From fighter jets to sweet-shop clocks: The rise of India’s watch microbrands

In November 2025, Vikram Narula, founder of Ajwain Watches, received a call from the Indian Air Force about developing a watch. The Air Force had already prepared a preliminary design and approached other Indian watch companies, but were not impressed with their designs. Vikram suggested changes and asked to meet Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh before the project was finalised.

On December 1, he was given a 10-minute appointment in Delhi, and what followed, was a 45 minute conversation.

The resulting watch was called IAF Kshitij. Its Grade 5 titanium case was shaped to evoke the afterburner of a fighter jet, while an internal rotating world-time bezel and GMT movement replaced the conventional three-hand configuration. India’s GMT+5:30 position was marked with the tricolour. The watch was conceived primarily as a formal gift that the Air Chief could present to counterparts abroad, rather than as an instrument for pilots in the cockpit.

Another Ajwain watch helped shape the project. Vikram happened to be wearing the brand’s commemorative Kakori 8 down watch, whose caseback carries an embossed steam locomotive, when he met the Air Chief. “When the Chief saw the steam locomotive embossed on the caseback, he said, ‘Vikram, can I have the Indian Air Force insignia embossed on the caseback?’”

The official Air Chief version carries four stars and the words “Air Chief Marshal” on the caseback; a civilian edition, without those insignia, is now being planned, with its price undecided, it will be sold next month on their website.

The commission points to a larger shift in India’s watch market. Microbrands selling watches from about ₹1,500 to ₹50,000 and above are finding buyers through small-batch production, imported movements and designs rooted in Indian histories, languages, art and places. What are these young brands getting right, why are collectors buying them, and can this momentum grow into a durable Indian watchmaking ecosystem?

What makes an Indian watch Indian?

There is an immediate complication to the idea of the “Indian” watch. Watch collector Manu Srikumar, whose collection includes more than 100 vintage watches and over 70 HMTs, argues that “Made in India” is therefore too simple a description for much of the microbrand ecosystem.

India does not yet have a manufacturing base capable of producing every component, particularly movements, so brands frequently source internationally while designing and assembling watches here. For instance, the titanium case of IAF Kshitij had to be manufactured overseas because an Indian manufacturer would not be able to produce it to specification. The final watch brings together components sourced from different manufacturers before assembly.

“The movement inside the watch may be Japanese, Swiss or manufactured elsewhere, but the design is increasingly Indian. One takes inspiration from a city, another from a local festival. The watch is being designed around an Indian idea,” says Manu.

That distinction, between where a component is manufactured and where the identity of a watch is created, is increasingly where Indian microbrands are staking their claim.

From micro to luxury

Few brands have pursued that vocabulary as long as Jaipur Watch Company. Founded by Gaurav Mehta in 2013, the company began by placing one-anna, 50-paise and one-rupee coins into watches before moving into postage stamps, hand-painted Pichwai, Odisha filigree and miniature art. Its Raja Ravi Varma collection translated 14 oleographs, including Hans Damayanti, Birth of Shakuntala and Radha in the Moonlight, onto the wrist, while its Baagh series incorporates a 1947 one-rupee coin bearing a walking tiger.

The company has a watch that has Swami Vivekananda’s letter written to Sister Nivedita engraved on its dial. It is also one of the few brands to have an extensive women’s line, including bridal and intricately worked ring watches. That design language has found an audience beyond conventional watch circles. Ed Sheeran wore the Devanagari Baagh on The Great Indian Kapil Show, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been spotted wearing the 1947-coin Roman Baagh

In Bengal, Muhurto began in 2025 with a much more intimate object: the large Cooke & Kelvey clock with Bengali numerals at Bhim Chandra Nag in Bowbazar. Founder Kiran Baidya remembers visiting the sweet shop with her husband and co founder Subhajit Parui, a watch enthusiast, who wished for a wristwatch modelled on the clock. Producing one or two pieces was unviable, so Kiran showed the design to customers of their book business. All 100 were pre-booked within two or three days.

That first watch has since expanded into a catalogue that treats the dial almost as a miniature archive of Bengal. Nayak, dedicated to Uttam Kumar on his birth centenary, draws on Satyajit Ray’s calligraphy; Rabindrik references Abanindranath Tagore’s portrait of Rabindranath as a Baul; Azad Hind combines Netaji’s envisioned map of India, the INA tiger and his Bengali signature; Amitrakshar draws on a rare letter by Michael Madhusudan Dutt; while Bharat Mata adapts Abanindranath’s painting and one of his alpana motifs. Dinlipi incorporates the day and date in Bengali. “Through every watch, we try to represent the art, culture, history and pride of Bengal and Bengalis,” says Kiran.

Further south, Coromandel Watch Company founded by Amit Sudevan and Shibin V.S. in 2024 looks to landscape and coffee. For Shibin, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is part of his commute between Coonoor and Ooty. Its Blue Mountain Edition turns that familiarity into colour: red, yellow and blue recall the train, while white, brown, black and green draw from the clouds, soil, darker mountain landscape and forests of the Nilgiris.

Coffee receives a more playful treatment in the unisex Kaappi Edition. Its textured dial resembles freshly ground coffee, coffee-bean hour markers glow with lume, a spoon-shaped seconds hand crosses the face, and the rose-gold finished case references traditional brass and copper serveware. Turn it over and a davara and tumbler are engraved on the caseback.

For Shibin, the ability to make such details is itself a measure of the company’s evolution. “These are things we could not do when we started because R&D was expensive and we had to work with what manufacturers already had. Now that our production numbers have increased, we can bring much more of our own vision into the watch.”

Why are people buying?

In the space of a month, Santadeep bought two Indian microbrand watches for almost opposite reasons. The first was Delhi Watch Company’s Havelock priced at ₹11,000. Its Gradient Aqua dial, which changes appearance in different light, initially caught his attention; the polished bracelet, clicking bezel, water resistance, sapphire crystal and lume completed the appeal. “The moment you see it in the dark, you are going to fall in love with it ,” he says.

His second purchase, Muhurto’s ₹1,400 Bhim Nag-inspired watch, had little to do with specifications. The Bengali numerals took him back to childhood Durga Pujas, when he would go pandal-hopping with his father and sometimes stop at Bhim Chandra Nag, where his attention would settle on the old clock.

Today, he cannot return to Kolkata every Puja, and his father cannot walk as much as he once did. “It is a piece of Kolkata, a piece of childhood, and the memory of those Puja days spent holding my father’s hand,” says Santadeep.

One watch was bought with the collector’s eye for specifications; the other with memory. Indian microbrands appear increasingly capable of selling both.

From collector circles

Manu remembers an earlier phase when Indian microbrands largely circulated within established collector communities. What he sees changing now is the appearance of individual models capable of breaking beyond enthusiasts.

Delhi Watch Company’s Terra is his clearest example. “It has been appreciated globally, it is distinctive and, at around ₹4,500, affordable to a much larger audience,” he says.

Affordability is only part of the equation. Small production drops, social-media visibility and scarcity are creating their own desire“One person has a Terra and another person wants it. People are willing to pay months in advance even when the watch is still under production,” says Manu.

Among the brands he considers significant are Jaipur Watch Company, Ajwain and Coromandel Watch Company, alongside newer players such as Kala Watch Company and Sebastian Watch Company. He singles out Sebastian for dials inspired by meenakari and Rajasthani art, which are paired with HMT cases and movements.

Manu points out, “Sebastian Watch Company is becoming particularly popular. They use HMT cases and movements, but create their own custom dials inspired by Meenakari and Rajasthani art. That is where a lot of the interest is coming from now.”

For him, the moment a microbrand can repeatedly sell in the thousands marks a change in category. “Once you are able to sell 10,000-plus watches, you are no longer speaking only to collectors.”

Watches for women

Watches designed specifically for women and smaller wrists remain relatively scarce. Vikram attributes this largely to economics: men still make up a bigger proportion of collectors, so young brands with limited capital tend to invest more heavily in men’s lines.

Some brands, however, are beginning to address the gap. Jaipur Watch Company has an extensive women’s collection and a line of watches for Indian brides. Avarth, founded by Sanjana Sarma and Sharan Mukund in January 2026, approached the market with Chandni, a smaller watch with Devanagari numerals and lotus motifs. Its first drop sold out in roughly three days, making Chandni the young brand’s bestseller.

“Chandni made us reconsider who our audience was. We realised there were many women reaching out and saying they wanted more microbrands making watches for them,” echo Sanjana and Sharan. 

For Sanjana, the problem is not simply size. She believes, “Women collectors don’t only want something pretty that matches an outfit. They also want complications. They want a moonphase, a day-date, lume. They want cool and unusual watches too.”

Avarth is consequently developing more watches for women. The opportunity may lie not in shrinking an existing men’s watch, but in reconsidering who gets imagined as a collector in the first place.

Pocketing the past

The appetite for older forms is visible beyond wristwatches. Manu describes a broader shift among younger buyers as “vintage is the new flex”, while Sanjana points to the renewed appeal of analogue cameras and flip phones. Pocket watches appear to be riding the same nostalgia. Bangalore Watch Company’s ₹1.2 lakh The 1947 looks to the first years of independent India, framing the pocket watch around a generation that inherited poverty and the consequences of colonial rule but chose to invest in institutions, education and nation-building. The brand positions the watch as a symbol of that forward-looking ambition, making an old-fashioned object carry a story about imagining the future.

Avarth, meanwhile, is preparing to launch Gandaberunda around Dasara or dussehra, mid October. Named after the two-headed bird associated with Mysore’s Wadiyar dynasty and now Karnataka’s State emblem, the watch is a tribute to Sharan and Sanjana’s home state Karnataka. Its price is yet to be decided.

Future of Indian microbrands

After more than a decade in the business, Gaurav sees the number of new entrants as evidence of genuine demand. “On a weekly basis, I see a new brand opening,” he says. He attributes much of the shift to a younger generation more willing to engage with Indian storytelling. “One generation largely ignored Indian storytelling. This generation is encouraging it and has also been able to convince the previous generation to experiment with these products.”

But proliferation does not guarantee longevity. Gaurav singles out Delhi Watch Company for its design and innovation, but argues that the real test for newer microbrands will come when they attempt to move beyond affordable impulse purchases and command higher prices. “The moment premiumisation starts, many may not sustain unless they evolve. And that evolution has to start now.”

India’s sheer scale, he argues, gives young watch companies room to grow. “India has 150 crore people, which means 150 crore wrists. Our market size is our strength. India is the only watch market that is growing positively. It is growing by around 20-30% per year. The love for analogue watches is there, the love for Indian designs is there. What you need is honest positioning,” says Gaurav

His warning also cuts to the central question of Indian design. Cultural markers alone will not be enough. “You cannot just sell Devanagari numerals on every dial. By printing the numerals, you don’t become Indian. You have to add something more to it.”

India’s microbrand boom, then, is not yet the story of a fully indigenous watchmaking industry. Movements and specialised components still arrive from abroad, production remains small, and many young companies have yet to prove that they can survive beyond their first successful drop. What is emerging more clearly is a design culture: one confident enough to place a sweet-shop clock, a mountain train, a freedom fighter, a cup of coffee or a fighter jet on the wrist and expect someone to recognise a piece of themselves in it.