Watches Every Man Should Own
A dress watch for the wedding season, a diver for the monsoon, a ₹1,500 Casio for everything else. Here's the whole kit worn, tested, and priced in rupees.
Ask ten watch people what an essential collection looks like and you'll get ten different answers, most of them costing more than a car. Search "watches every man should own" and you'll be told you need a Rolex Submariner, an Omega Speedmaster, all of which are good but I'll give you a list that will help you with every occasion and watches every man should own that too under a lakh.
The Digital Icon: Casio F-91W
Every list of this kind should start here, because the F-91W is the most versatile object in the entire watch world. It has been in production since 1989, costs less than 2,000 rupees, and does more than most people ever need: a stopwatch, a daily alarm, a backlight, and a battery that runs for years. It weighs next to nothing and you will forget you're wearing it. You can wear it to the gym, the beach, a trek, basically anywhere. The F-91W has been spotted on wrists that could afford literally any watch on earth, and that confidence is the whole point.
The Everyday Sports Watch: Tissot PRX
If you want one watch that looks right with nearly everything, this is it. Tissot brought back a 1978 design in 2021 and it became the watch that launched a thousand Instagram wrist-checks, flat case, integrated steel bracelet, a dial that catches light every time you move. It gives you the silhouette of sports watches that cost many lakhs, at a fraction of the price. Mine is the green, and I'd choose it again. It reads as a colour in daylight and nearly black indoors, which means it's quietly interesting rather than loud. It costs around 44,000 rupees.
The Dress Watch: Seiko Presage Cocktail Time
The Cocktail Time series started in 2010 as a collaboration with the Tokyo bartender Shinobu Ishigaki, with each dial meant to echo a drink. My light blue one is the watch that convinced me mechanical watches were worth the fuss. The dial has a pressed, textured pattern under a glossy finish, and it genuinely changes colour through the day pale ice at noon, something closer to silver-blue under a chandelier. Turn it over and you can watch the automatic movement working through the glass caseback, which is the moment most people get hooked. It costs around 48,000 rupees.
The Dive Watch: Ratio Freediver
Every collection needs one watch that exists only to make you smile. Mine is the Ratio Freediver in pistachio green, a colour that would have been unthinkable on an affordable watch ten years ago, and now happens to be one of the most fashionable dial colours in the industry, and it's the watch I trust most when I'm not sure what the day holds: a monsoon downpour, a pool, a beach in Goa, a bike ride through traffic. A dive watch isn't really about diving. It's about not worrying. Everyone should own one watch they can wear anywhere without a second thought, and this is that watch. It costs around 13,000 rupees.
The Chronograph: Coromandel Blue Mountain
A chronograph is simply a watch with a built-in stopwatch, those small sub-dials and the extra pushers on the side. It's the most "watch-looking" watch there is, and every collection needs one. Mine comes from Coromandel Watch Co., a young Indian brand founded in 2024 and based in the Nilgiris. The Blue Mountain is built around the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, one of the last steam powered mountain trains left in the world. At this price, a chronograph with a genuine idea inside it is remarkable. It costs around 8,500 rupees.
The Travel Watch: Boderry GMT
A GMT watch has an extra hour hand that tracks a second time zone. If you've got family in Dubai, a sibling in Toronto, or a client in London, it's the most genuinely useful complication there is, one glance tells you whether it's a sensible hour to call home. Mine is from Boderry, and it's pink and it's not a colour I ever expected to wear, and is now the watch people comment on most. A GMT doesn't need to be serious. It needs to be the watch you pack for a trip, and a cheerful dial makes a long-haul flight feel slightly shorter. It costs around 40,000 rupees.
The Heritage Watch: DWC Heritage (Devanagari)
Every Indian collection should have one watch that could only have come from here. Delhi Watch Company's Heritage uses Devanagari numerals, the script many of our grandparents' HMT watches wore and on a clean, 38mm dress case. The numerals aren't a gimmick added to a Western design, they are the design. And it's built to be worn, not kept in a drawer. Sapphire crystal and 100m of water resistance on a dress watch under 9000 rupees is almost unheard of. It's my standing recommendation for a gift, a first job, a graduation, a wedding. Specific enough to feel personal, tough enough to last.
The Field Watch: Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical
The only watch on the list that i don't own, it's here because i feel every man should have one. The field watch is the simplest watch design there is: a clear black dial, big numbers, bright hands, nothing else. It was built for soldiers who needed to read the time instantly, and it turns out that makes it perfect for everyone else too. Hamilton's Khaki Field Mechanical is the benchmark. It traces its design back to the brand's military watches, it's hand-woundd, you turn the crown every couple of days, which becomes a small, satisfying ritual and at 38mm it sits perfectly on an average Indian wrist. It's rugged, it's honest, and it's one of the few Swiss watches that feels like a genuine bargain. It sits at 71,000 rupees making it the most expensive on the list.
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