Story of a Watch

First time I wore a watch was when I became a college boy. An uncle had come visiting us when I was in my first year. This uncle has special importance in my life. He was my mentor, tutor, guide, apart from being the toughest uncle – everything rolled into one, right from my childhood. He had thrashed me umpteen times on various occasions of indiscipline. He just unclasped his Favre Leuba watch and handed it over. A simple, no-frills watch.

By the time I completed the degree, the watch had become defective. After repairs a couple of times, the watch repairer in Parry’s Corner, gave up; I don’t remember why. For a long while the watch was in the house and I don’t know when and how it disappeared. More so because our father used to attempt watch repairs himself.

When I joined the Army, HMT watches were issued to the Units. HMT Watch was itself in the nascent stages at that time, in collaboration with Citizen. The issued watches had cat/part numbers. On the dials was the unique “broad arrow” mark. The arrow sign, which may not be broad always, said that it is a military property. There were even pencils issued as part of stationery, with the arrow mark! All these issues of minor and common items have been done away, over a period of time. These broad arrow marks, or BA marks as they are called in short, are visible on any military vehicle. Military vehicle numbers are referred to as BA Numbers; not Registered numbers.

The watches thus issued, however, were not for Officers. The issues were meant for certain specific appointments and hence a few in number. Every Unit, however, could place a demand on the CSD canteen for private watches. Such watches would not have the BA mark. The personnel who wanted watches were to register their names along with the name of the watch desired. Every watch had a name. Janata, Jawan, Sona, Pilot etc. It was not that you receive from CSD, the exact numbers and models you demanded. There was always a variance. Hence on receipt of the watches, often a lottery had to be held. Of all the models, Pilot was the rarest.

In my first Unit, I too put in my name for a Pilot watch. That was the only model that had a black dial and only black. There was no white dial Pilot. 12 was the only numeral on it. Radium dots indicated the rest of the numeral places except for 3, 6 and 9, which had rectangular bands. The minute and hour hands also had radium. Radium helped in night vision. The dial had a dome shape. The casing was large, and it was a mechanically wound watch.

Anyone could buy a watch from the CSD directly too. Officers usually did that. Even there, one had to put in the demand and await the arrival. Therefore, there was never any watch in stock to be picked up, off the shelf! The wait could be excruciatingly long to get a specific watch like Pilot, which was high in demand and short in supply. In case I went through CSD and the number of Officers who demanded Pilot was more than the pieces received, then mostly seniority worked. As a piddly Lt, I had slim chances of getting one. That is why I took the route of my Unit.

Apart from me, there was one NCO also who had placed his demand for a Pilot. When the Unit received the watches, there was only one Pilot in it. Now, there were two of us and one watch. I offered to use the lucky dip between us. But all the JCOs and senior NCOs and even my competitor NCO said that I must take it. The concerned NCO could wait for the next lot. I did not want it to be given to me, just because I was an Officer. I thought that was an unfair act akin to misuse of authority. But when the men insisted, I took it though with guilt pricking me.

We were only two Officers in the Unit at that time. My OC and I. During the time of receipt of the watches, the OC was on leave. When he re-joined, I told him about this incident as part of the briefing about the happenings in the Unit during his absence. He rapped me on the knuckles for not giving it to the NCO. I knew he was right. When I suggested the lottery to my men, I was looking at a 50-50 chance. Now, I offered to give it to the NCO. But the OC allowed me to keep it, that being my first watch in Service bought with my own money. If I remember right, the cost of the watch was around Rs 120. The year was 1970.

In 1978, in a small watch shop in Joshimat, I bought a thick stainless-steel strap for the watch for Rs 14. It was an original HMT strap. It remained scratch-free for years! I was surprised to get that strap in such a small shop, in such a small town.

The watch underwent hardly any repair over the years. It lasted me over a quarter of a century in immaculate condition. I happened to have a couple of more watches, mostly as gifts, during this period. Wanting to preserve the Pilot, its use became minimal. As usually happens for anything preserved safely for long, once when I looked for it, wanting to use it again, it seemed to have evaporated!

The iconic HMT Pilot black dial watch is now a collector’s item! Though in the second birth HMT Watches have brought in variations, none of them matches the original’s uniqueness.