HMT Day/Data Pointer etc...

HMT Pointer Dates

HMT has a distinction of producing watches which have date pointer complication. Date pointer / date pointer is a concept in which the either day or date chapter has been replaced by a pointer hand and the said pointer shows the day or date. 

HMT produced certain automatics which had these complications. It is said even HMT manual winding had these but I have not seem any of them. HMT essentially used a modified 6500 movement for the date pointer and were essentially made in Bangalore factory. These date pointers were sold at a higher price during the early 90's and they were considered a flop project. Thus these were not produced in great numbers. The HMT variants that had date pointers were Excel, Leo and Taurus. Sweekar is a day pointer. There are watches developed in the similar dial features this post also highlights those too.

The picture below depicts the changes in the 6500 movement to make it a day/date pointer.

Excel / Taurus / Leo - Date Pointer Movement

Sweekar Day Pointer Movement

1.  HMT Sweekar
 The special watch has been in demand ever since the first post on social media. These were watches wherein the day complication has been replaced by a pointer wheel. This pointer wheel depicts the day that has been printed on the dial. These were available in three basic dial colours viz., black, white and yellow. Black never came out but only in test dial stage. The known variants were white and yellow. These were also exported to Japan market which had no day pointer but a day window at 6-o clock position. The Japanese variant was in a Kajal case. There are mix and match variants developed by local mechanics in which Rajat case in used.

HMT Sweekar (picture courtesy Sriharsha)

Sweekar Yellow Dial

Sweekar Mix and Match

The Sweekar and Pinki Plinth in HMT Museum

2. HMT Excel
This one is a special watch wherein the date window is replaced with a date hand. The dial edges are printed with dates and the hand denotes the date. Thus, the name date pointer. These watches were produced in Bangalore factory 02 in the 90s. These watches houses a 6500 movement with the date mechanism replaced with a date pointer ring and a hand. Initially due to its price there were no takers for this watch and hence was discontinued. The HMT mad rush in 2014 created so much hype and enthusiasm that these were deemed rare and thus the price escalated beyond reach. These were the date date pointers that were also mentioned in the HMT watch catalogue. 

Excel from the Catalogue and Early Webpage

 The excel were available in three dial colours namely white, yellow and black (unseen). Three variants (date pointer, just excel without date pointer (Japanese version), excel with day chapter at 6-o clock). 

HMT Excel (Date Pointer) Pic Courtesy Team-BHP

HMT Excel Pic Courtesy Ponnappa

I too was lucky to find one of these. Initially the excel that I had did not have the date pointer wheel but few months back did get an opportunity to find one. It had reached a level where in people used to ask about the date pointer every-time the watch was posted.

HMT Excel (before)

HMT Excel (after)

HMT Excel (HMT Museum)

 

Excel in Showroom (circa 2011)

In the past few days one more variant of Excel has been seen. The difference being the print on the dial. The ring printed on the dial which just graces the Roman indices is not present.

HMT Excel Variant (Mix and Match Case): Dial Variant

Picture Courtesy Sachin Jayakumar

 

 

 

A Rare Variant of Excel with Numerals (Courtesy Sachin Jayakumar)

 

3. HMT Leo

This watch is like the hens tooth or the phoenix. These were never produced in numbers and did not sell in the earlier days. Leo along with Taurus were deemed unfit for the market in the 90's era by the marketing team. These have become collectable and rare. The leo dial has a guilloche pattern similar to that of HMT Sona but a flat dial. The indices at 12,3,6 and 9 were raised indices designed using coining process along with arrow type indices for other indices.

Picture Courtesy Manoj Kumar and Bipin Takhur

4. HMT Taurus

This is one variant which has many combinations in terms of dials and date complications. Traditionally Taurus is just a simple roman indices watch with day and date complications. This also had been listed in the old HMT webpage as HMT Taurus SS.

HMT Taurus (webpage)

HMT Taurus (Roman Indices - SS Case)

These Taurus were superseded by the date pointer versions.

Taurus Full Numerals Date Pointer Pic Courtesy Ponnappa

Taurus Half Numeral Date Pointer

Apart from this HMT also had Japanese and Banner Date Variants.

HMT Taurus (Banner Day) Japanese Version Pic Courtesy Ponnappa

HMT Taurus (Banner Day) Japanese Version Steel Case

Taurus Banner Date (Kajal Case) Japanese Edition

Taurus Dater (Pic Courtesy Ponnappa)

Taurus Automatic (Half Numerals)

Taurus Plinth in HMT Museum

Ensemble of Taurus

HMT Taurus (Dater) Pic Courtesy Tarun

It is said there are many more variants.
One collector Raviprasad also tried to design his version of Date Pointer which he called Aries.

Raviprasad's Design Aeries (Copyright Raviprasad)

There are similar watches that are similar to Taurus and Leo manufactured in the same generation in the same assembly line of Bangalore.

HMT Anuroop

HMT Abhijit (Pic Courtesy Ranjit)

I tried to develop one date pointer on self interest.

Date Pointer (Not from HMT)

It is believed that many test dials of similar kind had been made in the Bangalore factory which would eventually come out. Will try to update them as soon as possible. 

Something for this great nation Bharat.

उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।

वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।

"The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata."

आ ब्रह्मन् ब्राह्मणो ब्रह्मवर्चसी जायतामा राष्ट्रे राजन्यः
शूर इषवयोऽअतिव्याधी महारथो जायतां दोग्ध्री धेनुर्वाढानड्वानाशुः
सप्तिः पुरन्धिर्योषा जिष्णू रथेष्ठाः सभेयो युवास्य यजमानस्य वीरो जायतां निकामे निकामे नः
पर्जन्यो वर्षतु फलवत्यो न आषधयः पच्यन्तां योगक्षेमो नः कल्पताम् ॥