Twenty years ago, Yasho Saboo, the founder of Ethos Watch Boutiques, a watch retailer in India, embarked on a campaign to grow his business beyond the single store he had opened in 2003 in his hometown, Chandigarh, a city of 1.2 million in northern India.

In those early days, however, Mr. Saboo was surrounded by naysayers.

“I was very often told, ‘You’re being too idealistic; this is going to fail,’” Mr. Saboo, now the chairman of Ethos, said in a phone interview last month from his home in Chandigarh. “Even the mall owners would say, ‘You really think a watch store with expensive watches is going to work?’”

Now Mr. Saboo and his son, Pranav, the chief executive of Ethos, preside over a network of 64 watch boutiques in 26 cities around India, including multibrand Ethos stores and monobrand stores that the company manages for the likes of Rolex, Omega and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

“Over the next 12 months, we are slated to open 20 to 21 more stores,” Mr. Saboo said. “And in early 2026, we’ll probably see the opening of our 100th store.”

Ethos’s expansion has not occurred in a vacuum. Over the past few years, while many Swiss watch executives have been preoccupied with the ups and downs of the Chinese market, India has quietly emerged as the industry’s next big growth opportunity.

In July, Deloitte Switzerland published a special report on the country, calling it “a lucrative frontier for Swiss watchmakers.”