THE Desi INDIAN IA NC CONNECT NECT designs Take a look at some of the made-for-india timepieces rolled out by global brands. BY NEHA S. BAJPAI Jaeger-LeCoultre Rendez-Vous Bi-Color F rom maharajas who commissioned Rolls Royce coaches for hunting expeditions to maharanis who ordered Ferragamo s bespoke velvet shoes with pearls on heels and diamond buckles, tales of Indian royalty and their excesses are aplenty. Though not as pernickety as the erstwhile maharajas, new-age luxury connoisseurs in India are fussy enough to push global luxury brands into rolling out made for India products be it Karl Lagerfield s opulent India-inspired collection for Chanel, Judith Leiber s Ganesha minaudières or Christian Louboutin s glittery Bollywood pumps. Making the most of this craze for customisation, some horology biggies, too, have jumped on the bandwagon, dedicating special editions to the Indian market. Last year, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the Rendez-Vous Bi-Color, a ladies watch made exclusively for India. It was the brand s first watch with a two-toned silver and gold strap. The diamond-studded bezel, bi-colour strap and the 1930 s-inspired hour-markers made it, what the company calls, India exclsuive. Jaeger-LeCoultre has a historic and 30 WatchTime India January a 2014 WTI 0114_030 1
Panerai Radiomir 10 Days and Luminor Marina with the Gateway of India engraving on the caseback. emotional tie with India, says Dinesh Aswani, country manager, Jaeger-Le- Coultre. One of our most iconic timepiece, the Reverso, was born here in 1931. The watch has not changed much in over 80 years, but it has adapted and morphed itself to perfectly fit with the changing times. There is no other country as rich in culture and heritage as India, and Indians have many reasons to be proud of their arts and crafts. With the Rendez-Vous Bi-Color, we have ensured something unique, which can be proudly proclaimed as made for India. In November, Officine Panerai celebrated the launch of its first boutique in India with two special-edition watches. Available only in Mumbai, these timepieces have the city s most iconic monument the Gateway of India engraved on the casebacks. The Gateway of India is symbolic for its commemoration of King George V and Queen Mary s visit to India in 1911. It is widely recognised as the gateway of power and majesty, so we decided to have this landmark etched on the special-edition watches, says Milvin George, managing director for Panerai s Middle East, Turkey and India operations. Encased in polished steel, the 44mm Luminor Marina has a classic Panerai black dial decorated with the brand and collection names and a picture of the slow-speed torpedo used by the Royal Italian Navy in the 1940s. While the Luminor Marina is limited to 50 pieces, the Radiomir 10 Days GMT is more exclusive with just 10 units. The 47mm watch comes in a polished steel cushion case and all the elements on the black dial the hour markers, hands, power reserve indicator and the inscription Panerai Radiomir GMT are in ecru Super-LumiNova. Cartier launched the Santos 100 Taj Mahal watch in 2008 to mark the inauguration of its boutique in Delhi. Featuring the Taj Mahal on its dial in onyx, green quartz, mother-of-pearl and diamonds, the stunning, handcrafted watch was an ode to the brand s relationship with India. The watch, priced at `40 lakh, had two rows of diamonds on the bezel. Made of mother-of pearl, the Taj Mahal on the dial was topped by a diamond dome, along with a lot of hand-carved gold, onyx and emerald. Besides creating special editions for the Indian market, some prestige brands are also doing unique, one-off timepieces on request for desi collectors. A couple of years ago, Vacheron Constantin s famed atelier cabinotiers created a Ganesha watch for a client, at an unmentionable price. In 2012, Blancpain made a unique watch with the Taj Mahal engraving on its caseback. The single piece was grabbed by a noted collector within a few months of the launch. This year, the brand plans to unveil a limited edition of the Villeret Demi-Fuseau Horaire a travel watch that allows the second time zone to be set in half-hour increments just for India. Vacheron Contantin, meanwhile, is set for unveiling an India-special watch in February. Though still under wraps, Piaget, too, is planning a grand launch of an India-exclusive collection in March. WatchTime India would bring you more details on that shortly, till then here is a look at some of the exclusive watches made just for India: WHILE VACHERON CONTANTIN IS SET TO UNVEIL AN INDIA-SPECIAL WATCH IN FEBRUARY, PIAGET, TOO, IS PLANNING A GRAND LAUNCH OF AN INDIA-EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION IN MARCH. January 2014 WatchTime India 31 WTI 0114_031 2
THE INDIAN CONNECT Graham Chronofi ghter Oversize GMT +30 India A tribute to India s 67th Independence Day, this watch takes care of the half-hour time difference from GMT and is designed with shades of the Indian tricolour on the dial. While the minutes and seconds counters are displayed in green, the chrono, minute-counter hands and tips of the GMT and GMT +30 hands are in saffron. Equipped with Calibre G1733, the watch is available in a 47mm stainless-steel and red-gold case. The aesthetics of the watch are enhanced by an elaborate black sapphire bezel and a large, see-through sapphire caseback. The watch has a 48-hour power reserve and is water-resistant to 330m. Girard Perregaux WW.TC Financial Bombay Stock Exchange Unveiled at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in 2008, this watch indicates the time around the world as well as the business hours of major stock markets. The brand dedicated the model to India by showcasing Bombay on the dial. Available in a 43mm pink-gold case, the piece is equipped with Calibre GP033C0 and has a 46-hour power reserve. 32 WatchTime India January 2014 WTI 0114_032 3
Dior Christal 8 In 2010, Dior launched the Christal 8 Mother of Pearl as a special Mumbai Edition, since the watch has the city as one of the eight time zones depicted on a disc at the 10 o clock mark. The timepiece showcases the neo-louis XVI style, which is visible in the detailed engraving on the grey mother-of-pearl dial. A golden ring surrounds the inner dial, which has the hour-markers. The number 8 has a special significance for the brand, as it was fashion designer and founder Christian Dior s lucky charm. This watch displays eight time zones simultaneously and a direct day/night reading in these zones. The bezel is fully paved with diamonds and the caseback reproduces the pattern of the dial along with a gold oscillating weight studded with precious stones and mother-ofpearl marquetry. Seiko Lord Collection About two years ago, Seiko unveiled tailor-made watches for the Indian market. According to the brand, the design inputs for the Lord collection were sourced locally and sent to Japan for incorporation into references. We wanted to reinforce our commitment of providing cutting-edge technology watches for the luxury market in India and this collection has helped us establish the same, says Niladri Mazumdar, vice-president, Seiko Watch India Pvt. Ltd. The interesting part is that after we created the Lord collection, Indonesia, South America and Russia also expressed an interest in the same. Rarely does an international company selling in 120 countries make an India-centric product. January 2014 WatchTime India 33 WTI 0114_033 4
THE INDIAN CONNECT Royal insignia Vacheron Constantin, the niche Swiss watch brand, first heard from the Indian shores in 1849. Twenty years later, the founder s grandson, John Roux, travelled to Mumbai, spent three years mapping the markets for business and returned to Geneva in 1872 with numerous orders. In the following years, many exquisite timepieces by the brand were ordered by the royalty, such as the maharajas of Jammu and Kashmir, Dholpur and Patiala. In 1909, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala commissioned Vacheron Constantin to make an exclusive pocketwatch for him. Equipped with an alarm and chronograph function, the timepiece cleared the chronometer tests of the Geneva and Teddington Observatories, and was duly delivered to the maharaja. Known for his fetish for jewellery, the maharaja also ordered a bracelet watch from Vacheron Constantin in 1916. The timepiece featured an open-worked, engraved case, embellished with bead-set diamonds and millegrain decoration. Bhupinder Singh, maharaja of Patiala, was a luxury watch connoisseur. Vacheron Constantin s pocketwatch with a perpetual calendar; (below) the bracelet watch with an open-worked case was made for the maharaja of Patiala in 1916. 34 WatchTime Wt India January 2014 WTI 0114_034 5
Tag Heuer India Racing Edition Last year, Tag Heuer celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Carrera collection, conceived as a result of Jack Heuer s passion for motor racing. Deriving its name from the gruelling Carrera Panamericana race, an annual feature in southern Mexico, the brand launched the Carrera range in 1963. With the Formula One making inroads into India in 2011, Tag Heuer took its love for motor sports a notch higher by launching an India Racing Edition timepiece the Carrera Tachymeter Chronograph restricted to 200 pieces. The black dial with silver hour-markers comes with sub-dials at 12 o clock and 6 o clock. The highlight of this watch was the Buddh International Circuit logo in white placed between 8 o clock and 9 o clock, along with the race track symbol in saffron and green. Priced at `1,99,000, this watch paid tribute to the Indian flag as the country hosted its first F1 race. The seconds hand and the stitching on the black leather strap in bright orange stood out against the black backdrop. Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda Hémisphères One of the more popular versions in the Tonda Hémisphères collection, this watch is significant to the Indian market because of the simple-to-use second time zone display with hours and minutes. The watch allows the wearer to set the second time zone to the precise minute, especially for countries like India, Australia and Nepal, which have half-hour or threequarter-hour time differences from GMT. Equipped with Calibre PF 337, the watch has two crowns on the right side of the case, one for setting the time zone and the other for winding the movement, and correcting the date and local time. The Tonda Hémisphères has two day/night indicators for the local time and the second time zone. The model also includes the small seconds display at 6 o clock and date display at 9 o clock. January ar 2014 WatchTime India 35 WTI 0114_035 6
THE INDIAN IA NC CONNECT CT Frederique Constant Classics Indian Dial Watch Dedicated to the Devanagri script, this watch was the brainchild of Sebastien Cretegney, international sales director, Frederique Constant, who fell in love with the script on one of his trips to Dubai. I was intrigued by the details in the long-stroke numbers on vehicle plates in Dubai, says Cretegney. I started searching online, and discovered that the Arabic numbers were inspired by the Devanagri script. I read more about it and was fascinated with the fact that it is the root of many global languages. Launched in 2011, the Indian Dial Watch was developed over two years and the most challenging bit, according to the brand, was to get the calendar numbers right. Available in 40mm stainless steel (`59,000) or gold-plated case (`70,000), this watch became a hit in India and the Middle East and west Asia. Hermes Cape Cod Email Grand Feu An extension of Hermes s spring-summer theme Hermes Orange India Pink, this watch was launched in 2008. The squarish, 37mm rose-gold timepiece had paisley and flower motifs in orange on the dial. Equipped with Calibre H1928, the watch offered a 55-hour power reserve and was priced at `4.5 lakh. 36 WatchTime Wt India January a 2014 WTI 0114_036 7
Reverso s Indian roots During a trip to India in 1931, César de Trey, a distributor of Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, met some old friends who were British army officers. Those polo enthusiasts challenged their Swiss mate to create a watch capable of withstanding the hard knocks sustained during their favourite pastime. De Trey shared his project with his associate, Jacques-David LeCoultre. Then was born the Reverso, a name inspired by I turn around in Latin. A simple gesture enabled the wearer to swivel the case in its carrier to protect the watch glass. And the caseback could be personalised. Proving to be far more than just a rugged sports watch, the Reverso soon won over a refined, cosmopolitan clientele and became a grand Art Deco classic. India was also the inspiration for the first enamelled Reverso. A 1936 Reverso portraying an Indian woman, whose identity remains unknown, and a timepiece depicting Lord Rama made in 1949 are two fine examples. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso portraying an unknown Indian woman was made in 1936. Far more than just a rugged sports watch, the Reverso became a grand Art Deco classic. January ar 2014 WatchTime Wt India 37 WTI 0114_037 8