When HMT Sona spoke to me

The charm of this watch is beyond definition. Not every watch has people rooting for it for generations. Initially when I bought this watch I kept it in my collection as a possession. Never to be worn as I thought it was not something that I could carry with elan.

Then one day the adventurer side of my watch collector personality overpowered my neural intelligence and I ended up with the golden Sona on my wrist. I clearly remember wearing it with a white shirt. I kept it kidnapped under the cuff of my shirt but such is it's aura that it kept oozing out of its confinements.

People who follow my choice of watches every day were quick to observe. "Hey buddy what are you hiding there ?". "Nothing man".."hey guys looks like a special day he is wearing a very special watch." "Ok guys" said I as I gave up " it's a gold plated watch, HMT SONA.. happy now" said I as if I had committed a crime. "Dude!! you know what my father had this watch. It looks super cool. Can you help me get him one". Pretty soon my watch was showered with appreciation. I looked at the watch and she glowed back at me. I heard her say.." you don't carry me off, its the other way round sonny". I smiled back..

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

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.

The Chase Is Better Than The Catch - Not really

I am a fan of Rock Music and there is a famous song from the band Motorhead “The Chase Is Better Than The Catch”. For me though the “The Chase Is as good as The Catch” when it comes to chasing these watches from the bygone era. My quest for HMT watches have taken me on some interesting trips and places. I have met a lot of interesting people on these trips. Sometimes travelling alone and sometimes with a few like-minded HMT watch maniacs. I like to call these trips “HMT Hunting trips” for they are quite similar to a hunting trip. Just like hunting you do not know which trophy you would bag and if at all you would be lucky to get something interesting on a day. You are thrilled every time you bag something great and move on to the next one when you return empty handed.  

Earlier this year I traveled  to Pune. I went to the HMT watches Pune retail showroom to check what I could get from them. The showroom in Pune is close to the Natraj Hotel and had a neglected look. I found the usual display stalls and started browsing through them. There lying in the corner was an HMT Vidhan watch. Boy! I was thrilled, for this was the first time I had seen this watch. I asked the person on the counter if I could inspect this watch. He gave the watch to me and I was stumped by its beauty. I requested him to bill it in my name. I also requested him to show me a few more watches that might not be on the counter. He said that he had one more watch that might be of interest to me. He said he had a black dial pilot watch. I said I already have one and did not fancy adding one more to my collection. He said that this one’s different and with a winner’s smile he placed on the counter top a black pilot watch. Yes, it was different for unlike a normal black pilot watch this one had lumed numerals from 1 to 12 marked on the dial. He said that this is the last piece available with them. Then he told me that it was designed by him. I said…”what…you designed this watch”. “Not only this but the one on your wrist as well” said the man. I was wearing my daily beater the all Hindi Janata (1-12 numerals in Hindi). He went to a corner in the showroom and returned with letters where his design was approved for the watch that I had on my wrist and the one on the counter. I was quite happy to meet the designer of my favorite watch and I could not thank him enough for the joy the watch gave me every day.  

I left the showroom as a contended hunter would, with the trophies I had bagged on that day. As I was travelling back the thought lingered on my mind “The catch was better than the chase today”

 

HMT Sona - The Real Gold

Friends,

I recently visited Tumkur. It is a small town in Karnataka state in India. This city has the HMT watch factory number 4.  The idea behind this trip was to pick up a few rare watches from the HMT retail outlet in Tumkur and also to explore the opportunity of visiting HMT watch factory. I reached HMT retail outlet in Tumkur at around noon time and soon became quite busy talking to the sales officer at the showroom.

They had a good collection of old new stock of HMT hand winding and  automatic watches. I was busy with an HMT Nachiket watch,when a old gentleman entered the showroom. The sales person was talking to him and i gathered from their conversation that he had come to get the battery/cell of his HMT quartz watch to be replaced.

I moved close to that counter to take a look at the watches exhibited in the display unit when the watch on this old man's wrist caught my fancy. It was an old Sona watch. I could not stop myself from asking the gentleman about his watch. He said that the watch has been on his wrist for the last 15 years and has been keeping goodtime ever since he had brought it. He said that it was even better than the quartz watch his son has and he never had to get his watch serviced till date. I could sense the pride in his every word. He suggested me to buy one for myself and i said absolutely sir..

HMT Tumkur retail showroom

The old Gentleman

The old man's Sona watch

The Minister and his faulty HMT watch

This was an incident that was narrated to me by a friend at HMT watches. Quite a few years back HMT watches had a showroom at the parliament street. Those days HMT had it’s showrooms at two places in Delhi - One at the Parliament street and another one at Khan market. But those were in the golden days of HMT watches and now we have only one showroom which is situated in the Jhandewalan extension in New Delhi.

This showroom at parliament street was frequented by aam Indian Janata (normal public), government officials and the politicians alike. One day the store got a call from one of the minister’s who wanted to buy a watch. He informed that his personal assistant or PA as they are popularly known as will come to pick it up on his behalf. The watch was kept ready and the same was bought by the PA on the minister’s behalf .He left in a hurry to take care of his work at the office and to deliver the watch back to his minister. Everybody thought that the transaction was over but the showroom saw the PA visiting them again the day after the watch was purchased. He claimed that the watch was faulty and wanted it to be replaced immediately. HMT issues a guarantee card with each watch purchased by its customers promising the performance of its product. It also promises that if the watch is found faulty the same would be repaired or replaced. The minister’s PA had the guarantee card and since the watch was a day old the store gave him a new watch.

So the PA left the showroom only to return back in a couple of days with the same issue and the watch was again replaced. Another two days passed and this time the minister himself graced the showroom with his esteemed presence. He was fuming with anger. A question was raised immediately by the esteemed minister on the quality of watches manufactured by the company and he shared his worry that if this was the quality of watches sold to the ministers what would be the quality of watches sold to the common Indian citizen.

The HMT staff was quite amused themselves but then kept quite as it was their product that was at fault. One of the HMT staff members from the store asked the minister politely to explain clearly what exactly was the problem he was facing with his watch. The minister fumed “problem…you are asking me what is the problem…the damn thing can’t even work for more than a couple of days. I got the watch on Monday and it stopped on Tuesday night again I got the watch and again it stopped”

The real issue behind the problem then dawned upon the staff members. They took the watch from the minister winded it and the watch started ticking again. The staff then explained to both the minister and his PA how the watch functions and how to keep it running. The minister and the PA left the showroom in a better mood not to return again much to the relief of the HMT staff members.

HMT watch on Mr. Nehru’s Birthday today

 I don’t want this to sound like a school essay. Today is the birth anniversary of Pt. Jawahar lal Nehru. He was the first prime minister of India and was very fond of Children.He considered them to be the future of India. His birth anniversary every year is celebrated as children’s day in India.

Pt. Nehru was a statesman with a vision.In my earlier bog i have written how his vision lead to the formation of HMT watches.He wished to see a watch on every Indian’s wrist. He wanted the watches to be affordable and of a quality that would sustain the climatic variations in India. This dream was fulfilled by HMT watches Ltd.

In 1988, Mr. Nehru’s birth centenary year HMT launched the Nehru birth centenary watch. It’s a beautiful watch with a black n white portrait of Mr. Nehru on its dial with the Indian tricolor in its back ground. It also has the autograph of Mr. Nehru on its dial.

HMT also manufactured the HMT Jawahar watch to pay its respect to Mr. Nehru.

On this day today we pay our tribute to this great man and we hope that his cherished dream keeps ticking on the wrists of HMT Fans.  

This the Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary mechanical watch. Its a 17 jewels winding watch.It took a lot of my time and effort to get this watch. The watch has a few touch-ups.The hour and minutes hands that you see on the watch were actually plain steel in color and the red dots marking the hours were redone. Though i like my watches to be the way they were produced, this is one watch which i really liked with the alterations made by the seller. 

HMT Jawahar

Every watch has a story and HMT watches are more of a rule than an exception.

Its beginning itself is quite interesting. The idea of a poorna Swadeshi (Fully Indian) watch geminated in the mind of India’s first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru when he visited Japan in the post Independence era to improve Bi-lateral ties with them. This was in the 1950s and during this trip to Japan he was gifted a Japanese watch (apparently a Citizen Watch). That is when the idea of making Indian watches came to the mind of the prime Minister who had a revolutionary   outlook towards Indian Industries. Infact he used to call the factories and workshops as the temple of modern India. He laid the foundation stone of HMT watch factory in Bangalore and in 1961 HMT started making watches in collaboration with Citizen Watch Company of Japan with the 0231 movement in its winding watches. Those of you who want to know more about HMT, i suggest you guys to  visit the HMT watches home page and to read through its history.

HMT honoured the vision of Jawaharlal Nehru by creating economic but reliable watches which kept good time and worked well in the diverse Indian climatic conditions.

Here are the pictures of My HMT Jawahar watches. These are mechanical watches and have a 17 jewels winding movement. These watches honour the man behind the HMT watches Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and were popularly known as the student's watch. These are very rare to find these days and I am lucky enough to own four of them