Vintage watches attract students, tourists at Madurai expo

Over the years watches had undergone drastic changes, both in their appearance and in their functions. Earlier clocks like hour glass, water clocks, Sun dial and so were used. 

Then pendulum clocks, key type watches, automatic watches and battery watches appeared. Now, atomic clocks are touted as the most accurate of all the clocks. 

The history of various clocks is present at the exhibition. The tourists and students had a understanding about the evolution of the watches.

All the watches were collected by a single horologist, Durai Vijay Pandian, who had displayed them previously at many government schools and colleges. 

On Saturday, for the first time Pandian had displayed the watches at the government museum and the exhibition will go on till Monday. Speaking to DT Next, Pandian said that he had started collecting watches 25 years ago and when he informed his interest on collecting watches his friends and family members had helped him in the process. 

Watches as old as 100 years are present in his vast collection. There are 250 watches in his collection and the highest priced watch is Rado slim type watch. The watch which was manufactured in 1917 by West End Watch Co., a Swiss company that had a separate hand for seconds. 

Watches made in India and from various countries were displayed in the exhibition. In one of the watches manufactured by a Swiss company, Humbert, there is an interesting feature in which 60 seconds had been separated into three parts with 20 seconds each. 

It was a novel move by the company to attract the customers, Durai Vijay Pandiyan said.