History of wristwatch

Today, a wristwatch is considered as much of a status symbol as a device to tell time. In an age when cell phones and digital pagers display tiny quartz clocks, the mechanical wristwatch has slowly become less of an object of function and more a piece of modern culture. Walk into the boardroom of any Fortune 500 company and youre likely to see dozens of prestigious wristwatches, including such names as Rolex, Vacheron Constantine, Frank Muller, Jaeger-LeCoultre and even Patek Philippe. However, this was not always the case. Less than 100 years ago, no self-respecting gentleman would be caught dead wearing a wristwatch. In those days of yore, real men carried pocket watches, with a gold half-hunter being the preferred status symbol of the timeno pun intended. Wristlets, as they were called, were reserved for women, and considered more of a passing fad than a serious timepiece. In fact, they were held in such disdain that many a gentlemen were actually quoted to say they would sooner wear a skirt as wear a wristwatch. The established watch making community looked down on them as well. Because of their size, few believed wristlets could not be made to achieve any level of accuracy, nor could they withstand the basic rigors of human activity. Therefore, very few companies produced them in quantity, with the vast majority of those being small ladies models, with delicate fixed wire or chain-link bracelets. This all started to change in the nineteenth century, when soldiers discovered their usefulness during wartime situations. Pocket watches were clumsy to carry and thus difficult to operate while in combat. Therefore, soldiers fitted them into primitive cupped leather straps so they could be worn on the wrist, thereby freeing up their hands during battle. It is believed that Girard-Perregaux equipped the German Imperial Naval with similar pieces as early as the 1880s,which they ore on their wrists while synchronizing naval attacks, and firing artillery. In 1906, the evolution of wristlets took an even bigger step with the invention of the expandable flexible bracelet, as well as the introduction of wire loops (or lugs) soldered onto small, open-faced pocket watch

cases, allowing leather straps to be more easily attached. This aided their adaptation for military use and thus marked a turning point in the development of wristwatches for men. Another timely issue was the vulnerability of the glass crystal when worn during combat. This was addressed by utilizing pierced metal covers, frequently called shrapnel guards. These were basically metal grills (often made of silver), placed over the dial of the watchthereby protecting the glass from damage while still allowing the time to be easily read. A less common solution was the use of leather covers, snapped into place over the watch. While they did offer protection from damage, they were cumbersome to use, and thus were primarily seen in the extreme climates of Australia and Africa Over the next decade, watch companies slowly added additional models to their catalogs, and finally, by the mid-1930s, they accounted for 65 percent of all watches exported by Switzerland. It was an uphill battle, but the wristwatch had finally arrived. They were now accurate, waterproof and, by 1931, perpetually self-winding, when Rolex introduced the Auto Rotor, a revolutionary design, which is used to this day by watch companies around the world. The success of the wristwatch was born out of necessity, and Rolex continued this tradition by introducing a series of Professional, or tool watches in the early 1950s. These models, including the Submariner, Explorer, GMT-Master, Turn-O-Graph, and Milgauss were also designed out of necessity, as they included features and attributes that were essential for a specific task or profession. Because of its rugged design, variations of the Submariner have subsequently been issued to numerous militaries, including the British Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and British Royal Marines, as well as the U.S. Navy Seals. Over the years, dozens of companies like Omega, Benrus and Panerai have also supplied specialty watch models for military duty. .With the general public now leaning toward high-tech, digital gadgets, the classic mechanical wristwatch was came to the market.

Profile of the company

TATA started in 1868 by Jamshetji Musser Wangi in textile industry. Due to the industrial revolution TATA diversified its field one of the fields is to the watch sector, named as TITAN. TITAN entered into the watch sector in 1986-87.They concentrated only on Quartz watches. Titan penetrated the market from mechanical type to quartz, Imported to indian,TITAN is banded by common culture and vision is TATAsTrust,reliability,value of money, highly quality,fair dealings, highly ethical, professional management. Kinds of watches available in Titan Analog Digital Distribution channels: 1993-94 New retailing network initiated by TITAN using exclusive show room to see in products. Service network: 31 Service stations run by the company, 268 services authorized stations, spare parts Setup in Bangalore .Decentralized of repair activities through training of dealers and appointment of authorized parts distributors. It operates in Bombay, Chennai, Calcutta and Delhi. Achievements in customer service network: 94% of watches return in 7 days, spares are processed with in 48 hours,

Introduction to the study

Marketing has assumed much in present day business world. The success of failure

Of any organization profit making or non-profit making depends on the Marketing. Marketing has special significance in the modem management of Business concept. In the words of peter F Drucker,"Marketing is the Distinguishing and unique function of the business Business decisions should be Marketing or customer oriented rather than Product oriented gearing operations primarily to the office satisfaction of Customer wants and needs. What marketing creates is a permanent existence of The entity of customers, the substance of particular group of customer or the Different group of customers for a company products reduces its business risk and Expands its planning horizon. It serves the business and the business turn serves The market, through planning research and developing. An activity of any type of Business undertaking makes use collection of data. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

1)

To study the attitude and satisfaction among the consumers for Titan fastback watches, at SRM University (Kattankulathur campus).

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE
1)

To study and analyze various factors influence the consumers to purchase the fastrack watches. To analyze the factors influencing perception and buying decision of consumers. To find out the effectiveness of advertisements for fastrack watches.

2)

3)

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study attempts to identify the reach of Titan fastrack watches which would help the company in formulating suitable strategies. The study also identifies the attitudes and preference of the consumers. The study also focused on Media through which the product reaches the consumers.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 1. The geographical scope of the study is limited to SRM University kattankulathur campus alone. 2. The sample size is confined to 50. 3. The consumers attitude may change in future due to change in their standard of living. 4. The Respondents were sometimes unable to spend much time for filling up the, questionnaire. So, the chances for bias in the respondents answer were on the higher side.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN

The Research Design adopted in the study was descriptive in nature because the study aims at describing the situation as it exists at present. It shows the consumers satisfaction for fastrack watches. SAMPLE SIZE The Sample Size of this study is 50. POPULATION The Population of this study is indefinite SAMPLING METHOD The study involves area sampling method. Area sampling method involves selecting a probability sample of geographic areas and selecting units or individuals within the selected areas for the sample SOURCES OF DATA The Study used both Primary and Secondary data. PRIMARY DATA: The primary data was collected from the respondents using questionnaire. SECONDARY DATA: The Secondary data was collected from the companys official website.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION Data was collected from the customers with the help of a questionnaire. DATA ANALYSIS METHOD The Data was collected from the main study and was analyzed using Based on the results conclusion were drawn and suggestions were made.

No of users of Fastrack watches (Sample Size-50)

TABLE 1 TABLE SHOWING THE USERS OF FASTRACK S .NO 1. 2. PARTICULARS YES NO TOTAL NO. OF RESPONDENTS 17 33 50 PERCENTAGE 34% 66% 100%

INTERPRETATION :

It is inferred that from the sample of 50, at SRM University, 34% are the users of fastrack and 66% are not using fastrack watches.

Influencer for purchase

TABLE 3 TABLE SHOWING THE INFLUENCER FOR THE PURCHASE OF FASTRACK S .NO 1. 2. 3. PARTICULARS Friends Advertisement Family TOTAL NO. OF RESPONDENTS 2 15 0 PERCENTAGE 12% 88% 0 100%

INTERPRETATION: It is understood that, majority of the respondents i.e., 88% of them were influenced by the advertisements appearing in media and 12% of the respondents purchased fastrack watches when refereed by their friends. TABLE 4 TABLE SHOWING THE PREFERRED ATTRIBUTE OF FASTRACK S .NO 1. PARTICULARS Design NO. OF RESPONDENTS 4 PERCENTAGE 23%

2. 3.

Use friendly Brand

2 11

12% 65%

TOTAL

100%

INTERPRETATION: It is understood that, majority of the respondents i.e., 65% of the respondents preferred fastrack watches due to its brand image and next majority, i.e. 23% of the respondents preferred it due to its design.

Gender of the users:

TABLE 2 TABLE SHOWING THE USERS ON THE BASIS OF GENDER S .NO 1. 2. PARTICULARS Male Female TOTAL NO. OF USERS 9 8 17 PERCENTAGE 53% 47% 100%

INTERPRETATION : It is inferred that 53% of the users are male and 47% of the users are female. Hence the male users are more than female users.

TABLE 6 TABLE SHOWING THE SATISFACATION LEVEL OF FASTRACK

S .NO 1. 2. 3.

ATTRIBUTES Highly satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied

Brand 7 8 2

PERCENTAGE 41% 47% 12%

TOTAL

17

100%

S .NO 1. 2. 3.

ATTRIBUTES Highly satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied

Price 3 11 3

PERCENTAGE 18% 65 % 17%

TOTAL

17

100%

S .NO 1. 2. 3.

ATTRIBUTES Highly satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied TOTAL

Variety 5 6 6 17

PERCENTAGE 29% 35 % 36% 100%

Interpretation: It is understood that the users of fastrack watches are quite satisfied with the brand image of fastrack and with its pricing strategies, but dissatisfied with the varieties.

RANK

DESIGN

USER FRIENDLY 8 7 2

BRAND 11 2 4

3 9 2 4 1 4 TOOL OF ANALYSIS: Weighted Average

X=wx/w
REASON DESIGN USER BRAND WEIGHTED AVERAGE 39/6=6.5 40/6=6.6 41/6=6.8 2 1 RANK 3

SUGGESTIONS

TV advertisements can be renewed explaining the product feature and aggressive marketing will help the company.

Awareness of the product is less among the people. So, the company may take several steps to create such awareness regarding its values to the customers.

The company can adopt new strategies and policies to overcome the competition.

CONCLUSION Gaining and maintaining consumer preference is a battle that is never really won. Continued and consistent branding initiatives that reinforce the consumers

purchase decision will, over time, land the product in consumer preference sets. Attaining and sustaining preference is an important step on the road to gaining brand loyalty Most of the consumers prefer Fastrack watches in SRM University campus, due to its strong brand image, and the main factor forcing the customers to buy fastrack watch is advertisements through the print and electronic media.