What's the time now ? - do you have a wrist-watch !!

Modern day youngsters may not really understand many a thing – one of that is the importance of watch ~ a wrist watch was a luxury till about 5+ decades ago… only college goers and rich  were blessed with wrist watches!! ~ HMT ruled the roost… the most common Q that one to put to the other on the road was ‘may I know what the time is ?’ ~ now the Q is ‘where are you ?’ [everyone talking on mobile on street and perhaps mostly asking the other person as to where he / she is ?] [ in Cinema, if one were to speak to a girl – Q – what is the time ?] ~ and mobiles have effectively replaced the wrist watches !!

 

Wearing wrist watches were customary – they were to be hand wound, automatic watches were costlier.  MG Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu's former chief minister and founder of AIADMK, was laid to rest at Marina beach in his iconic attire, complete with his fur cap, dark shades, and his famous Seiko watch.  He used to wear watch in his right hand !!   In years to come, believers swore that MGR's watch could be heard ticking from beyond the grave, a sentiment expressed in Vada Chennai movie too !! 

Ratan Tata, an inspirational personality, industrialist,  was known for his massive philanthropic work through Tata Trusts. He invested a significant portion of his wealth in promising new businesses. His calm and balanced demeanor was refreshing to witness. He wore a simple  watch symbolizing  time-tested resilience, powered by the reliable Swiss Ronda 515 Quartz movement. It has a plastic case with a press-on back, with the unbalanced weight providing extra security for the crown. 

At home, have seen some elders have the time in watch set a few minutes faster – that way – one could get a warning they would say .. .. I always wonder whether that will work at all – when one is aware that the clock is running 10 mins or so faster, would not we always reckon that extra time and somehow contrive to be late ! 

Its jingle would proclaim that it is the place that people have been buying timepieces for ages ‘kaalam, kaalamaga makkal kadigaram vangum idam PORR & Sons’.  I remember the day in 1979 when my Grandfather gifted me a HMT watch for getting good marks in SSLC (X Std) examination, bought at this place.    

In Triplicane and in every part of Chennai, there were watch repairers.  On Big Street, as we walked to school, Gopal Watch Company was prominent.   Next to my home at 12 TP Koil Street, there was a watch repairer in a shop admeasuring 14 x 10 ! .. .. in mid 1970s, the old gentleman closed his shop around 9 pm, had a soda at Ganganna mantap shop – went home to sleep for ever.  His daughter opened the shop and sat there for a few days, later to handover it to another watch repairer.  Md Ghaznavi opened a watch shop with nameboard ‘Sandoz Watch Co’ (Ex repairer of PORR or was it Gani ?] – my student days were spent sitting idle in this watch shop and in the two wheeler mechanic shop on the same building [Damu, mechanic].  Both the shops were busy.  People would come with the handwatches, alarm clocks, big wall clocks for repair.  Ghaznavi would open them – the mechanism was intriguing, overhaul them .. .. while Damu would be busy in attending to Lambrettas, Jawas and few mopeds – mostly starting trouble, carburetor / spark plug cleaning, gear / accelerator wire getting cut and the like.

 

Now people either buy smart watches / sport watches or luxury watches – the common ones have gone out of the market. If you're buying a new watch, be it your first or your fifteenth, it'd be good to know what the best new watches on offer are! -  the sheer volume of choice is insane.   

If you want to make a bit of noise about a big occasion, the colour purple is always a good place to start. Watches of Switzerland agrees as to mark 100 years influencing the watch world immeasurably (the luxury retailer has helped to get more watches on more people’s wrists), Ulysee Nardin has rustled up 10 celebratory Freak S 45mm beasts. Few watchmakers are more avant-garde in their designs these days than Ulysee Nardin, whose Freak model (no dial, no hands, no crown) has become something of a modern icon for younger watch brands to aspire to.  You should be prepared to spend a few lakhs on them.

 

Typically, mechanical watches hide their workings under a dial. But the Freak has no dial. Its movement doubles as its minute hand, while the hour hand is a pointer set on a rotating disc that sits under the movement.  The unconventional Freak has neither a big hand nor a little hand. Instead, its one-hour orbital carrousel tourbillon becomes the minute hand, and the hour hand is replaced by a pointer on a rotating disc. A challenging design, but easy to read.

 

Here are couple of advertisements found in Tamil magazine ‘India’ owned by Mandayam family (Thirumalachariyar and Srinivasachariyar) – one about a Gold ring and another Silver watch – in an issue more than 100 years old – photographed from the original issue – courtesy MA Narasimhan, Triplicane.

 

Interesting !

 

With regards – S Sampathkumar

14.10.2024