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

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Watches from several Indian microbrands | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement, Shreya Banerjee

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.

Ajwain’s IAF Kshitij watch | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement, Shreya Banerjee

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?’”

Vikram Narula with Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet | Photo Credit: Indian Air Force

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 Kakori 8 down watch is a commemorative watch marks the centenary of the Kakori Train Action of August 9, 1925, when Indian revolutionaries held up a train near Lucknow as part of the resistance against British rule. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement, Shreya Banerjee

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?

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.