Multiple 120 feet long boats with hundred oarsmen, sailing and competing through the waters and gorgeous scenery of Kerala - this is the Chundanvallom boat race, an integral part of Kerala’s cultural heritage. This 400-year old tradition served as the inspiration for the timepiece created by the Kerala-based watch collector group TimeGrapher. From Onam came its Olam, the world’s first Malayalam chronograph watch.
On August 4, Prince Adithya Varma officially presented ‘Olam’, at the Kowdiar Palace. And in what was a fitting launch party, on August 5, members of the TimeGrapher community gathered on a houseboat on the shimmering backwaters of Kumarakom for a hands-on experience with a watch.
Olam, 40mm, embodies various elements of the boat race in its design, as well as the natural beauty of the state. A limited edition of 400, the chronograph features slightly italicised Malayalam numerals, whose design takes cues from elements of the boat’s shape. These are embossed on the green band on the dial, a shade that represents the rivers of Kerala - the designers zeroed on this particular shade after analysing several aerial pictures of the 44 rivers of Kerala. The panda dial has a sunburst finish to add more gleam, much like the shimmering waters of the rivers. The subdials are black and feature a ripple pattern or a record player-like design. At the centre, the off-white colour pays homage to the handlooms of the state. The concentric circles are outlined in gold.
There’s a date window at 6 o’clock and at the periphery lies the tachymeter scale that the group has renamed the Arpo counter (അർപ്പോ), which is the starting call-sign of the boat racers. The hands are also custom-designed and cut to resemble oars. The counterbalance of the seconds hand is shaped as ‘T’ that looks like the end of an oar and is also in the logo of the group ‘TG’, which lies on the dial over 6 o’clock.
The dial is topped with a domed sapphire crystal with five layers of anti-reflective coating. The caseback has a custom Olam engraved logo with individual numbering out of 400. The watch has been crafted in 904L stainless steel, a metal chosen for its corrosion-resistant property and being more polishable. The caseback, however, is made with 316L stainless steel. The watch has a leather strap, which is 20mm at the lugs and tapers down to 18mm. It houses the Seiko VK64 meca quartz chronograph movement with a flyback chrono. The case is screwed-down, which provides water resistance up to 100 metres, for which it has been tested and certified.The movement of the watch comes with a 1-year warranty.
Olam was three years in the making, and is the second watch designed and developed by TimeGrapher; the first was Nazhika, a time-only watch that featured a Malayalam numerical dial for the first time ever, and was limited to 40 pieces.
The group aims to bring Olam to Kerala before the festival of Onam. Out of the 400 pieces, 200 are reserved for the TimeGrapher members, and the rest 200 will be available for both members and the public, which is to be announced by early September. To ensure a pan-India service network, the group has joined hands with service partners in Bangalore and Kerala, and have pick up and drop facilities all over the country. The group has also partnered with service vendors in the UAE, and have set up collection points in the US, Europe, and the UK.
Price is upon request.
Images: Courtesy TimeGrapher
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