It started with a Timex my grandma gifted me when I was nine.
The school I went to didn’t allow watches, so I’d come home, take it out of the case, wear it for a few hours, and put it back before the next morning. I kept the case, the warranty card, and the bill. Still have them somewhere.
From school to college I went through a few cheap quartz watches I thought were fashionable. Little did I know.
With my first paycheck I bought a Titan. Seventeen years ago. I don’t wear it anymore but I haven’t been able to give it away either. After that came a Timex, an impulse buy that turned out to be a good one. Black dial, red accents on the buttons. At the time it was my most expensive watch.
My interest in mechanical watches started through GQ. I was a regular reader and the magazine covered luxury timepieces seriously. I’d read those articles and think about what it would feel like to own one. For years that’s as far as it went.
Eventually I bought my first Swiss watch — a Tissot quartz chronograph on a steel bracelet. My least favourite of the collection, mostly because I never got comfortable with steel bracelets. It comes out for weddings and formal occasions and goes straight back.
Then a Fossil, another impulse buy. Wore it daily until the strap broke. While writing this I realised I don’t actually need to replace it with the same strap. That’s probably obvious to everyone else.
In 2019 I bought my first automatic. A Zeppelin LZ129. 35-hour power reserve, cream dial, dome-shaped crystal that makes it look more expensive than it is. Deep brown strap that works with almost anything. This one I’m genuinely fond of.
A year later came the Tissot Seastar Powermatic 80. Love at first sight. Blue dial that shifts shades under sunlight, similar to the Pangong lake. Came on a rubber strap, replaced it with dark brown leather. Daily driver for a few years.
Then the Mido Ocean Star Tribute Gradient. Mido isn’t sold in India, so I asked a friend visiting Dubai to pick one up. The original plan was a Hamilton Murph. It was sold out. The Mido was the backup.
Three years on, it’s the watch I reach for first. The 39mm case sits perfectly on my wrist, soft leather from day one, and it’s been through motorcycle rides, long weekends and ordinary Tuesdays without once feeling out of place. Its character is unhurried, unpretentious. It doesn’t demand attention. It just does its job, quietly, every day.
The next one is already decided. The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch. Part of what draws me to it is the history — worn on all six moon landings, it’s been to places no other watch has. The 42mm stainless steel case, black step dial, dot over 90 on the bezel, driven by the Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861. There’s something about a watch that has that kind of story behind it. It’ll take a few years to get there. That’s fine.
Some watches are worth waiting for.
