HMT Gold biscuit watches

This was during 2013. It was a time when my love for HMT watches was blossoming and we used to spend our saturdays in HMT company showroom at Unity building. Mr. Bhagavan YS used to treat us like family and the showroom was my daughter's playground. His encouragement and knowledge really helped me as a collector and admirer of HMT watches. I was able to see these silent timekeepers in a different light all thanks to him. It was he who told us about the Utsav gem series watches (will talk about it some other time) and the elegance gold biscuit watches.
From the time we came to know about the watch we pestered him to get us the gold biscuit watches. My wife's birthday was fast approaching and I really wanted to gift her something special. I was scouring through shops and e-commerce websites. Mr Bhagwan knew what my wife wanted but I had no clue. Out of the blue, I got a call from him. He said that he has my wife's gift and that I should bring her along with me to collect it from him. I sensed the happiness in his voice but even after asking him many time he did not reveal it. So we went thinking it would be a watch in her name. I was sure it did not exist but with HMT you never know as HMT is full of surprises. So we went there confused, but to our pleasant surprise it was the elegance G06 watch aka the gold biscuit watch from HMT. The excitement of my wife knew no bounds. She is a cheerful person but the twinkle in her eye and her excitement on that day will forever be in my memory. We got the watch and pretty soon the happiness was shared with the entire family.

Now my search for the gents version G10 increased. I was able to track one in the Tumkur showeoom. So i travelled all the way only to be told that it wasn't there. My search continues to this day. If you come across a G10 for sale then please let me know.

A little bit more about the watch. HMT released these Elegance G10 watches in the 90s. G06 = Gold case and bracelet + .06 gram 18 krt fine gold plaque on the dial. This is the ladies variant. Gents variant is G10 = Gold case and bracelet + 1 gram gold plaque on the dial. These are quartz movement (calibre 2050) watches and have a 5 micron 23.5 k gold plating on the case and bracelet.Its water resistant and has a stainless steel watch back. The sapphire glass crystal is scratch resistant.This watch comes in a larger dimension for men and smaller dimension for ladies.

Another interesting thing about this watch is it's bracelet. This unique bracelet is made out of the scrap left after cutting metal plates as part of the watch making process.

The watch is unique, thus rare and collectible. If you get one grab it else let me know and I will pick it up.

G06 ( Ladies watch)

G10 (Gent's Watch)

(Pic courtesy Tarun Agarwal)

Thank you.
My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/hmtwatchcollector

HMT Skeleton watches

Through this blog I share information about the HMT Skeleton watches. HMT released four different types of skeleton watches since the 1990s :

1. Hand winding Skeleton  watches
2. Quartz Skeleton watches
3. Jhalak - Semi skeleton watches
4. Automatic Skeleton watches

Out of these the first two were arguably a failure at the time of release and were made in limited quantities and thus have become very rare to come across and even rarer to collect. Let me take you through their journey one by one.

1. Hand winding Skeleton  watches. This watch was released in the early 90s and is popularly known as Sona skeleton watch as it is in a gold plated case and has a gold plated 0231 hand winding movement. The case is relatively thin and the dial has an inner bezel with Roman numeral marking the hour and minutes. The exposed gold plated movement plate has design markings on it adding to its charm and has black color stick hands.These watches came on both leather and gold plated steel bracelets. This watch was released in the 1990s and were not well received by its customer as most of the public attention was towards quartz watches.This is one watch that can be termed super rare and is on the wish list of every HMT watch collector. The same treatment was received there competitor Allwyn's skeleton watches. These Sona skeleton watches became the base for the semi skeleton Jhalak watches 

   

   HMT Hand winding skeleton watch from an HMT watch brochure

   
   

   

   HMT Skeleton watch in person

2. HMT Quartz skeleton watches.These watches were released in 1990s and have HMT 2150 quartz movement with non decorated movement. The inner bezel that acts as a dial had baton/stick/jewel indices and black colored stick hands. These watches also did not appeal the customers because of its looks as more appealing quartz watches were available in the market.This watch is so rare that i am yet to see one in person. Most of the HMT watch collectors are not even aware of its presence.

   

   Skeleton quartz watch

3. HMT Jhalak - Semi skeleton watches. These watches never got their dues from the customers and its only much later that its fan following increased and has now reached a cult status among HMT watch collectors. These watches were released with three dial color variants - White, Yellow and black. These have a pie shaped cavity on the dial between 8 and 10 hour markers through which one can see the decorated gold plated movement plate with the escape wheel in motion. These came on attractive leather straps and just like other HMT skeleton watches came with black colored stick hands.
   
   
   

   

   Picture Courtesy Raja Sekhar

   
   
   
4. HMT Automatic skeleton watches - This is the most expensive automatic watch from the house of HMT. It was released in the year 2013 and was priced at INR 9500 for the gold plated version and INR 9250 for the stainless steel version. Later in the year 2015 its prices were increased to INR 10500 and now they are listed at INR 12440.The versions released in 2013 and 2015 came in two case variants.Golden version came with a fluted bezel and gold plated 8N24 movement and mirror finish golden inner ring and a golden dial.Steel one came with a polished plain bezel and stainless steel movement and a steel mirror finish golden ring and white dial. 8N24 is the skeleton 8205 movement. These had painted blue hands and mineral crystal on top.The dials further came in two variants one with arabic numerals and the other one with studded crystals. The one that has been released in 2018 has polished golden case with white/golden dial and studded crystals along with gold plated 8N24 movement and painted blue hands.The 2018 version is currently listed on the www.hmtwatches.in although i must warn you that these get sold out in seconds.

   

   2013-2015 Crystal studded HMT Automatic skeleton watch Pic courtesy Jayatirtha Karunam

   
   

   

   Arabic numeral Gold plated variant. 2013/2015 issue .Pic courtesy Gaurav Mehta
   

   
   

   

   Arabic numeral stainless steel case version 2013/2015 issue

   
   

   

   2018 issue pic courtesy HMT ltd

   
   

   

   2018 issue pic courtesy HMT

   
   

   

   HMT packaging for 2018 issue . Pic courtesy Ravee C Kuppuswamy 

   
   

   

   HMT packaging for 2018 issue . Pic courtesy Ravee C Kuppuswamy 

   
   

   

   HMT packaging for 2018 issue . Pic courtesy Ravee C Kuppuswamy 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

I thank you for reading this long block. As always your feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Vintage HMT Tareeq - Story of a survivor.

A brief introduction - One of the earliest known HMT Tareeq watches were quite similar to Janata watches. They had Pie Pan shaped dials with a date window. These looked inspired from Citizen Homer date version watches. They came in GP as well as Stainless Steel cases with (to the best of my knowledge) milky white, Steel sunburst finish, yellow,grey and black dials.

The Gold Plated case, indices and hands Vintage Tareeq

The Stainless Steel Tareeq

Coming to the story of the vintage Tareeq watch that i want to share with you.First of all please accept my apologies, if you don't like the dilapidated looks of my watch. I found this watch over a weekend visit to the scrap market. I have a habit of checking watches even if they are under a rubble of discarded watches. I found it in in much worse condition than what you see here. It's crystal had popped off and the watch was lying face down in dirt. Its dial had accumulated mud which was mingled in adhesive flowing from a can lying next to it. The good thing was that the watch had its case back and hands secured. I would usually not think twice before walking away from such a watch but then it seemed, as if, the watch was looking up to me to get it rescued from where it was lying without affection and in a state of neglect. I took the watch in exchange of a price that made the transaction worth it for the seller. I brought it home, where it stayed on my desk for two days with me trying patiently every night, brushing-off dirt and adhesive from its face.  I did all that I could to reveal its long last self of the dial. Once.the crystal was replaced I wound it and it ticked back to life, yes...it ticked back to life like a survivor whose heart kept ticking under the debris of a calamity. The date function worked just as it should. A few months back, I had brought a strap which looked as if it had lost its color due to exposure and age. I could not find an appropriate companion for this strap, little did I know then that a match for it was lying under rubble. They look happy together now and let me say that this is one watch that I respect a lot and which has given me a lot of satisfaction for the time I invested in it. It's like an old friend on my wrist who has seen a lot in the last 35 years of its existence.

The Watch after cleaning

With its new strap

Manufatured in 1982 in Bangalore factory of HMT watches

Friends, I urge you to go out and search for yourself watches that are waiting for you under similar conditions.They might not look great but if you give your personal attention to them they will give you a satisfaction that is unparalleled to, if I may dare to say even a new watch.

As always, I look forward to hearing back from you. It motivates me and encourages me to keep on with this journey of exploring HMT watches. You can also check out my Video blogs on YouTube here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/HMTwatchespicturegallery

A lucky find – HMT Rakhee

Today is Rakshabandhan, a day that celebrates the bonding between brothers and sisters. On this day, sisters tie a silken thread – Rakhee on their brother’s wrist praying for their long life and the brother’s promise to protect their sisters from every evil.

The house of HMT watches made a special watch in the early 70s to celebrate this festival with a ladies watch called Rakhee. A watch which is both unique as well as refined and was a perfect gift from brother’s to their sisters. It was released in two forms one as a pendent watch (a watch that can be worn around the neck) and the second one on a bracelet. The unique thing about this watch was its case which had a delicate Bidri work. Bidri craft is practised in Bidar-Karnataka, in Andhra Pradesh and in Maharashtra – bordering Karnataka. The metal used is a blackened alloy of zinc and copper inlaid with thin sheets of pure silver. (Source – Craft council of India). Each watch has a hand crafted case with Bidri work and thus each watch has a different and unique case making each HMT Rakhee watch unique and different from the other. These watches came with a 17 jewel hand winding mechanical movement. In my opinion, they are very rarely seen these days as their production stopped decades back.

Picture credit - Tarun Agarwal

Being a watch collector fills your life with excitement. The excitement that can be compared with the one felt by a pearl hunter or an excavator of artifacts. Most collectors talk about the role of luck, of being the right person at the right place. I believe more in the adage – “Harder I work, luckier I get”. But then I have days when luck shines upon me and the incident I am going to narrate here is of one such day and the story of my HMT Rakhee watch

Late in the year 2014, one night I was on call with my friend Jaideep and we were discussing HMT watches. Our discussion digressed to old/Vintage HMT watch advertisements and I started searching them on the net and came across an old HMT watch newspaper advertisement for sale. It was from the 70s and advertised HMT Rakhee watch. I was pleasantly surprised as I read through the advertisement and my admiration for the HMT watch company moved a notch higher. As we discussed, I told Jaideep that we should count ourselves lucky to even know that such an HMT watch even existed and that adding such a watch to our collection is nothing less than a distant dream. It was a Friday night and I had plans for the next day. I dozed off dreaming about HMT Rakhee.

Next morning, I took my wife to the city market area for shopping and quite forgot about the watch amidst the hustle and bustle of the busy market. We started back by afternoon to have lunch at Jaynagar. While driving back I spotted a small shop with a few watches at display. Much to the chagrin of my wife I decided to stop by and check them.  I stepped inside the shop and found the usual assortment of quartz watches on display. Though disappointed, I was also happy that I did not have to spend much time at the shop. As I was stepping out the engaging shopkeeper asked me if he could help me. I told him that I was searching watches with mechanical movements. He directed me to a neglected display case inside the shop. I decided to leave it at that, as we were getting late but the shopkeeper said – atleast take a look, you never know. I sighed and stepped back inside the shop, as my wife rolled her eyes in despair. I looked at the watches and to my utter astonishment there on a leather strap was an HMT Rakhee staring back at me as if asking me of what I was waiting for. A few minutes later I floated out of the shop with a light heart and a lighter pocket, a broad smile and an HMT Rakhee to my wife who stared at me with a magnifying gaze. Later that evening Jaideep was overjoyed with amazement as I narrated him the events of the day. Both agreed that it was nothing less than a great stroke of luck. Next, I bought the original advertisement of this watch and I treasure it now.

I have always believed that HMT watches are full of surprises, most attribute this to the numerous variants and models that were made by this company of which many are unseen and unheard. In my opinion it is also applicable to the collecting aspect of these watches as one might get and unseen gem at most unexpected places.

So that my friend was one lucky day for me which gave me a watch and an experience that I will treasure throughout my life.

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

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 bus ride to rare HMT watches

I believe the best way to explore Bangalore is to take a ride on an early morning or late evening BMTC bus. I often do this on a Sunday morning. I travel across the city in almost empty buses enjoying the cool breeze and old Hindi film songs played on the radio. A few weeks back I was enjoying my routine bus journey. While my headphones were crooning “main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya” a Mohd. Rafi classic, I received a gentle tap om my shoulder. An elderly gentleman was standing next to my seat  I shifted closer to the window to give him enough seat space. He tapped my shoulder again. I removed my headphones unwillingly darting a questioning glance in his direction. “May I ask you a question ?” –Said the man. “Please tell me” was my response. “Can you show me your watch” He enquired. I projected my left wrist towards him in answer. “That’s a nice watch you have their young man”. A conversation began immediately and after a few minutes the gentleman said – “I have HMTs too and have fond memories attached to them. Those were the glorious days, when HMT was the watch of Indians. Would you like to see my watches ?”. “Yes, of course” was my answer. After a couple of bus-stops passed we got down from the bus and headed towards his home. It was a simple and elegantly decorated drawing room of a upper middle class house. Mr. Kumar (name changed on request) introduced me to Mrs. Kumar who bought us our coffees. Mr. Kumar is a retired HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) employee . Over a hot cup of coffee our conversation continued. Presently, Mr. Kumar went inside and bought out his HMT watches. He had a couple of Black Jawahars, a commemorative Kohinoor watch, A Janata and a very special pilot watch. I was mesmerized by the beauty of these watches, the rare pilot with broad indices in particular. He showed me his watches with a lot of pride – “I got it on my service anniversary” he said looking at the Pilot watch. I have worn these watches very rarely and kept them inside my safe box. As we talked more, he learnt more about my HMT watch madness and heard my stories with interest. He shared quite a few instances and stories that he had heard and his experiences related to HMT watches.  

After enjoying his company and his HMT watches for sometime, I decided to take his leave. “Prashant, we are leaving for the US of A in the next few weeks to live with our son and family. We stay alone here and he is always concerned about our well being .We have stayed all our life in Bangalore but since my son is adamant and what he says makes practical sense…we are relocating.” I went silent for a minute and then said “ I have made a lot of friends, thanks to HMT watches. Today is probably the first time I have made and lost a friend in a day”. “No..No we are still here for a few weeks..you must meet us before we leave Bangalore”. I promised to do so.

I received a call from Mr. Kumar after a couple of weeks. “Prashant, we are leaving for the US this weekend. Let’s catch up over a cup of coffee”. I met Mr. and Mrs. Kumar at their house. I updated him on the watches I had added to my collection in the last two weeks and promised to meet him upon his return. Since their flight was early next morning I decided it was time for me to conclude my visit. As I got up to take a leave he said – “Here this is for you” and handed over a packet to me. “This is a small gift for you. Open it once you reach home”. I had to visit a few more places and reached home a little late at night. After having my dinner I opened the packet. I was dumbfounded – for the packet contained Mr. Kumar’s HMT watches and small note that said “please accept them as a gift from me…..let the made in India stay in India J”.

It was too late to disturb them in the night and I have not been able to reach Mr. Kumar since that day. Friends, It’s just amazing how a wrist watch can turn two perfect strangers into friends. I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Kumar through this blog…Thank you Kumar Sir..thanks a lot”

Mr. Kumar's Broad Indices pilot watch which he received on his 15th service anniversary 

Case back of his Pilot watch with the etching celebrating his 15 years of association with HAL

The beautiful Jawahar watches

His Kohinoor watch which he received from his organization HAL during his service

Recent visit to HMT Watches Tumkur showroom

“Ok…will meet you at 9 am tomorrow at Majestic bus stand” said Raaj confirming his participation in the HMT Watch Hunt at Tumkur. In my earlier blog I have mentioned about my HMT Hunting trips. This Trip to Tumkur was one such trip and was quite eventful. Next day I left my house at eight in the morning and boarded one of the Vajra- red buses to reach Majestic Bus station. Being a Saturday morning the roads were vacant and so were the seats in my bus.

“Give me a ticket to majestic bus station. Please” I requested. “That would be Rs. 50” Replied the polite bus conductor. I gave him the money and he handed me my ticket. “That is an interesting watch on your wrist” I said. He gave me a surprised look and said “It’s an HMT watch”. “How long have you been wearing this watch” I asked. “Since 1992 after I joined the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation)” replied the conductor. “That’s a long time..you never thought of moving to a quartz watch” I probed further. “Yes,21 years is a long time sir....but you see..It’s an automatic watch…It does not require a battery…I like this watch and I don’t want a quartz watch that might conk off and leave me stranded because of a dead battery..In 21 years I took my watch only once to the repair shop to repair its case” was his proud answer.

I reached my destination on time. We took the bus to Tumkur and spent the journey sharing our experiences in life and of course discussed about HMT watches.

We reached Tumkur at around 10 AM. I bought the HMT Sweekar and the HMT Sanjay from the showroom along with an Astra digital that a friend wanted.I had been searching for both Sweekar and Sanjay watches for a long time. The search finally ended in Tumkur. 

We also saw a very old Shakti Quartz watch which had come for getting serviced at the showroom. It was quite a beautiful watch. HMT had produced quite a few mechanical and quartz watches in the Shakti series of watches.

I was talking to the sales manager asking him when he would get the next stock of watches when Raaj called out to me “Prashant, you need to see this”. There on the counter was a Golden dial Sona watch. “This watch belonged to my father and I have re-conditioned it and have kept it safe in the memory of my late father” Replied the gentleman behind the counter. I inspected the watch and yes it was an Old Sona watch. The leather strap on the watch was replaced by a golden bracelet. You might might find it interesting to know that the Older HMT watches have their second’s hand shorter than a minute hand and longer than the hour’s hand.

I could sense the pride with which the son showed off his father’s memory and with that we left the showroom to start our Journey back. As I was travelling back to Bangalore, memories of the day lingered on my mind and I said to myself – these watches are not only tools of precision but also emotions.

HMT Rajat – A complete review.

HMT Rajat has been one of the most iconic watches from the HMT watch company. This watch has seen the evolution of automatic watch movements and has adorned the wrists of generations.

(Click on this link to check my YouTube video review on HMT Rajat watches and how to decode their case codes HMT Rajat Automatic full review )

Initially HMT released its automatic watches in 1974 . These were watches with day and date functions/complications and a with a bi-directional automatic watch movement. These were released in three case variants stainless steel,Gold Plated case and anodized aluminium cases. These later became HMT Rajat, HMT Kanchan and HMT Kajal respectively. From 1974-78 HMT used imported movements and parts from Citizen watch company,Japan and assembled watches in India.HMT Rajat was initially released in two variants one as HMT Automatic Day-Date and another one as HMT automatic on the dial and after a few years it was renamed as Rajat but the HMT Automatic and HMT Automatic Day-Date were still in production along with Rajat till the time HMT became capable of making everything in house or through ancillary units in India.These used Bidirectional movements 6906 and and 6901 respectively. 

White Dial HMT Automatic Day-Date Model

HMT Automatic White Dial 

HMT Automatic Day-Date Watch 

HMT Automatic Black Star Dist effect dial

In 1978 factory no 2 was made which made most of HMT Watch components with only a few imported from Citizen watch Company Japan. From 1978 onwards HMT started using 6902 unidirectional movement in its watches with "U" mentioned on their dials near the six o'clock position.

Guilloche pattern HMT Rajat- Unidirectional movement 

Milky white version 

One with exposure to Sun patina/natural color effect 

Off-white dial version 

Different original case variants

Black dial broad indices with red stripes.

 Black dial with different calligraphy of Rajat variant

 Sunburst dial with lumed markers and hands

Lumed indices and hands variant

In the 80s HMT Rajat started getting manufactured with 6500 Bidirectional movement. 

Silver Dial stick indices

Black Dial Stick indices Version

The 6500 got phased out in the early 90sand introduced 8205 bi directional movement. This had a quick set day and date unlike the earlier movements which had only quick set date and non quick.set day movement. These movements were used in Sujay, Dilip, Kailash etc. HMT used an imported 8205 movement for a much refined and bigger in size as Rajat Supreme. The traditional Rajat watch was 36mm in size while Rajat Supreme is 40mm. 

Rajat Supreme

HMT Rajat were also made for institutional orders. I share here ome such model

Service anniversary Rajat watch made for MICO

Let us also understand a bit about an automatic watch movement. An Automatic watch also known as a self-winding watch has its main spring winded by the movement of the wearer’s wrist. The watch has a weight on its back called rotor(Oscillating Masses - The technical Term) which swings like a pendulum. The rotation of this weight by the movement of the wearer’s wrist winds the main spring of the watch movement. The main springs releases this power by uncoiling in a regulated manner to the gears in the movement making the hands and the day/date wheels move in the watch.

In a Uni-Directional watch movement the watch is winded when the rotor moves in one direction only. This direction can be clockwise or counter-clockwise depending upon the calibre. However In a Bi-Directional watch movement the winding happens irrespective of the clockwise and counter-clockwise movement of the wearer’s wrist. The winding of bi-directional watches happens more easily as the rotor would wind the main spring with even a slight movement of the wrist.

The Uni-Directional movement is used more in sports automatic watches as the movement of the wearer’s wrist is more than that of a person sitting on his desk. Thus those who lead a less active life would prefer wearing a dress watch that would use a Bi-Directional watch movement. Also Uni-Directional watch movement are less complicated as compared to a Bi-Directional watch automatic movement.

As I conclude this blog I share with you some vintage Rajat and Automatic advertisements

Image Courtesy - Gangadharan Subramanian

Image courtesy -Internet

Image Courtesy - Srikant Shirodkar

Image Courtesy - Internet