For Appajappa, a retired General Manager of HMT, life revolves round the clock even after his retirement. He has designed most clocks in the city, including ‘Ambara Chumbana’ inaugurated on Saturday.
“I joined as a foreman and retired as a General Technical Manager at HMT watches. During my service, I have seen the development in designing as well as manufacturing of watches and clocks,” said Appajappa who quit his job at ISRO to join HMT Limited in 1978 in Tumkur.
“I quit my previous job (ISRO) only because HMT company was starting in my hometown,” he said. Appajappa studied engineering from Siddaganga Institute of Technology.
In 1978, Appajappa was sent to Japan to study analogue watch manufacturing. “We started manufacturing automatic watches. Those days, we used to manufacture 8,000 watches per day,” he said.
He was later sent to Switzerland to study electronic watches in 1981. “After a decade, I was transferred to Bangalore unit to design clocks,” he said.
“My assignment was to design Population Clock for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This not only updates time, but also the population count. This was put up near Majestic in Bangalore which is now not functional. A similar clock was designed in New Delhi,” he said.
Later, in 1995, HMT watches introduced solar clock. “We had installed one near GPO, which was removed recently due to Metro work,” Appajappa said. He is also the brain behind the floral clock in Lalbagh, BBMP head office, K R Market main entrance, V V Towers, Raj Bhavan and other places in Bangalore. Huge clocks designed by Appajappa have been now displayed at Manjunathaswamy Temple in Dharmasthala, Krishna Temple in Guruvayur, Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, Mantralayam, Golden Temple in Amritsar and at many other places.
He is designing a huge clock with 25 feet radius for Adichunchanagiri Mutt. “At Bellur Cross, this clock will be put up atop a hill. This clock also has a five-feet doll which comes out of the clock every one hour to beat the drum,” he said.