HMT Jawan and Variants

 

The slogan "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" was given to the country by Lal Bahadur Shastri. What is special about this is the fact that it hails and cheers two the most important occupations in India at that time. The Jawan points to the soldiers, who play an important role in the protection of the country. The Kisaan signifies the farmer which was the primary occupation of the majority of India.

HMT did come out with the Jawan series of watches that is being exemplified in this blog. It is a known fact that Bangalore is the first HMT factory setup for the production of watches thus the Jawan produced in the mid 70's are the first that is discussed. 

The first generation Jawan was produced the Bangalore factory in the mid 70's. The dial had a powder matt finish and typical to the era the dauphine hands and the doom crown. The lume was hand applied and was in continuation to the pilot series calligraphy. Small font size continued. 

Pic Courtesy Ponnappa

The next edition of the Jawan was from the same factory but it had lumed sword hands instead of the dauphine hands. In my opinion this is the only HMT watch that has a lumed sword hands with cavity. HMT also released the same version with Big Fonts too during the same era. 

Pic Courtesy Suhan

Further, HMT has plans for the release of full arabic numerals lumed Jawan in both the hand variants. 

Pic Courtesy Biju

There is also a story stating that these were issued to the GC (Gentleman Cadet) in the Indian Army. I would refrain myself into giving opinion on that. But the case back etching seems to be consistent with the year of manufacture.

One more version of the Jawan was released in the 1980s (unable to share the pic due to copyright issue). The difference being the colour of the print which was green.

Then there was a lull until HMT Ranibhag reissued the Jawan in 2011-12 producing 500 odd dials. 

Pic Courtesy Ponnappa

These watches had some change in calligraphy fully hand lumed and was difficult to get one initially. These watches cane with a press fit case back that was manufactured in Ranibhag for its Pilots and Janata range. I too was after this variant and was happy to pick one.

The final nail in the Jawan variant was when HMT re-issused in 2020 the full lume and half lume variants in all types of case and hand variants.

Pic Courtesy Ponnappa

This was the end of an era that replaced the iconic dauphine hands with chickpete (aftermarket) hands, poor case quality, hand lume replaced by screen print dials.

There was other Jawan that was posted in one of the facebook groups that had unique features. The indices were lumed. This is the only variant that has been seen till date that is different from the original dial design.

 

Pic Courtesy Bipin

  I hope HMT brings back the old designs and we get to see some good old watches.

 

Dedicated to the great nation Bharat. A vedic national anthem

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 ॥

 

HMT Collectors Dilemma - An Example

 HMT Collectors Dilemma

A watch collector especially the ones collecting HMT are a in a dilemma always while purchasing watches. One of the dilemma is when to buy the watch if its special. I too have been in this situation before.

One such example in this blog is the Jubilee. This dilemma is applicable for any other watch too, but I restrict myself to Jubilee in this blog.

Jubilee 25 years. Released to commemorate (25 years) establishment of HMT. These came in various variants too. 25 depicted on the dial shows the year of establishment as 1953 and 1978 as the silver jubilee year. 1953 is the year of establishment of HMT machine tools division. The commonly seen variants are the silver dial and white dial variants. The case back was made in 1978 from the Bangalore factory. The case back is of screw back type with case code 140178. 14 is the case code for old HMT made in 60s. 01 is the Bangalore factory meant to deal with hand winding movement. 78 is the year of manufacture. These were first batch of Jubilee to be ever released. Later several dial variants were released. The dial variants includes matte dial (graphic dial), Arabic numerals in both plain and graphic dial, Jubilee Janata and Jubilee deluxe and many more.

Jubilee 25 Years (HMT Machine Tools Silver Jubilee)

 

Jubilee Variants

One of the dilemma that a collector faces is when to buy the watch (in what condition ?) the price being subjective. The example that I am considering in this blog is a 25 Years Jubilee. During 2012-14 Jubliee was considered to be watch that was hard to find let alone the 25 Year variant. A few of the 25 Year variants were documented one of the firsts were from Ponnappa.

First Documented Jubilee 25 Years Variant

I too had my share of luck with the 25 Years variant. Here is where many make mistakes including me. The first issue is we gun for everything even scrap. The first Jubilee was a sham which has a huge ding on the dial. Since, I did not have much to say and it was a scrap I did pick the watch just for keeps thinking that the probability of success in finding another is far less that 1%. This analysis was due to the fact that it was highly impossible to find a simple Janata art deco let alone Pilot or Jubilee during those times. 

The First Jubilee 25 Years (Scrap Dial)

 

The first Jubilee 25 was unusable but the only satisfaction was it was tick mark against the to have  list . I did not care to search for a replacement dial or even a NOS. Years passed by then in 2015 I happen to see a 25 Year Jubilee again in a very poor condition this was the next test. The price of the watch simply irresistible and thought of giving a new life to the watch hence picked up the watch. 

Second Jubilee (Poor Dial)

Here is where I lost the plot. After the second Jubilee I started to seriously search for a reasonably better dial or a NOS (highly improbable) watch. One of my very close friend and fellow collector Raaj had his share of luck in finding a NOS 25 Year Jubilee. Then this happened:

25 Year Jubilee (Decent Dial)

I thought it was end game here until Raaj helped me out with a NOS Jubilee again. This too at a hopelessly low price.

Jubilee 25 Years (NOS)

Now the dilemma is why did I buy the watch in scrap in the first place ? Should I have waited for the NOS in the first place ? Was the effort worth it ?  What to do with the other watches (as I don't sell) ?

In midst of all these dilemma and question I did get one more 25 Year Jubilee :)

The mindset of a collector is difficult to change sometimes!!!

One More

 

 

Something for this great nation Bharat.

उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।

वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।

The greatest lesson on nationalism was taught by Sir Rama to Lakshmana after the war with Ravana 

अपि स्वर्णमयी लङका न मे लक्ष्मण रोचते ।

जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी ॥

Api swarnamayi lanka na me Lakshman rochate
janani janmabhoomishch swargaadapi gasriyasi

Sri Rama says to Lakshmana ,” Even though this Lanka is made of gold, still it does not appeal to me. The Mother who gave birth to me and my motherland are more respected and at a higher level than heaven itself.”