“What’s wrong with him why is he
buying and collecting all that junk” said the voice at the other end of the
phone receiver. “Papa, please don’t say that…those watches are beautiful and
are very good” countered my wife. ”So when are you reaching Bangalore” she said
trying to change the topic. “Ok we will be there to receive you …good bye” she
disconnected the call and turned back to find me in my most amusing mood. “So
you heard it all…right…he was just poking some fun on you… they will be
reaching Bangalore this Saturday morning”
My father in law’s reaction to my
hobby of collecting HMT watches does not surprise me. Especially when he wears
an original Rado Ceramica watch. Thankfully my wife is on my side. Finally the
fateful Saturday came and we reached the railway station in time to
welcome them. After a nice breakfast of steaming hot Idlis and Chai I left my
house to catch up with my friends at the HMT showroom located inside the Unity
building complex on J C Road, Bangalore. I usually spend a couple of hours most
of the Saturday’s at this showroom learning more about the watches and also
meeting new and interesting people amongst those who visit the showroom. I met
a man of my age at the showroom who initiated a conversation with me by sharing
his admiration for the HMT pilot watch that I was wearing on that day. We were
busy expressing our love for these watches and sharing our experiences when my
phone started ringing. I picked-up the call. It was from my wife “When are you
planning to return…Papa wants to speak with you”. I started back for my home
though I was not really willing to conclude my meeting abruptly.
I reached home in good time much to
the relief of my wife. I was relaxing in my sofa enjoying the cool Bangalore
breeze when my father in law took his seat next to me. “ Beta ye ghadi dekhana
zara ye babasahab ki hai (son can you please take a look at this watch this
belonged to grandfather). I took the watch in my hand to inspect it and to my
great joy it was an HMT black dial pilot watch. It had a black nylon strap. It
looked battered and it was clearly a daily beater of my grandfather-in-law. The
second’s hand come out and was lying inside the acrylic crystal dome on the
dial. I rotated the crown to wind the watch and brought it to my ear. The watch
was ticking. It was a beautiful coincidence with a pilot on my wrist and a
vintage pilot in my hands. Both the watches however separated by the age
difference of decades.
He could feel my happiness and said I
am happy that you liked it. I called my wife and showed her the watch, she was
equally happy. My father-in-law had surprised us both with this watch. I took
the watch to the Unity building HMT showroom for servicing where it was
serviced and it’s now keeping an accurate time. I was told that the watch was
serviced once before in the early 90s. I am now a proud owner of two pilot watches - a
grandfather and a grandson Pilot watch.
Major differences between the Vintage and New Pilots
Vintage Pilot
had a domed crown as compared to flat head of the new pilot’s crown. The dial of the vintage Pilot had “water protected” printed on the dial
The case
back of vintage pilot also had “water dust protected” etched on it. While the latest
pilots have 0231 (watch movement) etched on it the vintage one’s do not have
the same mentioned anywhere on the watch. The new pilot watch has shock
resistant etched on it while the earlier one had “shock proof”. Vintage pilot
watch back was threaded and screw off while the new ones have a threaded snap –
off watch back
3 comments:
Nice post. Good you have both editions of HMT Pilot. I was also very fond of it, but ended up buying HMT Chinar because it had the minute markings which I wanted. Pilot did not have. I liked the Janata also on my friend's wrist. I was new to the job and had not saved enough to buy. I could do that in 2 years. But I gave my first watch [also a chinar] of my own to my colleague for less after using hardly a few months, just to buy another model of Chinar that I liked, with horizontal lines. I still use it after 30 years. I was doing the servicing myself and it required only twice. By the second time it needed, I had stopped, so I gave it to a known person. I have serviced two Pilots when I was actively doing servicing/repair - of my friends' and I really enjoyed removing and putting them back as it was so well designed. I also liked Sona as I have always liked thin watches. My colleague's Sona I did twice. He also had a Titus which was also very good. I have my g/f's 1914 F/Leuba zenith, a skymaster also of my g/f, from the 60s. Watch mechanics are dwindling with the profusion of quartz. Winding watch 'zamana' ends with HMT watch factory closure. Preserve the Pilot. [dinakar58-at-yahoo-dot-com]
Nice post. Good you have both editions of HMT Pilot. I was also very fond of it, but ended up buying HMT Chinar because it had the minute markings which I wanted. Pilot did not have. I liked the Janata also on my friend's wrist. I was new to the job and had not saved enough to buy. I could do that in 2 years. But I gave my first watch [also a chinar] of my own to my colleague for less after using hardly a few months, just to buy another model of Chinar that I liked, with horizontal lines. I still use it after 30 years. I was doing the servicing myself and it required only twice. By the second time it needed, I had stopped, so I gave it to a known person. I have serviced two Pilots when I was actively doing servicing/repair - of my friends' and I really enjoyed removing and putting them back as it was so well designed. I also liked Sona as I have always liked thin watches. My colleague's Sona I did twice. He also had a Titus which was also very good. I have my g/f's 1914 F/Leuba zenith, a skymaster also of my g/f, from the 60s. Watch mechanics are dwindling with the profusion of quartz. Winding watch 'zamana' ends with HMT watch factory closure. Preserve the Pilot. [dinakar58-at-yahoo-dot-com]
Nice story behind the Pilot watch.
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