EDITALK

TradePost – Enters 68th Year with An Eye on Time & Continuing to Tick!!

Sixty-Seven years ago, in July of 1959, Two Self-Made Visionaries – Late Mr. V.K. Anand and Late Mr. Mihir S. Kharod, embarked on a dream project. It was, to bring out a magazine in the country, that would highlight the Watch & Clock Industry of India. The magazine was named ‘TradePost.’ At the time, there was no watch industry existent in India to name or truly write and speak about, although there was a scanty presence of a handful of clockmaking companies manufacturing clocks in the country. Clockmaking in India though, had in fact begun to transition from imported timepieces to domestic manufacturing, when ‘Scientific,’ this first India-based company, started to produce clocks on a mass scale at Morbi, which lies in the present-day Gujarat State of India, in 1946-1947. On the other hand, actual industrial watchmaking officially commenced in India only in 1961. That milestone was established, when the state-owned enterprise Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) opened the country's first watch factory in Bangalore, in technical collaboration with Japan's Citizen Watch Co. and launched India’s first domestically manufactured mechanical wristwatches. As such, prior to 1961, the Indian market relied entirely on imported Swiss and British timepieces, which were affordable mainly only by the country’s elite. But, despite the intervening gap of two years, which this magazine confronted between its inception in 1959 and the emergence of India’s first watchmaking company HMT in 1961, it somehow managed to stay afloat and survive, by attempting to dig, excavate and report, whatever bits of news it could obtain or gather from anywhere and everywhere, that concerned watches and clocks. However, when watchmaking commenced in the real sense in 1961 with the advent of HMT as India’s first watchmaking company, TradePost never had to look back. An Era had finally begun, and the magazine began to sail smoothly. News reporting about watches and clocks had now turned somewhat better than before, as the magazine steadily found its ground. Meanwhile, news about the industry started to trickle in the interim, as some private watchmakers too, like Jayna Time Industries – Delhi, Indo-French Time Industries – Bombay and Hegde & Golay – Bangalore etc., had cropped up side-by-side between late 1959 and up to the 1980s and also manufactured wristwatches. TradePost was slowly getting to be recognized across India, while it kept writing about Indian watches and clocks with bits thrown in here and there, about Swiss and other international brands too, that were known in India at the time. During these 67 years, the watch industry also faced its ups and downs like the Quartz Crisis which shook the mechanical watchmaking world. Also known as the Quartz Revolution, it was a period in the 1970s and early 1980s when the invention and mass production of electronic quartz movements decimated the traditional mechanical watch industry, particularly in Switzerland. That was the time when the Japanese spearheaded this shift, introducing watches that were categorically superior in accuracy, cheaper to manufacture at scale, and required far less maintenance than classical mechanical timepieces. The upheaval, brought about a threat to the Swiss watchmaking industry, leading to thousands of job losses and widespread bankruptcies. However, it also catalyzed a radical transformation of the industry. Quartz watches flooded the global market. Prices plunged, and Swiss brands—which historically produced 95% of the world’s mechanical watches—failed to react quickly enough. However, in 1983 Swatch played a pivotal role in reviving the Swiss Watch Industry. Facing total collapse, the Swiss banks brought in business consultant Nicolas G. Hayek. However, an expert in finance himself, Mr. Hayek, was convinced that the Swiss watch- manufacturing industry had a future and could regain its competitive edge. He initiated the merger between ASUAG and SSIH to form the SMH (Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries Ltd.) consortium in 1983 - a critical step he took to turn the industry around and its eventual resurrection, Hayek restructured struggling companies and launched Swatch. These colorful, inexpensive, and high-quality Swiss quartz watches became a massive global hit. Profits from Swatch were then used to save and revive luxury mechanical brands like Omega, Blancpain, and Breguet. Meanwhile, time flew, and Titan, the first private sector watchmaking company of India was established in July 1984, as Titan Watches Limited. A Private Sector Revolution thus began. Instead of mechanical watches, Titan mass-produced quartz timepieces. They set up a major manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu (near Bangalore) and revolutionized design and affordability. By then, TradePost had already graduated into a magazine that acted as a bridge between the Industry and the Trade Channels. As a matter of fact, right from Day One when it was founded, TradePost clearly envisioned factual and authentic reporting about watch and clock brands and their products. TradePost witnessed the Quartz Crisis throughout the period it lasted, until the watch and clock Industry revived again and better times resumed. In the interim, many Indian companies came up which also manufactured watches and clocks. But in early 2020, the world was yet again confronted by another crisis – the Covid Endemic, which paralysed the world watch and clockmaking industry, once more. However, despite the down that the world faced caused by Covid, while it lasted, TradePost continued on its mission relentlessly, by infusing positivity and optimism in the minds of both the companies as well as trade channels. And so, as one reflects on these six decades and more that the magazine has lived through, it has not only dwelt on Indian brands, but also reported regularly about International brands emanating from Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, UK, US, Japan and other watch and clockmaking countries. It has kept its readers well-informed about important events taken place in India and across the world as well as about new product launches carried out by different brands from time-to-time. The magazine has reported about technology upgrades as well as design improvements, and more recently also about the premiumisation drive that is underway in India currently, with more and more companies bringing out premium products and moving into the High-End and Luxury product segment. Over the years, TradePost has also visited Global Fairs held in Switzerland, Hong Kong etc, in an effort to bring about general awareness among its readership spread across the country. Above all of these, ever since its inception, in all these years, the magazine has also tried to assist beginners and wannabe entrepreneurs, wanting to step into the horological world or its manufacturing, set up their own enterprises, as well as foreign brands wanting to enter India, connect with the right trade partners and channels, to establish themselves on Indian Soil, while also guiding the market sentiment of already existing companies. Most of all the magazine too, has continued to change itself and its style of presentation, over these 67 years, thus attuning itself to the demand of the passing times. Beyond horological journalism, the magazine went one-step further to institute the India International Watch & Clock Fair – the Samaya Bharatis, which have been regularly held in different metros of India for 56+ years now. As the most eagerly awaited horological event held in India every alternate year, the Samaya Bharati Fairs have kept the Indian Horological Industry and Trade, as well as end-consumers well- informed and abreast, about the developments that have taken place in the World of Horology, over these 5 decades and more. The Fairs have also helped brands from other countries understand, where India has stood, in terms of its own manufacturing prowess, and the kind of products, the end-consumers and audiences of this country, have desired and looked for, from time-to-time. Last of all TradePost also instituted its Annual as well as the ‘Movers of Time’ Awards, a sincere bid generated, in an effort to recognise true talent and reward those individuals and companies, that have performed excellently, over different periods of time. And so, as its steps into its 68th year, spent in the uninterrupted service of ‘Time’, TradePost wishes the Industry and Trade all the Best, while promising to keep up its job, as before, and carry on into a wishfully Happy Future!

Hemal M. Kharod