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

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

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