A walk around Fort for watch lovers

Fort has been the centre of Mumbai’s watch and clock trade for more than a century, and an hour’s walk from our shop shows you why. Start early on a weekday, before the office crowds, with comfortable shoes.

Begin at Flora Fountain and look up at the old buildings around Hutatma Chowk. Many of the upper floors once held clock repairers and importers, who served the banks and shipping offices nearby. Several of the public clocks on these buildings are still wound and adjusted by hand. Walk down to Horniman Circle and its garden, then towards the Kala Ghoda area. Notice the clock faces set into the stone of old institutional buildings, many with Roman numerals and iron hands far longer than your arm.

Come back through the lanes behind Perin Nariman Street. The small shops here still sell spare crystals, crowns, straps and tools to watchmakers from across the city. Our own bench opened here in 1958 because the parts were a five-minute walk away, and they still are.

End at our counter. Ask Farzana to show you the timing machine and a movement opened on the bench; it takes ten minutes and there is no charge. If you are carrying an old watch in a drawer at home, bring it along on the walk, and we will tell you what it needs.