Happy new Year everyone…………
Watchbazar has been reviewing the past over the festive season and we couldn not resist sharing our views on the HMT
Hindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the Goverment opf India as a machine tool manufacturing company. Over the years diversified into Watches,, Tractors, Printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting & plastic processing machinery, CNC systems & bearings. HMT is headquartered at Bangalore . Successful technology absorption in all product groups through collaborations with world-renowned manufacturers and further strengthened by continuous in-house R&D.
In the year 1961, HMT set up a watch manufacturing Unit at Bangalore in collaboration with M/s Citizen Watch Co., Japan. The first batch of Hand Wound Wrist Watches manufactured at this factory was released by the then Prime Minister of India,Jawharlal Nehru . The most popular mechanical hand wound watch is HMT Janata. There are also other mechanical watches like HMT Pilot, HMT Jhalak (Semi Skeletal), HMT Sona, HMT Braile.
HMT Janata.
HMT Braille watch for visually impaired
HMT Jhalak, the semi skeletal beauty from HMT
In 1972, HMT expanded its watch manufacturing capacity with a set up alongside the Bangalore Factory to manufacture additional watches. In 1975, Watch factory at Bangalore was further expanded to manufacture Main Spring, Hair spring and Shock absorber components.HMT set up additional manufacturing facilities to produce watch components sets at Tumkur and Ranibagh in the year 1978 and 1985 respectively. Watch factory at Tumkur was partially converted to manufacture Quartz Analog Watches in collaboration with M/S Citizen Watch Co, Japan. To cater to the Niche market, a specialized watch case manufacturing facility was set up at Bangalore in 1983.
Since 1985, HMT Watches has been involved in making Floral Clocks, Solar Clocks, International Clocks and Tower Clocks, most popular among them being the Garden clock in Bangalore. In the year 2000, HMT Watch Business group was re-structured as HMT Watches Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HMT Limited.
Sadly on January 6, 2016, the Union government of India announced the closure of HMT Watches Ltd ,but the legend lives on among collectors and watch enthusiast .
