Of all the 600 watches he possesses, Punthalathazham Biju from Kollam has a special fondness for a vintage Seiko Diashock 17 Jewels manual men’s watch. He wears this 57-year-old watch every day; ritually winding it every morning. The watch belongs to his father, Shanmughan Pillai, 82, who bought it when he was 25 years old. “In those days, most of these watches were brought here by people who worked in West Asia. My father saw this watch on someone, fell in love with it and bought it for ₹250,” he says. As the years rolled by and life took over, the watch was forgotten. When the house was being renovated a couple of years ago, Biju stumbled upon the vintage beauty and decided to restore it.
He found a mechanic who managed to find the parts. “It took over a month and a half, but when I gifted it to my father, he was overjoyed. He, of course, gifted it back to me and I wear it to this day,” says Biju, who works at the Kerala Water Authority. Fascinated by mechanical watches, he began collecting watches with serious interest.
Biju is part of a Kerala collective TimeGraphers, which was formed in 2019, as a platform for watch lovers to bond over their passion for timepieces. Today, TimeGraphers has grown into a dynamic group with over 2,000 members, divided across three zones of the State — north, central and south, which hold independent meet-ups. It has members across age groups as well — while the youngest is 16, the oldest member is well into his sixties. Even as smart watches have flooded the market, these watch lovers hold on to timepieces from the past, delighting in their quaint, old-world ways.
Sohan Balachandran, who founded TimeGraphers, says the idea was to create a platform for people from Kerala to discuss, share and find information about watches. While watch lovers communities are aplenty across India, there are few established ones in Kerala. Soon after the collective was formed, it released a limited-edition watch, Nazhika, in 2020, which indicated the Malayalam unit of time. “One nazhika is 24 minutes — the time taken for the earth to complete a rotation of 6 degrees,” says Sohan. As a tribute to Kerala, the team designed a dial. “We had markings for nazhika as well as the Indian Standard Time in Malayalam numerals,” says Sohan.
Every component of the minimalist, mechanical watch was recycled or upcycled and the straps we used were of vegan leather. “This was an attempt to engage the watch makers, who were out of work during COVID-19,” says Sohan. The team approached individual watchmakers and got the pieces assembled in Mumbai. The limited edition series had 40 pieces, each of which were bought by the members. Sohan, who is currently pursuing his MBA in Data Science and AI at IIT Mandi, says he has been fascinated by complications found in mechanical watches.
For Shaba K Jabaz, who runs Seiko’s national service centre in Kochi, it was amusing to find similar watch lovers through TimeGraphers. “I had no idea that Kerala had such a thriving community of watch lovers,” she says. Ever since her childhood, Shaba had nurtured a special liking for watches. She would go to her father’s repair shop, which she eventually inherited from him. “Though I don’t know how to repair a watch, I can identify the problem.” Shaba is planning to undergo hands-on training to learn about the technical aspects of watch repairing.
The craftsmanship of a watch is what draws Dilip Maniyappan to it. Dilip, who works for a brand design company in Bengaluru, says he enjoys watching videos of how to make watches. He designed the font for TimeGrapher’s Nazhika dial and its logo. Dilip cherishes the experience of being a part of a concept watch such as Nazhika. “Being a part of a group such as this, one learns so much about a watch — its horological history, the art, the craftsmanship….”
It isn’t just the vintage or the luxury watches that hog all the attention in the group. “It is an inclusive space where every watch is appreciated,” says Sohan, whose own favourite is a simple Casio F 91, which costs ₹800. “This one receives the same appreciation as a watch that costs ₹25 lakh,” he says.
TimeGraphers has a few more watches planned — one that is based on aviation; a chronograph as a tribute to the Kerala boat races and one with a dial made of the famed Aranmula mirror, says Sohan.
TimeGraphers is on Instagram @time.graphers, Facebook and Whatsapp.
