?Wear a watch for time keeping first? : H G Raghunath

By Papri Das

Light years, speed, a day, hours, minutes, and seconds -- for centuries, men have been fascinated with time keepers. And amongst them, analog watches have been a symbol of achievement and progress for the eclectic man, and has survived the digital era quite remarkably. Even after the launch of iWatch, which was widely expected to eat into the market for premium watches, analogs made by Swiss companies still thrive. The reason being the time, effort and sheer skill that goes into making these complicated time keeping machines, and Titan Company Limited, Watches and Accessories Division, CEO H G Raghunath can personally vouch for it.

Raghunath has been associated with Titan for over 38 years, and as he retires from his services on 30 June, he reflects over his journey with a heavy heart. ?I have worked with the organisation over three decades now and each day has been full of memories I will cherish for a lifetime. It?s been a wonderful journey so far,? says the avid watch aficionado.

When it comes to time keepers, Raghunath?s philosophy is simple ? to each is their own.

?Every person has a different evaluation of time as literally speaking it is the time elapsed between one action and another. Therefore watch makers continue to come up with new and innovate ways to represent time,? shares Raghunath, when Exec Life caught up with him at the launch of Titan?s new premium range of Moon Phase watches, Celestial Time.

Taking the moon phase as an example, Raghunath further explains, ?These types to watches have high precision movements and it is not possible for an ordinary person to put it together. A complete watch is a piece of art. Movements are to watches what engine is to cars. Inside a car the engine will have ordinary gears, auto transmission, four wheel drivers, etc. In a watch all that is visible ? that allows you to check time by hour, minute, second, days, years and even use the chronogram to measure each event separately. In a moon phase watch, as you approach towards the New moon day, the moon one can see through the case visibly wanes in a fortnight, and the similar process is repeated for the full moon day, where the moon grows. Now it might sound simple but each brand has its own unique way to build a moon phase watch, and so does Titan.?

Priced between Rs 12,000 - 15,000, Titan?s exclusive range of moon phase watches are aimed at the young batch of entrepreneurs and below 30 CEOs who represent the new India.

An avid collector of time keepers, Raghunath owns 73 watches till date including the new rosewood coloured moon phase watches. ?My first ever watch was gifted to me by my parents. But the first watch that I owned was a Titan watch, which I bought after joining the company. My family and I have an affinity for watches. My two daughters love flaunting their watches and they carry all the watches, which I have collected as well. My favourite so far is the one is the classical gold plated Edge by Titan, which my wife has bought for me.?

When asked to recommend a watch for the young men out their who want to cultivate their taste in fine luxury watches, Raghunath gives a simple tip. ?Wear a watch for time keeping first, and then as a fashion accessory. It will help you respect others? time as well as your own.?