The Keepers of Time

From the early ‘60s they helped India make her own time. Soup spoke to factory workers from the iconic Indian brand HMT about the craft and finesse that once made them timekeepers to the nation.

 This story is brought to you by Bangalore Watch Company.

“My father gave me an HMT Chetan in 1982, a gift for graduating. I still use the watch. You see, it never stopped working,” says Mr Chandra Shekar who went on to work at the HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd.) factory right until it shut down.

 Stories like these aren’t uncommon. Time has been woven into the country’s consciousness since independence with a famous speech that indelibly marked Indians as midnight’s children. It’s quite poetic that the man behind that speech Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was also the one who established the country’s earliest means of keeping time with HMT.

 In 1961 when HMT started operations, it was an attempt at creating a self-sustained economy that met its own needs. Today watches from that era are looked at with the fondness that often accompanies nostalgia. Twitter threads run soft with sentiment when an old HMT ad pops up. Stories of watches gifted at weddings, passed on from fathers to sons, presented at first jobs, last days of service, graduations and bought with first salaries cram the Internet. Indians loved the watches because they signified a momentous occasion in our lives.

A vintage ad perfectly captures the emotional connection HMT made with Indians. Source: classicindianads.blogspot.com

 HMT was also a brand that was warm and personal, like a good-natured family friend. One loyal customer recalls an incident where he was annoyed to discover that in the HMT Sanjay, ‘4’ was represented as ‘IIII’ instead of the correct roman numerals ‘IV’. He remembers writing to the company about this error upon which he received an immediate response from a manager. “Watches are always given the numerals IIII so as not be confused with VI and for symmetrical visual balance,” the manager wrote. The customer was impressed by the pains the company took to personally respond to him and has been devoted to the brand ever since. Others speak of times when HMT watches were in such great demand that pre-orders were made and waiting lists created before the release of a new model. Often people would request for exceptions using ailing fathers/sister’s weddings/ son’s graduations as excuses to get these sought after new models despite the lengthy waiting lists. Sympathetic managers would take these excuses into account and sometimes even make those exceptions.

Mr Chandra Shekar joined HMT in 1987 and stayed on until the company closed down in 2016.

While nostalgia is the overriding sentiment when it comes to Indian made watches from the ‘70s and ‘80s they also stand for solidity and well-honed craft. When an HMT owner tells you his watch still functions today, it is testimony to the quality the company stood for.

But Indians did not know how to engineer or craft watches in 1961, so how did HMT create the quality it was famed for? Employees at the Tumkur and Bangalore branches recall learning from Japanese engineers from Citizen Watch Co. Ltd. who were brought down to India to impart know-how.

 “We were trained by Kikuchi san for six months,” says Mrs AV Vijayalakshmi a 74 year old who first joined the company in 1963. “She was very to-the-point, almost strict, but she taught us well.” Mrs Vijayalakshmi is one of the earlier female employees who worked on assembly at the hair spring section in the Bangalore factory. HMT was one of the largest employers of women at a time when there were hardly any visible at the workplace.

“Women ruled my department,” says another employee from the time Mrs Leela Narasimhan. “There was perhaps one male supervisor who oversaw the section. But we were the queens.” Mrs Narasimhan was also the first woman in her family to work. She credits the joint family system for this just as much as she credits the work atmosphere at HMT. She could work without worrying about the upbringing of her children as there was always someone to divide responsibilities with. After she took up the job, she says other women in the family also found the confidence to work.

These days Mrs Narasimhan enjoys doll-making, knitting and stitching in her free time but ask her if she’d like to work again? “I’d drop everything and go right back,” she exclaims.

Memories from HMT : Mrs Narasimhan liked the HMT Jawahar the best. She’d wind it up at 10 AM every day without fail. This mechanical aspect of winding the watch made her punctual she says.

 Like many other women in her time she worked at sub-assembly in the hair spring department which she describes as ‘the heart of the watch.’ Even though she claims work was a ‘picnic’ the women in this department dedicated eight hours a day to their meticulous tasks.

 The work was indeed rigorous and twice a year eye specialists would check on the women to determine their health and suitability for this specialised job. The ladies however took great pride in being diligent.  Every morning at work they’d set aside the jasmine in their hair and change into freshly laundered uniforms and scarves before entering the hygienic, dust free and air-conditioned department.

 Mrs Vijayalakshmi describes her punishing schedule with the air of a student who occupies the first bench in every class, “I never took a tea or coffee break even though others would. I would just want to work and work and work. Even if someone gave me extra work I’d be happy to do that as well,” she remembers, “I was very sincere.”

Like her peers she misses the camaraderie the women shared. Festivals were particularly memorable, where they’d dress up in colourful silks and look forward to a day of socialising amidst work.

 “I miss work,” says the sprightly 74 year old. 

The environment at HMT was encouraging to women employees who were treated equally and trained in highly skilled tasks. Ultimately each worker cared personally for the watches they assembled.

“We were very careful about our tasks, cleaning and oiling the machine in turns every day. Watching the assembly…before any break, our primary concern was the cleaning and lubrication of the machines,” says Mr Chandra Shekar.

A cheeky message from the brand. Source: classicindianads.blogspot.com

Every worker was keenly attuned to the minutiae of watchmaking. HMT went on to make about 115 million watches but the timepieces were checked and re-checked to make sure they were worth the hard earned money spent on acquiring them. Perhaps it is for this reason that the watches are often referred to as ‘the working man’s time keeper.’ These long lasting watches were money well spent and their popularity was unmatched.

Named like well-loved children Nutan, Sujata, Rajat and Sona were best-selling pieces that came to define elegance and durability. Mr Mallikarjuniah is a soft-spoken but distinguished looking man, dressed in a dark safari suit for the occasion. He remembers a time when the watches created a frenzy in the country. “Many people would want the watches as dowry,” he says in hushed tones. In the glory days of the company he’d often be accosted for watches by friends and relatives as employees got a discount back then.

Just like his peers Mr Mallikarjuniah is partial to mechanical watches, the first HMT watch Janata being his favourite.

In fact most HMT collectors scramble to own these prized mechanical watches. Mrs Murthy, who worked in HMT right from the early ‘60s is one such aficionado. Although she checks time on her cell phone now, the practical Mrs Nagambike Murthy was particularly fond of the watch Nutan which she describes as a ‘modern’ watch in that day. Mechanical watches were well loved perhaps due to the routine of winding up that bound the wearer to his/her piece in many ways.

A worker’s beloved possessions from the past.

 HMT eventually shut down due to internal red tape and failure to keep up with changing market demands but Bangaloreans in particular are permanently woven into the history of this brand. Old employees (the Bangalore division had a formidable number of workers) and the enthusiastic HMT collectors club have cemented Bangalore’s timeless connection with the company.

Mrs Murthy stopped using watches long ago but still shares a timeless bond with HMT that she feels gave her everything she has today. She is pictured in the photo above taken in the ‘90s many years after she started work at HMT.

 Even today, employees like Mrs Murthy recall the familial atmosphere at the Bangalore factory with a sadness they have now come to accept. As the sole breadwinner in a family of five, Mrs Murthy was left to fend for her family after her husband unexpectedly passed away. But work saw her through these tough times. “While going to work I felt like a little girl going to school, I’d forget all my troubles at home.” 

 Long after the company closed doors the timepieces continue to be wound, worn and preserved. Today, the watches have come to tell time that has long passed by but will always be remembered with affection.

This story is brought to you in partnership with Bangalore Watch Co.

Photography: Sameer Raichur

Written by: Meera Ganapathi