This Independence Day, Unboxed travels across the nation to rediscover how we entertained ourselves, captured memories, and kept time. Today, we visit Bengaluru’s Shaik Mehmood.
In a quiet corner of the Commercial Street, amidst the bustling tech hub of Bengaluru, a man with a magnifying glass fixed to his eye hunches over a delicate mechanism. His skilled hands move with precision, coaxing life back into a timepiece that has long since fallen silent.
Behind him a clock strikes 12. Yet another one shows a different time: 1:30. And even another one reads 4:10. There are more than a dozen clocks on the wall, no two of them showing the same time.
As you look around these timepieces, some of which have seemingly stopped, do you realise the irony of losing orientation of time while being in a watchmaker’s shop.
You instinctively look at your wrist only to see a bunch of email notifications from work staring back at you from the screen. Should it come as no surprise that the only person who could definitively tell you the time right now is the man hunched over the intricate mechanism of an old watch?
In a world where smartwatches buzz with notifications and smartphones display time at a glance, Shaik Mehmood dwells in a realm where time is measured by the intricate dance of gears and springs.
Shaik Mehmood repairs watches and clocks.
At 61, Mehmood has been in this trade for over 40 years, a mere tick of the clock in the centuries-old art of horology. “Some of my relatives were in this line,” he says in the lilting Kannada typical of old Bengaluru, “Once when I walked into their shop and I saw a wristwatch opened up just lying around on the table, I got curious. I wanted to know how it works.”
It was love at first sight for the young lad and before long he entered the trenches to get his hands dirty. Somewhat predictably – he laughs as he looks back at the moment – when he first took apart a watch, he was unable to put it back together. “I think I broke a couple of wheels as well. It was a mess.”
It would take several years and endless hours of burning midnight oil before he could confidently fix a watch. He credits his seniors, under whom he apprenticed, master watchmakers all, working in the golden era of timepieces.
Bangalore, as Bengaluru was known back then, has a rich tradition of watchmaking. It was the birthplace of the Indian watch manufacturer, Hindustan Machine Tools better known by its more popular acronym, HMT. It was also home to a more boutique watchmaker whose mention will likely earn you a nod of approval among watch collectors: Hegde and Golay.
“They used to have a very well-known watch repairing course,” Mehmood says. “Several of my generation of watchmakers studied there before the company shut down. Today, many of these people work at premium watch companies,” he recollects.
The Qurio City has been a silent witness to Bengaluru’s transformation from the Garden City to India’s Silicon Valley. Mehmood remembers the city from a time when the roads were lined with grand old bungalows and large open spaces instead of glass-fronted tech parks.
But for a watchmaker like Mehmood, time can be a relative concept. Independent India may be just 77 but some of the clocks that have been through his shop are much older. He recollects, “There was this one Made in London clock, whose mechanism hadn’t been working for over 150 years. The clock itself would likely have been 200 years old.”
Independence Day for this 61-year-old watchmaker is having the freedom to do what he dreams of. “I’ve spent a lifetime repairing watches and clocks. Someday, I hope to build my own watch,” he says. “I’m working towards it.”
Unlike most who see the emergence of smartwatches as a death knell to analogue timepieces, Shaik Mehmood remains unworried. “Smartwatches can do incredible things,” Mehmood concedes. “But they’re disposable. A well-made mechanical watch, properly cared for, can outlive its owner.”
Mehmood recollects an incident when two young men approached him to repair their father’s broken watch who insisted that he accept the watch for repair at 4 pm and no sooner because it was a significant hour for their family. “You wouldn’t do that with a smartwatch, would you?” he muses.
The watchmaker sees himself as a guardian of a dying art. “There used to be watchmaking schools, institutes teaching horology,” he laments. “Now, it is a little difficult finding an apprentice who truly wants to learn.”
Even so, the interest among the handful few is high. Some of Mehmood’s customers own as many as 120 timepieces. “I receive calls from them practically every month asking if any interesting timepiece has come my way,” he says.
It would however help, he says, if there were a course that also had international recognition. “There is a lot of demand for good watchmakers outside of India. It would encourage younger watchmakers to take up the craft.”
Asking Shaik Mehmood to name his favourite watch would be like asking a parent to pick a favourite child. Instead, he’ll tell you about all kinds of timepieces – from pocket watches that are having a moment to perpetual calendars that automatically know if it’s a 30-day month or a leap year and anniversary clocks that require to be wound just once every 400 days to grandfather clocks that we all know and adore.
So, you ask him about the one watch he’d bought for himself. You expect him to point towards the one he’s wearing at the moment.
Shaik Mehmood face breaks into a wide grin: “I haven’t! Every watch I have worn has been gifted!”
Shaik’s Vintage Times, Lubbay Masjid St, Tasker Town, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
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Vilas BV Rao
I have been friends with another such store called ClockHouse where I have been a customer for close to 38 years, lost touch for about 15 years and found him eventually and now all my watches and old clocks go to him for maintenance.
Jeyaraj Preetham
I love mechanical watches andbiam absolutely averse to the digital watches. So wonderful to know there are similar people out there. Kudos to Mr Mehmood. I will surely visit his shop
Avinash M
Hi, very nice piece to read. Really appreciate such people who continue this almost lost tradition. Please, if possible, do an article about the radio museum, run by one Mr. Uday Kalburugi from Bangalore. I heard he restores antique radios.
Mohammad Sher Ali
Hello I am from west Bengal. I have some old mechanical wrist watch and a American made pocket watch. The pocket watch is my favorite. In my location no one have perfect mechanical watch maker. Sometimes I am very frustrated that what I do these mechanical watch. Because every mechanical watch need time to time service. One day I found Shaik vintage time. Then I called Shaik Mehmood sir and told my problem. Without 15 days the pocket working perfectly. I serviced 2022 and till today the pocket watch working perfectly.
Venkatesh Gopalji
I know Shaik Mehmood from 25 years, his knowledge on watc making and click making is extremely great, his detailing on restoring clocks is amazing,
HIremath RS
Mr.Sheikh is an asset to our country with his immense and deep knowledge of old analog clocks, timepieces and wall clocks, He pateintly fixes them and makes them running again. Mr.Sheikh has fixed a lot of wall clocks some which are decades old. Wishing him all the best wishes.
Chandra Padmanabhan
I am extremely glad to read the coverage on Shaik’s unique talents in the horological technology and his contribution in giving life to the vintage and antique watches and clocks. I have known Shaik for more than 25 years and have got serviced and also purchased many vintage watches and clocks. As far as restoration of antique Time machines are concerned, Shaik doesn’t have words like “No, not possible, impossible, try to do” and so on. I am sure Shaik will succeed in fulfilling his dream of bringing his own brand of mechanical watches. I wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.\nIt’s my pleasure.\nChandra Sekar
Farida Siraj
My Father was a Antique Watch collector and had known Mr. Shaikh Mehmood very well. Even after my Father’s passing away, Shaikh Mehmood had helped me & my sister with his valuable advice on some of the collections that my Father had left behind. \nMr. Shaikh Mehmood not only is technically sound with very good knowledge in vintage watches but also a very honest man.\nMy sister & I wish me all the best for his future.
Harshad Contractor
This is a salute to one of India’s greatest horologists Mr. Shaik Mehmood. His technical understanding, through knowledge and tons of patience and these long years, make him one of the “Most Respected” human beings, I have ever known.\nI Salute you, Sir. Inshallah. \nRespectfully\nHarshad