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Timekeepers to the Nation
The world's largest watch manufacturer of a time which made over 115 million watches throughout its tenure and put the Indian market on the world platform and over time it was completely bankrupt. HMT Watch Company made watches for ordinary people for daily use.
Hindustan Machine Tools was a government-owned company that manufactured heavy machines. The company did not have the technology or skills to make the finest machinery required for the watch. The company collaborated with a Japanese company - Citizen Watch and started its own manufacturing unit near Bangalore.
Soon after the unit was launched, HMT watches became very popular in India and the company was forced to increase its production. The company started five other manufacturing plants. Import of goods was almost banned due to higher tariffs imposed by government policies of the time. In such times, the company took advantage of the situation and grew rapidly.
Initially, the company made a simple mechanical watch, and then an automatic watch and a quartz watch. In the 60s to 80s, HMT was in high demand. Sometimes, a waiting list for months was generated due to much demand. On the threshold of his fame, HMT was the synonym of watch in India. The company's advertising slogan ‘Timekeepers to the Nation’ seemed to be quite true. It was customary to present HMT watches on every auspicious occasion like marriage, promotion, etc.
In 1984, Tata group started its watch company - Titan, and with this, revenue of HMT began to slow down. Titan entirely focused on the modern and smart quartz clock. At that time, HMT was producing only simple mechanical watches. It took HMT a long time to realize that the Quartz watch was the key to the future, but it was too late.
Gradually, market share of Titan began to grow and HMT's popularity began to decline. In the same years, India had economic reforms and foreign companies entered the market. Indian customers were attracted towards these foreign companies because of the attractive marketing strategies.
Around the year 2000, HMT began to make losses annually and finally, on 1st May 2016, the government closed the loss-making company. Thus, a memorable brand ended, but even today, the horologists still have the same demand for HMT watches.
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