Bangalore: Once you're into a product with a 'fashion' tag, then the realisation of its fickleness and thereby, constant change is the only way to survive. Titan Industries, which forayed into fashion watches in 1998 with Fastrack, has recognised the greater need for upgradation in this segment more than any other, and will come out with a new collection for men and women by the year-end.

Bijou Kurien, V.P. sales and marketing, Titan said that the company plans to experiment with new kinds of leather and other material like silicon in this new range. In the Fastrack watches seen so far, the innovation has been in form and colour-like capturing the square, circle and ellipse shape in women's watches-but the new range is going to have more emphasis on texture. "We have attended a leather expo in Italy to find out the latest in material trends. It is important to prepare a fashion watch ahead of the time the trend sets in like it is done in the case of clothing," he said.

The white, silver look in watches, for instance, is getting popular even in small towns in India.

On the pricing of this new collection, Mr. Kurien said the plan is to retain the existing price points of between Rs. 1,000-2,000 as of now since the product has to be affordable but not so cheap as to affect brand image. The Fastrack range of watches are short-cycle products which are costly to make, he added.

It is difficult to quantify this segment which has other brands like Esprit, Timex and Calvin Klein, but it is believed to be getting bigger. Accessorisation and dress consciousness has happened in a big way so just like people distinguish among day wear, office wear and casual wear, we're beginning to see this phenomenon creep into watches as well, he added.

Fastrack, though positioned for the 15-25 years age group, has a lot of older customers in its net as well. In the Titan portfolio, Fastrack contributes to 4 per cent in value and the company has decided to establish it as an independent brand because of its high penetration potential.