Heart Rate sensor and other Photometric sensors.
Healthcare and wearables are inseparable. More now, than ever. With a population like that of India, an existing brand like Titan with its vast network and service points will be the best player to launch and kind of Wearable Healthcare Tech.
3. Tata Motors – wearable keys that are given with the Tata Nexon XZA+ are uber cool! First introduced with the Jaguar F Pace SUV, the Nexon comes with these bands that when worn on your wrist serve as the ‘Key’! You can just open your car with a tap on the door handle/request sensor.
Snazzy! Sadly, the band does nothing else. Zilch.
A wearable band (fitness + notifications) like the Reflex Wav with such a component embedded would make for a very competent gadget. One that would ALWAYS find it’s way on the owner’s wrist and would seldom be left wanting attention in a case or drawer somewhere.
Even if one were to just consider the Nexon, Harrier and upcoming Altroz and Gravitas premium vehicles from Tata Motors, Titan would easily dispatch 4000 such bands per month!
Massive increase in visibility, brand value, penetration and data accumulation.
Also, this is a market Apple & Samsung won’t make it too anytime soon.
I sincerely hope, Titan makes a frog leap and gets ahead of the curve for me to once again take a leap of faith and thus, a Titan can find it’s way back on my wrist … for now … it’s a new world full of different brands waiting to be explored!