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

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.