Bangalore Watch Company’s Apogee: Watches inspired by ISRO

The Apogee Horizon has an internal bezel that allows you to track a second time zone, and the case’s micro bead-blasted finish riffs off the frigidity of space.

You may or may not be a Bangalore Watch Company (BWC) fan, but you have to acknowledge the courage and conviction it took for Nrupesh Joshi and Mercy Amalraj to launch—and sustain—an independent, quality-focused watch brand in a horological backwater like India.

Earlier this month (on August 12, 2021), Joshi and Amalraj, former Hong Kong-based tech-consultants who founded BWC in 2018, launched their fourth collection named Apogee.

Previous BWC collections have referenced Bangalore’s history of watchmaking, the MiG 21 fighter aircraft, and the game of cricket. The Apogee celebrates the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO's) tremendous, cost-efficient achievements in planetary exploration and space science research.

There are several interesting things about the twin-crown, dual time, titanium Apogee, which is priced at Rs 68,000 and is available in three versions—Horizon, Supernova, Deepspace. There is also the Rs 1.68 lakh Extraterrestrial, which sports a meteorite dial and is limited to 50 pieces.

Under the case back of the Apogee watch, which carries a 3D engraving of the Aryabhatta, is a Sellita SW200 movement with a 38-hour power reserve.

The 40mm cushion case harks back to the 1970s, the decade in which India’s first satellite, Aryabhatta, was launched; the dials come in a matte fume painted finish and sport the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of Sriharikota; the internal bezel allows you to track a second time zone; and the case’s micro bead-blasted finishing riffs off the fascinating frigidity of space. Under the case back, which carries a 3D engraving of the Aryabhatta, is a Sellita SW200 movement with a 38-hour power reserve. The Apogee is equipped with water-resistance of up to 100 metres, and a screw down crown.

“Our watches have always defined and shaped by their stories. The Apogee’s typeface, for instance, is inspired by the font used in the opening sequence and poster of the movie Alien,” said Joshi, a sci-fi buff who also doubles up as his company’s creative director. “We used titanium that is the first material you think of when it comes to space, and we decided against an external bezel because we wanted to keep the watch light.”

Mercy Amalraj (left) and Nirupesh Joshi started the Bangalore Watch Company in 2017.

The lessons he has learnt since 2017 also came into play in the making of the Apogee. “There is really no watchmaking ecosystem in India, but over the last two years, we have made a conscious effort at finding partners capable of making high-quality parts here and convincing them to take us on as a client,” said Joshi.

About 60 percent of the parts used in the Apogee, including the dials and hands, are made in India, and Joshi said this has made a significant difference. “Our vendors supply to a lot of the Swiss brands. We have a lot more flexibility now that we are closer to the manufacturing process. I can literally cab it down to the factory and review the quality of a prototype or first sample or a second sample,” he said.

BWC makes about 1,000 watches a year and has patrons in 30 countries, and the next priority is to make those numbers grow. “Our four platforms cover dress, aviation, urban sports, and, now, space, so we should logically be looking at a dive watch, but we also need to grow the business. We celebrated our third anniversary in April, and 18 months of those three years have been spent in the shadow of a pandemic,” said Joshi.

"Releasing a new watch is like baking pizza," Joshi said. "It’s got to be in the oven for some time before you take it out. We’ll know about the how the Apogee is really doing in about six months.”

The Apogee Supernova. The Apogee watches are equipped with water-resistance of up to 100 metres, and a screw down crown.