Happiest day in the life of an HMT watch collector

As a watch enthusiast, I would often hear from fellow enthusiasts about the watches they got from their father. Here is the story of my father’s gift to me and the happiest day of my life.

My father is my hero and his impact on my life is immense, my love for watches germinated from the time I saw my father’s wrist watch. My father’s daily beater was a Ricoh Japan, automatic movement watch. It had an emeraldish greenish-blue dial, a day-date calendar and was nothing less than a wonder to me. He would put it next to his pillow at night and I would often look at the lumed dots glowing softly in the night and wondered when I would get one for myself. In the 90s his Ricoh watch ended up in his cupboard and was replaced by a Timex watch, which had a quartz movement. This Timex watch stayed on his wrist ever since. He often received other and more expensive watches but the Timex watch ruled his wrist.

My father knew of my obsession with watches and HMT watches in particular and we would often talk about them. Last year when I had visited him, he gave me his Ricoh watch and the child in me got the most cherished object. A couple of years back, I told him that I bought for him an HMT “Provash” automatic, which is quite similar to his first name “Pravesh”, he gave me his evergreen answer “Please don’t get me a watch, I don’t need another watch”. I respected his decision and lost all hopes of seeing another watch on his wrist and thought the Timex will be his daily beater forever.

My Father's Ricoh Japan watch on my wrist today

However, god wanted to fulfil yet another dream of mine. I got a call from my father a few days back and he told me he wants my advice on a wrist watch. He informed me that his Timex watch has stopped working and is with the service center and he has not been wearing any watches for some time. My heart was filled with joy when he said that he wanted to wear an HMT watch from now on. He said that it’s our good old Indian brand and with me always advocating the use of HMT watches he wanted to wear one. As always, his requirements were clear – a gold plated quartz watch with day-date function and dial shape other than round (his timex watch had a round dial and he wanted to try something new). He also said that he did not want many options as it might confuse him and that the day calendar should be in Hindi. After some thought and search, I zeroed down on Sangam Premium MGGG 06 PRE WD. I shared a few pictures with him and he liked it instantly. The only problem was that the day calendar was in English and Japanese while he wanted it to be in Hindi and English. However, when I told the seller about it, he offered to change the Japanese calendar to Hindi and with the change incorporated; watch was shipped.I knew that my father would want to wear the watch on the first day of Navratri and luckily the watch reached him a day earlier. Today, he wore the watch after the pariva pooja of first day of Navratri and sent me a wrist shot. Words fail the expression of my happiness. Today, without even a shadow of doubt, is the happiest day of my life as a son, who also happens to be a watch collector....an HMT watch collector. 

My Father's wrist shot with his HMT Sangam Premium watch

Memory Restored – Restoring the first HMT watch I ever saw

Sometime in the year of 1987, one evening, upon his return from his office, we noticed a beautiful watch on my grandfather’s wrist. It was an HMT HQ series day date quartz watch, a novelty in the days of mechanical watches. That moment was my first introduction to an HMT watch; I was a seven years old then. He had received the watch from his bank as a reward for his exemplary performance at work that day and it replaced the Favre leuba watch that adorned his wrist, till then. It was a proud moment for all of us and the watch became a permanent time keeper for him, till his last breath. Post his demise my uncle started wearing the watch but after a few years he moved on with his other watches and the watch stopped receiving wrist time. Time moved on and from a school going kid, I progressed to college and then became a working professional. Memory of my grandfather’s watch faded in the background of my busy life. A few years back, I was on my way back home from the Bengaluru International Airport, when I spotted HMT Bhavan (Head Office of HMT watches) and memories came rushing back to me. I purchased my first HMT watch the very next day and have been hooked on to HMT watches ever since. I have written about it in my earlier blog (Blog link)

Since that day, I was always curious about the whereabouts of my grandfather’s HMT watch. I made enquiries with my uncle and grandmother but no one was sure about the location of the watch. A couple of months back my aunt visited our ancestral home at Lucknow and upon return handed over the watch which she found after an exhaustive search. It was found t in my grandfather’s office briefcase. The glorious watch was now in a dilapidated state. The strap had broken and the glass had cracked to pieces with dust all over the dial and a dead movement. I was determined to restore the watch to its glory. I took it to a watchmaker; he confirmed that the quartz movement was beyond repair due to spill over of chemicals from the dead battery and exposure to atmosphere. I checked with HMT watches repair centers but they also did not have a spare movement for the watch due to their current state of affairs. I checked with multiple dealers and finally found an unused 2105 original HMT quartz movement for the watch. I got it cosmetically restored by getting a new glass, repairing the strap and cleaning the dial. The watch finally ticked back to its original rhythm.

Old destroyed quartz movement

As I write this blog, the first HMT watch I ever saw, a trophy of my grandfather’s hard work is on my wrist to be treasured for ever and to be passed on to the next generations of our family. HMT watches have been time keepers of our nation but to me they are also timekeepers of generations. 

Restored watch of My Grandfather

New HMT Watch Showroom in Bangalore

I recently visited the HMT watch showroom at Barton Center, M G Road Bangalore. The showroom at unity buildings, J C Road was shut down and shifted to this new facility. Since, not many HMT watch fans are aware of the existence of this new showroom, I decided to share the sights of my visit through this blog.

Barton center is very close to the M G Road metro station on the main road

Barton Center - Its a famous landmark on M.G. Road 

HMT showroom has put a banner on its window which faces the road and an HMT Digital clock (top edge of the pic)

HMT watch showroom is on the first floor, a view from the tube lift

At the entrance of the showroom

The only showcase inside the Huge showroom, which is a property owned by HMT watches for decades. Other showcases were expected in a few days

Watches

It was good to meet Mr. Bhagwan,showroom manager and an old friend. Amidst closure of several showrooms, HMT opening a new showroom is nothing less than a pleasant surprise. So, next time you visit the M G Road, do visit the showroom. 

A Curtain Call – Closing down of the HMT Lucknow Showroom

HMT watch showroom, Lucknow

My Association with HMT watch showroom,Lucknow started with my purchase of HMT Jawan watch from it. I had asked my co-brother to do me the favor of purchasing the watch and sending it to me in Bangalore.The generous staff members kept the showroom opened beyond the working hours and gave the necessary directions to my co-brother on phone as his driver sped through the lanes of lalbagh to help me get my watch. I ended up picking a Vijay lume and Janata deluxe as well along with Jawan. I visited Lucknow earlier this year and met with the other members of HMT watch collectors at the showroom . The showroom was at the verge of closure and it was sad to experience their state of affairs. 

A fellow HMT watch enthusiast and friend,Ashutosh Anand, from Lucknow who has been a regular at the showroom shares his experiences of his association with the showroom,below:

My family association with HMT Lucknow showroom goes back to 1991 when my Late Grandfather bought a HMT Quartz watch from HMT showroom, then located at the centre of the city i.e. M.G. Road, Lucknow.

I still have that watch in working condition, its original bill, box and warranty card booklet containing instructions and addresses of HMT showrooms and service centres across the country.
With time, as sales went down, HMT could not afford the rent of the showroom at MG Road and they had to be shifted to BN Road, Lalbagh area.

My association with HMT Lucknow Lalbagh showroom goes back to March 2012 when I visited Lucknow during my holidays. I did not know about the shifting of the showroom and searched its telephone number on yellow pages to check if it was open,called them and came to know about its new location and nearest landmark "Noor Manzil".It took me about an hour by auto and then cycle rickshaw to reach there, as the location was unknown to me.

The first appearance of the showroom, it had a big board, displaying HMT Company Watch Showroom -  a subsidiary of HMT Limited, a Government. of India undertaking which appeared painted more than a decade ago.When I entered, it appeared like an old hall or a government building, with high roofs, old window fittings near roof for natural light, wooden partitions for showroom, service centre and regional office.

I found 5 showcases with different categories of watches being displayed along with posters of prestigious HMT watches and one of Mahatma Gandhi on partition walls.The person there (who was the manager) asked me - what can I do for you. I said -  I am the same person who called up,our conversation thus started. Along with the manager, the other HMT employees there too who joined the conversation.As they rarely found people interested in HMT Watches, they were surprised to see my interest in and our conversation lasted for about two plus hours which was about watches, their experiences of golden days of HMT, their training days along with some tea and snacks.

I asked them if HMT Janata 12-3-6-9 was there in stock. (At that time I did not know it was known as Art Deco variant). I already had the Devanagri "Janata" printed variant. As the watch was not in showcase, the manager was kind enough to get searched it in the stocks and found one Tumkur made art deco Janata for me.I was really happy. He then showed me a series of ADSL automatic watches along with a newly released ADSL04. He recommended me ADSL04 and I bought that too along with the classic Janata.He prepared the bills and warranty cards for both watches and I came back with wishing them, thanks and "Fir Milenge" (till we meet again.)

After that, I could visit them only in 2014 when I had to get my grandfather's watch serviced and I bought a black dial Jhalak on this visit. The manager recognized me and this time too we again had a long chat. I used to tell them that I write my suggestions to HMT management to either start online shopping and deliver watches via India Post or to tally up with leading e-commerce websites and they used recognize my efforts with their inputs on it.

In September 2014 the news of shut down came. After which, I started visiting various HMT showrooms frequently, because I felt only a few days are left for the showroom to exist. I even had an opportunity to meet the General Manager of WFR while he was on visit there.

We were lucky to have organized, HMT Watch Collectors meet at Lucknow showroom this year before it closed. It was a nice time to meet Prashant, Vardhan along with HMT staff.
Unfortunately, HMT Lucknow showroom was in the list of showrooms to be phased out first as it could not generate enough revenue to survive on its own, the showroom was closed down in mid of April 2015.
 

Left to Right - Prashant Pandey, A Customer, Mr. Mathur (HMT Staff), Ashutosh Anand and Vardhan Mittal 

In my last few visits, I saw the managers and staff packing up all the watches in stocks, preparing inventory lists as they had to send them back to HMT, as last part of their duties. Finally, they had to close down the showroom cum office they were associated with for a long time.The service engineer who was on contractual wages became unemployed.It was a sad day for both the HMT staff as well as watch collectors like me.

I wish HMT management had taken steps to improve HMT watches presence and existence in market, their online presence, sales on e-commerce, I believe HMT employees would have not to see such a day...

A Curtain Call – Closing down of the HMT Bangalore Unity Building Showroom

HMT Showroom Unity Building

HMT company showroom in the Unity buildings, J.C.Road was one of the oldest HMT showroom in India. This showroom was opened in the early 70s and had visitors from all across the country and world. My association with the showroom started with a phone call to enquire about the availability of HMT Pilot watches. Soon, the showroom became my favourite hang out.I met many interesting people at the showroom and learnt from their experiences.I shared some of these experiences through my blogs Link blog 1 , Link Blog 2 . Few months back,HMT watch company decided to close its showroom in a phased manner and this showroom was one of them.After the closure of the showroom, Mr Bhagavan has taken up the charge of the new HMT showroom in Bangalore at first floor of Barton Center , M G Road Bangalore.I shall be posting a blog soon on my first visit to the showroom.

A fellow collector,blogger and friend Varun Iyengar was at the showroom on the day of closure and below is an eye witness account from him.

My journey with HMT has been since 2009 where I used to visit showrooms just to see the vast collection of HMT watches wich I never used to buy. I always used to consider myself an enthusiast rather than a collector of sorts. Incidentally my first watch was a Janata art deco variant followed by a couple of Pilots and Sonas.

Some of the HMTs that I purchased initially were from either the two showrooms in Bangalore one in Unity Building and other being Jalahalli (CSD). I used to prefer the Jalahalli showroom during my initial years since it was near to my place of work. Later as time passed I shifted to Unity Building due to its location. I used to spend my Saturday afternoons at the Unity building showroom looking at the red velvet steps in the showroom filled with an array of watches from the HMT stables. All these are history today.

Sometime in mid 2010 I had for the first time visited the Unity Building in search of a Janata for my classmate/colleague who was pestering me for a long time. Though I did not get one but got introduced to Mr. Bhagavan who introduced himself first and later I introduced myself saying I am an academician (and a student of sorts). He also gave me his visiting card. This meeting still reverberates in my mind whenever I here Unity Building from someone. In the same visit I also happen to pick up HMT Pilot which I gave it to one of my friend later. I have never tried to ask technical questions to Mr. Bhagavan all these years but have never failed to ask for watches that I can pick up. I also remember asking him a HMT Jawan for which his reply was try hard you will find it and I don’t have it. Later in years to come I have picked numerous watches from this showroom starting from the very basic HMT Vijays and Varuns to the classy Chronograph. I have also left a series of watches like HMT Sweekars thinking that I will have time to pick up later (which was a mistake that I made). The Unity Building has now become hotspot for all the HMT watch collectors and enthusiasts to meet, exchange notes and impart knowledge. For the last few years it had become a routine to meet some fantastic people and learn something new. But the sad part is the showroom is gone for ever.

Last year in the month of September the news of HMT closure shattered the hearts of many HMT collectors and enthusiasts. Then the news trickled saying all the showrooms would be closed. The first one to bite the dust in Bangalore was the Unity Building showroom. I got to know they would close on a certain day, and was not prepared to go and meet Mr. Bhagavan there because I was not ready to confront a disappointment. But one of my friend (a HMT collector) forced me to come to meet him at Unity Building which turned the tables. That was the last day of the showroom. I just entered the showroom and saw Mr. Bhagavan was arranging the watches in boxes and the tables were shifted to the corners. I spoke with him regarding the imminent closure and wished him all the best. I also in the meantime asked Mr. Bhagavan’s permission to take a picture of him to which his reply was a stern no but later he obliged for the same. I thanked him for all the help and also thanked him for helping out people all these years. After a long chat with Mr. Bhagavan finally the time had arrived for me to depart with a heavy heart. I bid good bye for one final time to the HMT showroom and head back home. Thank you HMT and its professionals for all what you have done for these many years and good bye. Here are some pictures from the last day of HMT Unity Building Showroom.

Mr. Bhagavan from Unity Building

 

The Final Journey for the Showroom Begins

 

Empty Racks in One of the Oldest Showrooms in Karnataka

  

The Final Hurrah - Showroom on the Last Day 

A Curtain Call – Closing down of the HMT Chennai Showroom

The Curtain Call – The closing down of the HMT Chennai Showroom

HMT Chennai Showroom

My association with HMT Chennai showroom goes back to the year 2013. It began with a phone call, asking them if they had any of my favourite HMT watches in stock. This was followed by an overnight bus journey over the week end. The visit helped me tick-off a dozen HMT watches from my wish list. I made some good friends at the showroom who helped me a lot in my journey as a collector and enthusiast.

In the last few months, HMT watches have started closing off their showrooms in major cities of India and a few days back their showroom in Chennai closed its operations. The news of its closure brought back so many memories. It’s been quite a while that I could visit them and now it’s too late. Below is an eyewitness account from my friend Jaideep Ramdas, an HMT watch collector and enthusiast from Chennai

  

I had visited my favourite showroom one fine Friday, a couple of weeks back. It had been a while since I had been there, owing to work and other commitments. I was in for a shock when I saw the state of the showroom. It was completely rearranged and seemed different. The display shelves were moved to a corner and their red velvet steps empty. These were the same shelves that I use to keep gazing at longingly. Once packed with HMT watches, they were now bare. Huge steel cupboards, the Godrej almirahs, the staple of every Indian household and offices were all lined up together. It was always a pleasure when Mr. Govindaraj opened these. You could always expect a surprise, a grey dial Sameer or a nice HMT watch strap. There were packed cardboard boxes everywhere and some heavy vintage pedestal fans.

Mr. Govindaraj, seeing the expression on my face, explained to me that they had started the process of closing down the showroom. All the things were getting packed and being sent to HMT Bangalore. Apart from that, some old cupboards and fans would be auctioned internally. Though I knew the showroom was going to close, seeing it happen was very sad. The Chennai Showroom was and will always be very special to me. A majority of my collection were purchased from this showroom. It was from the Chennai showroom (at a different location) that I started on my watch journey after reading that famous post on HMT Pilot watch by Frans Mattez. My first purchase was a Janata and a Sona.

For the last four years, a visit to this showroom and long chats with Mr. Govindaraj and other members of this team was my routine on Saturdays. The knowledge and the rich experience these people possessed was amazing and they were willing to share it. Our discussions were quite informative and enjoyable Mr. Govindarajan, Mr.Natraj , Mr.Nagaraj and Ms. Divya were a huge support in my watch collecting journey. I consider it my good fortune to have met them, learnt from them and also am guided by them in this endeavour. The Chennai showroom was also a meeting point of other watch collectors who later became friends. It was great to meet another person who had an interest in HMT watches and chat. Every visit to the showroom would be a surprise because

you never knew what you were going to get, whom you were going to meet or what you were going to learn.

Last Saturday, when I visited the showroom, it was in the final stages of closure. Though I was mentally prepared, I still felt sad. One of the most iconic brands was shutting down its presence in my city. The highlight of the day was meeting Mr. Muhamad Bakhar, a former employee and one of the senior most technicians. It was great talking to him about watches and his experiences with the company. As I bid bye to the HMT showroom and the team, I could not help thinking of them. These people along with the other HMT staff represent a breed of committed professionals and are the unsung heroes of brand HMT. They have kept the flag of HMT watches flying high inspite of the circumstances.

Hats off to you gentlemen! Here’s wishing you all success.

L to R - Mr. Nagraj, Mr Natraj, Mr Govindaraj, Mr.Jaideep

L to R - Mr. Muhamad Bakhar,Mr. Nagraj, Mr Natraj, Mr Govindaraj,Mr.Shekar

Monsoon woes and HMT watches – How to maintain your HMT watches during monsoon.

It’s that time of the year again when both plant and animal kingdom feel rejuvenated. Monsoon is at the doorstep of India. This is a testing time for the lovers of HMT mechanical watches. I know of many HMT watch fans who switch to HMT quartz watches to ensure the safety of their mechanical watches during this time. To those of you who are new to HMT mechanical watches and wonder what’s all this fuss about rains and saving mechanical watches from it. I can understand your amusement.  Most of you might have might have been keeping time so far, using quartz or modern mechanical watches. Such watches offer high level of water resistance as compared to the HMT mechanical watches. Your next question might be “Hey!, but my HMT has water resistant printed on it and I am not doing deep sea diving with these watches in any case. The least that I expect is for it to withstand the rain.” I agree with you, it does have water resistant etched on its case back but water resistance in the context of HMT watches means that it can withstand a few accidental splashes of water and it can resist water on it for those few seconds before water is wiped off using a soft and clean, dry cotton cloth. It cannot survive inside water even if the depth is a few centimetres.

Watches with higher level of water resistance have few characteristic features which are not available in HMT watches. A threaded crown and case back secured with gaskets made out of rubber, Teflon or nylon. Majority of these watches are hermetically or vacuum sealed and have thick watch crystals. Such features are absent in HMT mechanical watches which result in lower water resistance.

I remember this person who was new to HMT watches. He told me that he washed his HMT watch in the kitchen sink using dishwashing soap and scrubber as the watch case was not clean to his satisfaction. This incident had happened a day before he met me. I explained the horror of the possible outcome and urged him to rush the watch to a reliable watch repairer. He told me in our next meeting that the repair person was in splits when he explained his act of cleaning the watch. Luckily, nothing much happened to his watch but it was a very close call. 

  

HMT watch division has made quality watches ever since it’s beginning that offer resistance to most of the adverse conditions of Indian climate with minimum maintenance.  The problem with quality, especially water resistance is more evident these days as majority of watches brought and sold are brought from sources other than HMT watches themselves. We will concentrate on the water resistance aspect in this blog and understand what HMT does to make its watches withstand the damage water/moisture can possibly do to its watches. HMT ensured water resistance in small but effective manner in its watches. A few noteworthy features are mentioned below

• Crown-stem tube this extends from the end of crown tunnel to the crown covering the crown stem. It’s visible once the crown is pulled out to set time. In most of the second hand watches brought from resellers these are cut off as it’s a hassle for average watch repairers to set the crown length through the tube while assembling the watch if it’s a Franken watch.
• Crystal holder ring it’s that shiny metal ring often seen on HMT watches with flat crystals. It holds the watch crystal firmly to its place preventing external exposure to the watch from the crystal side. Average watch makers mistake this ring for an ornamental feature and either get rid of it or cut it to make it easy to fit on the dial.
• Rubber Gasket. It is inside the case back and seals seepage of moisture inside the watch from the case back end. This has to be replaced every time the watch is serviced but this change of rubber gasket is often neglected which makes it ineffective.
• Movement holder ring and the rubber gasket inside it These have to be intact as they are essential to water resistance and well being of the movement. In most of the second hand watches the movement ring is cut and the rubber gasket is missing. This leads the movement being shaky and normally is the reason when the dial shakes a bit every time the crown is moved or pulled out to adjust time.
• A sealant which is applied across the watch stem entry point inside the watch. This greasy sealant would dry off quickly once applied protecting it from the hazards of external atmosphere.

These days, most of the HMT watches bought by watch enthusiasts are either repaired or assembled using parts salvaged from old used watches and therefore none or most of the above mentioned quality features related to water resistance are present. We should now understand the damage that can be caused due to exposure to moisture and the precautionary steps that can be taken to protect watches. Water/moisture seeps inside watches from three entry points – Crystal, Crown and Case-backs. If any of these three Cs are faulty or does not have the aforementioned features, moisture will seep inside the watch and damage it. There are two types of damages that are done on a watch – visible and the invisible damage. Visible damage is flaking, peeling or discolouring of dial; discolouring of hands; rusting or discolouring or fungal deposit on the case, crown. Invisible damage is the damage which happens to the insides of the watch and is not visible unless the case back is opened. It includes rusting of different watch parts which at times damages the movement beyond repair.

Precautions

So what should you do to save your watch from the assault of moisture this monsoon? The first step is to buy a quality HMT watch, check the watch thoroughly and ask all possible questions before you buy a watch if you are buying them from any source other than HMT watches. Best is to buy it directly from HMT watches before they shut down completely. Let’s now talk about the watches you may already have. Here are a couple of options:

A watch Pouch

• The easiest way is to switch to a quartz watch for the monsoon season, if you want to enjoy the rains with a watch on your wrist. HMT quartz watches offer better (not fully waterproof) water resistance as compared with a mechanical watch. I suggest you to give your daily beater mechanical watch for service before you give it the monsoon rest. Upon return from the service centre wear the watch for a couple of days to ensure that it has been regulated properly. This would also ensure that the lubrication oil applied on the watch movement spreads evenly across the movement parts. Post this; watch can be stored inside a watch pouch or in the plastic box in which it came originally from the company with a few silica gel sachets. If you don’t have either of these two then you can put it in any plastic box with silica gel sachets in a cool dry place where it’s not moved around a lot. I therefore suggest, not storing them in drawers that are used daily and the stuff is sifted through regularly. Make sure you wind the watch once a week. This will ensure that the watch is up and running to the optimum accuracy levels for regular use post monsoon.
• If you wish to use your mechanical watch during monsoon, I suggest you to check your watch crystal once in a while to check for cracks in the crystal as these are an open invitation to moisture. Get the crystal changed immediately and ask your watch repairer to check for the gaskets and other aforementioned features to ensure the optimum water resistance of the watch. If at any time you see tiny droplets inside the crystal or fogging of crystal, take your watch immediately to a good watch repairer. Easiest way to save watches whenever you are caught in rains is by keeping a zip pouch handy. Slip the watch inside it once the first drop of rain falls from the sky. But before you put the watch inside ensure that you wipe off all the water using a clean dry cotton cloth (example a handkerchief). Even if you get drenched the watch will be safe inside the sealed zip pouch. The only problem with this option is that you would have no watch on your wrist each time it rains.
  
        Remember, prevention is better than cure. The information shared in this blog is from my own personal experiences and the ones that i have learnt from the experiences of other watch enthusiasts, repairers and friendly staff members of HMT watches. 

I hope you find this blog useful, as always would love to know your thoughts.

Enjoy the rains

  

Unboxing pictures of White and Brownish Maroon Pilot watches - recieved from hmtwatches.in

I was quite excited when I ordered a couple of watches from the official retail site of HMT watches https://www.hmtwatches.in/ . This was the first time I was ordering a watch through the website. The transaction was quite smooth and the experience was really good. Immediately after I had placed my order I got an email confirmation just like any other retail website of present day.

I ,like many been in touch with the HMT office urging them to start an online retail shop. This became a reality in October of 2014. I must confess the watches that were available on the site since then were either not exciting or were in my collection already. So, finally I saw something I wanted and placed the order two days back. I was expecting the package to arrive in a week but I guess being in Bangalore reduced my waiting time for between the day of placing order and receiving the package was a gap of just one day. 

My observations - The watches were packed quite well and there was enough protection to save the watch from any damage due to shocks or moisture.Shipping charges INR 80 per watch are charged over and above the price of the watches and these watches are shipped across India via the India post - Speed post. These watches are sent in sturdy HMT boxes unlike the flimsy plastic ones seen in the showrooms. They come with a printed invoice and signed guarantee card. HMT does not ship watches outside India, I guess they have more than enough orders in India itself :-) . The only way out for those who want these watches outside India is to order using the details of a friend in India and asking them to receive it on their  behalf and shipping it across to them.Though the chances are remote still, If you find any issues with your watch please reach out to the person in charge of retail business. His number is mentioned on the envelope. You will find him very helpful.

I share with you the un-boxing pictures. I would rate my experience 10/10.   

I have also uploaded an unboxing video on youtube you can access the same by clicking on this link  - > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMjJi-LUYzA

The Package - Next to It are My Oliver F27 fountain pen and the HMT Akarsh watch

The First look - Beautiful red box with HMT printed on the Top

Under the multiple wrappings of tape is a sturdy envelope 

Both the boxes were wrapped in polythene bags for further protection specially from moisture

More Polythene wrapping - Inside the bigger\polythene envelope is another pack of polythene 

The Product - HMT White and Brownish maroon Pilot watches. Neatly tucked inside the sturdy boxes wrapped in polythene covers

Invoice was inside the envelope and Guarantee cards were inside the boxes  

The Gorgeous white Pilot. 

The Brownish Maroon Pilot