.jpg&description=HMT watches aren’t dead. They’re back in vogue with Varchas, the latest limited edition series.){kind=link}
.jpg)
Narayanan Hariharan, an entrepreneur, narrates a current incident involving him, which may have simply been a wristwatch commercial. Whereas making an necessary level at a gathering, he observed the individual he was speaking to was looking at his left wrist. He ignored it just a few occasions. However when the individual continued, Narayanan paused and requested, “What’s going on?”
“I by no means knew HMT made such good watches,” mentioned the opposite individual. Narayanan smiled. He was sporting a Tiffany blue Varchas, the newest limited-edition wristwatch assortment within the HMT Stellar collection, launched in June.
Varchas is the brainchild of two HMT aficionados from Bengaluru, Abhinand Rao and Rakesh Murthy. These childhood pals ventured into analogue wristwatch amassing 5 years in the past and now collectively personal round 120 watches from numerous manufacturers (about half of them being HMT timepieces like Misuni, Rajat, Janata, Pilot, Jawan, and Jubilee).
Rakesh Murthy and Abhinand Rao
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association
The Varchas story
Abhinand and Rakesh, each engineers, share a deep fascination for design and mechanics. At one level, they had been into automobiles as a consequence of their intricate meeting of quite a few shifting components, forming a cohesive complete. Wristwatches should not too totally different from vehicles on this regard. “Initially we had been at all times fascinated by common worldwide manufacturers like Rolex, Patek, Audemars and Seiko. However after we realised our house model HMT continues to be operating we ran in direction of it,” says Abhinand.
When the federal government, in 2016, closed HMT Watches Ltd, a division of Hindustan Machine Instruments Restricted, the duo, like many individuals within the nation, mistakenly assumed they’d not get HMT watches anymore. “Although HMT Ltd continued manufacturing and promoting watches, many individuals nonetheless suppose that we now have shut store,” says an HMT Ltd official, who declined to be named.
Nevertheless, the information of this closure, he admits, sparked renewed curiosity within the six-decade-old wristwatch model. For example, Abhinand and Rakesh are moderators of a 14-year-old HMT Watches Fb group, with over 19,000 members.
In March 2022, the 2 pals deliberate to create a contemporary and distinctive design for HMT as a tribute to their favorite model. “We observed feedback on why the model shouldn’t be pursuing new-age designs. So, we needed to create one thing new with a sublime teal blue color, which has a cult following throughout a number of manufacturers,” says Rakesh.
The method was not simple. “After months of tireless effort, loads of setbacks and numerous discussions on the dial sample, the case design, and dial color, HMT took it up as a problem. We needed to be very affected person with them. However we by no means gave up,” Rakesh provides. The 2 pals even took time without work work to journey to the HMT unit to debate the design.
Varchas is a results of all this labour. 300 folks, who pre-booked it, obtained this limited-edition timepiece (for ₹8,161) in June. Due to the rising demand, HMT can be mass-producing this design quickly, albeit with out the Varchas emblem. It’s prone to be obtainable in HMT’s on-line and offline shops in one other week.
Varchas limited-edition timepiece
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association
Banking on nostalgia
HMT watches are largely unassuming. They lack the opulence of a Rolex; they can’t depend steps; none measures heartbeat (although the HMT official advised The Hindu {that a} smartwatch is within the works). They’re simply easy analogue watches (quartz, mechanical, and computerized). Why, then, do folks like Narayanan, Abhinand, and Rakesh adore the model a lot?
Reply: Legacy.
Established in 1953, HMT performed a vital position in India’s industrial progress. Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru hailed it as one of many “Temples of Trendy India.” HMT was supposed to provide machine instruments that modified the nation’s panorama. However, a decade later, a barely smaller want arose: an inexpensive wristwatch accessible to the lots. So, In 1961, HMT collaborated with Citizen Watches Co., Japan, to determine their first watch manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. PM Nehru launched the primary batch of hand-wound wristwatches. Thus HMT’s foray into the realm of timekeeping for the Indian public started.
HMT quickly grew to become a family title within the nation. Its watches grew to become cherished heirlooms, handed down from one era to the subsequent.
Narayanan remembers his first HMT watch. “My father had an HMT Kohinoor with a black dial. I used to put on it as a toddler however only for a minute or two. I wasn’t allowed to put on it outdoors. Solely after I was in 11th or 12th grade, I used to be allowed to put on it with out his supervision.”
“Later, after I began incomes, I bought an HMT Janata. My spouse (my girlfriend then) favored the watch and needed it. However I wasn’t able to half with mine. So, I took her to the shop and acquired her a few HMT watches.”
Narayanan has worn an HMT watch in his boyhood, adolescence, and maturity. He doesn’t have children. However six months in the past, he gifted an HMT Pilot to his school-going nephew. The watches of HMT, which started over 60 years in the past, are nonetheless ticking.