BENGALURU : Ponnappa I G seems like your regular Bengalurean. He is 40 years-old and an IT employee. However a hobby that sets him apart is his love for old mechanical watches. Most of these are HMT watches and any memorabilia related to them. Ponnappa has a big collection of around 1,600 watches. His craze for HMT watches started when he was a kid.
He has some rare watches from brand such as Excel, Tarus, Sweekar, Pinaki Sona Skeleton, HMT
Citizen. Ponnappa is also particularly fond of watches of the HMT’s Janata series such as the Janata gold indices and Lumed Janata indices that are a part of his collection. “My dad was an employee in HMT and I was born and brought up around the HMT quaters and factory. It got me fascinated for anything related to HMT,” says Ponnappa.
After he passed his 10th standard, he bought the Quartz HMT Roman. He would go on to buy many different watches. “The simplicity of HMT watches is something that I am really fond of. This inspired me to further develop a collection based on the brand exploring its variants, different models, patterns, colors. A watch is a lot more than just time,” he says. Ponnappa further adds, “As a child I never understood how watches worked internally. My knowledge was limited to hearing the ticking and admiring its design.” Asked about his collections and Ponnappa says, “I brought them from showrooms, sales, old watch shops around India and also from Japan. My friends also helped me a lot.” Ponnappa has travelled to many places and met a lot of people just to get particular watches.
“There are few watches which can never ever loose its sheen and charm even with time.
Today, watches are rarely used. Cellphones have replaced them. Now these are more of fashion statements than for actual use. It has become more of a status symbol and people go only after the big brands,” he adds.