The digital revolution was expected to lead to a decline in the market of some products like wrist watches and wall clocks. There was no need to pay extra money to buy time keeping devices as your mobile phones and other available digital devices do the job perfectly well. But, these traditional products are still in the limelight. The prediction that watches and clocks would go extinct has proven to be wrong. This is not just true for high end watches like Rolex and Omega (which still illuminate the cover pages of world's most circulated magazines), even cheaper varieties are in good demand, mostly because of the product design.

As a result, the world's import of these products has registered a 5 percent increase per annum over the last 20 years.  Switzerland is still dominating the world's watch market whereas China and the United States have emerged as top importers with a 14 percent and 10 percent share in the world's total import of watches and clocks.

Nepal, too, is no exception. Over the last 13 years, Nepal has recorded a 10 percent growth in import of watches and clocks reaching Rs. 65 crores in fiscal year 2020/21.

This indicates that there is potential to set up and develop industries to make watches and clocks in Nepal. The crucial factor to determine the success of such a Nepali industry will be in the design while ensuring accuracy in the time pieces.