Watch Enthusiasts of India GTG - Mumbai

A watch GTG is always great - like minded people meet up and talk about stuff that most people normally react to as "why do you need more than one watch?" Oh and there was booze and good food, so that's as good an excuse to attend.

Some of you may have read my earlier post on an earlier GTG for us watch enthusiasts in India, if not, you can check it out here.

This time we are in Mumbai, the financial capital of India and also the city I reside in :)

December is a great time to visit Mumbai as the weather tends to get pretty pleasant (at least when compared to the summers here).The date was 17th December, and after a lot of searching around we managed to find a restaurant that was willing to give us a private dining area big enough for 15-20 people. We were 15 of us in total, so this worked out great. While most of the WISes that attended this event were from Mumbai, we did have a few who could join us from other cities as well.

The official time for the GTG was set at 7pm, but that didn't stop some of us from starting quite a bit early. A few of the attendees planned a tour of different watch shops and ADs all over the city. I unfortunately had a few chores to take care of, so I couldn't join them.

At around 5:30pm I met up with a fellow watch enthusiast from Delhi for a couple of beers. He was wearing a very cool Speedy that I had seen pics of earlier and couldn't wait to try on.

The traffic in this city can get quite bad, especially on a Saturday evening, so we called for a cab and headed to the venue. Coincidently, we all reached at the same time which meant no waiting around, the GTG was ON!

Before I start, a quick disclaimer: there wasn't too much light in the private dining room at the venue. We asked the manager if he could arrange for some more lights but were told that there was another event happening and they were using up all the spotlights . So the pics aren't the best, but thankfully this time I had a better phone camera.

One by one the watch boxes were set on the table and soon we had more watches in the room than comments on a Rolex vs Omega thread (it's funny if you are on a watch forum)!

We had, Seiko, Rolex, Omega, Grand Seiko, Universal Geneve, IWC, Panerai, Longines, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Orient, H2O, Laco, HMT, Casio, many more interesting brands....oh and an Apple Watch.

OK, enough talk, time for some pics...

A pleasant surprise, a fellow WUS member put his gorgeous vintage Longines on a strap made by me.

It looked great! Yay!

moving on..

This G-Shock was my fav watch from the GTG:

Someone brought along a small UV light and we all went crazy trying to charge the lume on our watches. And because of the dim light, the lume really showed.

As you can probably tell, I did not get the time to try on all the watches :(

Some of the guys brought along some stuff to giveaway (SWAG time), these included watch straps, books and even some awesome personalised mugs (courtesy Reggie - WUS member RejiTJoseph).

Seriously, so awesome!

A big thanks to Karan and Abhishek (WUS members phoenix844884 and Sunn27 respectively) for taking the initiative to make this GTG happen. We all had a fantastic time! Until next time, this is Crazyfingers signing out.

So I decided to check the power reserve on my Submariner

Last week, I decided to wear the Sub to work and since I hadn't worn it for a few day, gave it a little shake to get it ticking. After setting the time, I immediately put it on my wrist - I did not wind it a few times as I normally do. After work I came back and took the watch off as I wanted to play a little badminton. Nothing interesting so far, until I got up the next morning to see that my watch had stopped.

Honestly it was quite a bit scary at first. I tried recalling what I did the previous day and whether I had moved my wrist enough or not. I then realised that I probably hadn't (didn't drive either and took a nap on the way home). Regardless, I was still very concerned and immediately started searching about the power reserve on Rolex watches. I found that the Sub 14060m (Cal. 3130) should ideally have a power reserve of 44-48 hours and if it was significantly lower, it could mean it's due for a service.

Now I'm one of those people who believe in servicing my watches only when required, you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? I am not very up to date with the servicing cost for a Sub, but started getting myself mentally prepared to shell out about Rs. 40000+ (~USD 600) - not a very pretty thought. However, before I take it to the service centre, I wanted to be sure about it and decided to test out the power reserve properly.

From what I've read, the right way to do this is to fully wind the watch using the crown and then leaving it untouched till whenever it stops ticking. So I did just that and left it on my beside table at 11:10 am. A day passed and I nervously glanced at the watch, still ticking....30 hours, all good, 36 hours, still going strong.

The next morning when I woke up, the watch had stopped at exactly 9am, which according to my calculation is a solid 45 hours and 50 mins! I was so relived and kind of impressed with the Submariner. It's still going strong as ever and ticking beautifully!

Watches Enthusiasts of India Get Together, New Delhi

So it finally happened! My first GTG with watch enthusiasts. I honestly never expected one in India and always thought it would only be possible somewhere abroad. So I'm really glad when this was planned and actually took place. The GTG was scheduled for the 30th of March in New Delhi at a place called Cafe Delhi Heights. Here is my trip report:

1) Mumbai to Delhi: I was pretty excited about this meet up so made sure I reached the airport on time and not miss my flight (it's happened before). Since I was a little early, I had sometime to spare and decided to grab a light bite.

blurry time check at the airport

waiting for my plane while enjoying a snack

After a little delay in the boarding, we were finally off to New Delhi!

deciding what to order on the flight

arial shot of Mumbai from my window seat

first course

There was an Indian sportsman/celebrity on the flight and the guy next to me literally jumped from his seat to go and greet him. He then went back to his seat and fell asleep within two minutes.

2) New Delhi: On reaching the capital, I quickly got out of the airport and tried calling for an Uber. Unfortunately the location on my app was wrong and after 15 mins of trying to find me, the driver gave up, so I had to cancel the ride and go with another cab service.

3) The GTG: I met my parents for a couple of hours before heading to the meet up place. We agreed to meet up at 7pm, so I left at around 6:15pm, thinking I'll get there on time, but I was wrong. I got caught in the rush hour traffic and finally reached at 7:20pm.

At first there was only one person waiting there Nishant (WUS username: nishant_ucms_doc), but soon we were joined by the guy who got us together and planned the GTG - Karan (WUS username: phoenix844884). Next came another WUS member Vandit (WUS username: vkalia) and soon enough everyone was there. A super quick introduction later (after chatting so much on the group chat, we realised everyone already knnew a lot about each other), the watch boxes were opened, and boy-oh-boy, what an absolute delight it was! Other WUS members present were Rohan (beeman101), Eesh (eeshdewan) and Aman (amankathuria).

the early birds, from left to right: Rohan, Gaurav and Karan

from left to right: Gaurav, Vandit, Eesh, Rohan, Karan and Nishant

Now, I have to admit that I was the only one who came without a watch box. I came with just two watches - the Submariner and the Laco Pilot, whereas everyone else came with their entire collection (or almost the entire collection).

You know how it is when you go to a watch showroom and want to try everything on display there, but hesitate to? Well, this was like a dream come true - it was like an all access pass to the whole watch store. I don't have an exact count, but there were easily over 50 watches, maybe over 60! Each one better than the next and of all various styles.

We had Rolex, IWC, Seiko, Panera, Omega, Sinn, Tudor, Breitling, Ball, Casio, Citizen, Orient, HMT...you name it, it was there - all in front of us to try on!

It was so amazing to finally talk to people about watches in detail. We spoke about brands, styles, straps, Basel World, movements and everything one could think of.

4) Wrist shots and pictures: Apologies for the mediocre picture quality as my phone camera isn't too good and my other camera has been borrowed by a friend. The wristwatches are in the order I tried them.

Karan's American + Swiss collection

my favourite Hamilton - the Khaki X-Wind (Karan's collection)

Rohan's Speedy Chrono

Nishant's Victorinox - surprised me with the build quality

some Monster love

Nishant's Seiko (almost bought this model once)

Nishant's Orient Star - the picture really isn't doing justice to the beauty 

Karan's Seiko - never seen it before. Loved it!

another amazing Seiko by Karan

this one can make for an elegant dress watch

the first Sinn I've tried - drool worthy! (Vandit's colelction)

Vandit's gorgeous Panerai Submersible 

this Glycine (Rohan's collection) was another first for me and totally blew me away!

I now have a new fav G-Shock (Karan's collection)

Gaurav's rare Casio

That pizza in the background was lying uneaten  because everyone was so engrossed in the watches that they forgot it was there. It had to be reheated and even after that was left alone for a while.

Mohanish's GMT II next to my Sub

Mohanish trying to take a pic of the family (GMT II, Tudor Black Bay and the Sub)

the ever glowing tritium in the Ball (Eesh's collection)

finally managed to get some wrist time with the Tudor Black Bay - absolutely stunning! (Vandit's collection)

Beauty and The Beast - The Hulk! (Aman's collection)

class apart - the PAM 512 (Mohanish's collection)

HMT Chirag on a bund strap

my favourite Breitling - the Super Ocean Heritage

Seven Friday M2/01

loved the smooth sweep of the Omega

another sweet vintage Omega

the rarest of the bunch - the Anglo Swiss Watch Co. (Eesh's Collection)

with the outer case/cover open

another Super Ocean (Rohan's collection)

no words to describe this picture

As you can see, this would be any watch enthusiast's dream come true. It was a great night with great company and lots of amazing time pieces. Once again, Kudos to Karan and everyone who was a part of this get-together, looking forward to the next one!

mandatory group wrist shot!

group shot, from left to right: Aman, Vandit (light tee), Gaurav (dark tee), Rohan, Eesh, Nishant, Karan, Me and Mohanish