BENGALURU: Though the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) closed down its operations in January 2016, the brand will always live in people’s heart. To build awareness on the brand, Prashant Pandey, an IT professional, founded HMT Watch Collectors Group in 2013. The group celebrates the legacy of the HMT watches and shares personal story related to the watch among the group members.
The group started with about seven to ten members. It now has more than a thousand members from around the world. The members come from varied backgrounds — from students, IT professionals to doctors and businessmen. “About 300 of them are from Bengaluru alone”, says Prashant Pandey.
He says, “The aim of the group is to create awareness about the HMT watches in India and the world. When it comes to Indian brand, the only one we can think of is HMT — as they are of good quality and are affordable. The company started manufacturing watches in 1953. I don’t think there is any other developing country nearby that produces its own watch.”
The selection of the members is done diligently. “We check if the person is genuinely interested in the watch brand. We go through their Facebook profiles and other pages to see if they have posted anything about the watches.”
When Sharath S Namburi, a fashion designer and businessman posted one of the print advertisements of HMT from 1979 on a Facebook page, Prashant noticed it and sent him a friend request. After interacting with him, Sharath got to know about the group and joined it. An antiquarian, he has been collecting HMT watches for eight years. His first HMT watch was gifted to him by his parents when he turned 11. “I still have it with me and it is brand new. It is a piece of Indian history and heritage,” he says.
The group meets every month to discuss about the rare watches and their collection. Rupesh R Patil, a businessman says, “We get to know about the rare watches during meetups. If someone owns one or has bought one recently, he tells us about the unique features of the watch. Every month, we come up with a theme for discussion -- like automatic watches or mechanical watches.”
The meetups have been a learning experience for the members. Rupesh says, “There are lots of fake watches in the market. I learned how to distinguish between a fake and a real one.” Sharath is confident that he has learned so much that he can also guide anybody else now. “After the brand was brought down, it’s demand has increased,” says Sharath.
A homeopathy doctor, Poornima Prabhu feels nostalgic about the brand. “With the government’s Make in India initiative, they should also have boosted the HMT brand. It is something we have all grown up with. If you look at the people in blue collar jobs, they still wear HMT watches,” she says.
Recommendations for the Chief Minister
◆ HMT Karnataka Divas watch. That is gold plated
◆ HMT Janata watch as the word Janata stands for people.
◆ HMT Pragati as
pragati means progress
◆ HMT Swarna Watch which was produced to celebrate the 50th Independence day of India. It has Satyamev Jayate inscribed on it.
Interesting facts about HMT
◆ HMT had watches that were given Indian names like HMT Prashant, HMT Akhil, HMT Sujata.
◆ HMT Sujata was named after Sujata, a receptionist at the HMT factory, who was appreciated for her work. This was the first model for ladies.
◆ HMT Rocket watch was
produced in the early 90s to celebrate the successful launch
of INSAT (Indian Satellite). It had
a picture of the rocket and satellite.
◆ HMT Appu watch was made in 1982 at the Bangalore factory to commemorate the Asian Games organised in Delhi.
◆ It is said that every groom also demanded an HMT watch along with the dowry in the 1960s and 1970s.