Join CHRONOHOLIC today!
All the watch news, reviews, videos you want, brought to you from fellow collectors
All the watch news, reviews, videos you want, brought to you from fellow collectors
“No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.”
A philosophy that is resonant with my being, a oneness I have always felt with the world, an entanglement at a metaphysical level. The reason why I wanted to talk to fellow Indian watch collectors, the reason why I reached out to anyone with India set as their location on various international watch forums.
Allow me to give you, our readers, members, and friends, a brief history of Watch Enthusiasts India (WEI) and an outlook of what the future holds.
It seems like a lifetime ago that I started this community on WhatsApp with only seven members, the rag tag bunch who initially replied to my ice breaker message. The growth back then, to over 80 members only via word of mouth, was phenomenal by 2015 standards, a time when the overall hobby culture was severely lacking in the country.
Switching to Facebook in 2017 cost us a few members because WhatsApp makes people complacent, and the fact that some snobs took it upon themselves to harass other well-meaning collectors by proclaiming in their most troll-like voices “Rolecks izz Besht!” Snobs may say otherwise but we all know that there is no reason to look down upon your fellow watch collectors! No one should tolerate discrimination of any sort in this day and age. Facebook, for all its ills, has a robust community management system through which we were able to streamline the content flow and welcome more members than we had ever hoped for.
By the time 2020 rolled around with its endless lockdowns and scaremongering we had touched 2000 members via organic growth, and I could safely say that I had met a majority of them through our many get-togethers (GTGs) in multiple cities. We covered Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai among the usual suspects like Delhi and Mumbai, and we hosted two annual events in Goa in 2018 and 2019 where we saw a lot of the OG crowd pack their watches and travel long distances to hang out with fellow watch nerds. Those were the good days when watch collecting wasn’t as nuanced. Those efforts gave us a lot of hope for the future!
At this juncture I must thank, from the bottom of my heart, all our admins and moderators, past and present, who have helped me manage the community, to shape the watch collecting landscape in India, and create a space for bigger things that we are now bringing to reality.
The pandemic for all its misery was a great boon for the luxury industry when a lot of people found themselves with time and disposable money to indulge in purchases and things they couldn’t enjoy earlier. From 2000 members in 2020 to over 7500 in 2024 we saw exponential growth in the community, and the spillover meant that other smaller groups formed to imitate us also gained some traction. The wider community grew quickly to bring in fresh faces, new perspectives on the hobby, and a greater purchasing trend which stemmed from a cultural movement conceived and fostered by us at WEI.
A sentiment expressed repeatedly at our meets and discussions is this - WEI is a safe haven for thousands of men. Men who work hard, provide for their families, have successful careers, shoulder all the responsibilities the world throws at them, and this singular space in the online world is their one true safe haven, where they can be themselves, enjoy their hobby, live their passion, and meet fellow like-minded people. I mean, in this day and age who even has the time to step out and make new friends? After one’s school and college days, when do we ever form those everlasting bonds of friendship and brotherhood? But we, WEI, have done it over and over again. WEI has become the refuge of the weary watch collector seeking human connection, the treasure trove of learning for the new students of horology, the melting pot of cultural opinions, tastes and proclivities within the hobby.
Not to say we don’t have women watch collectors! We do, but they are few and far between, and most women simply let this be one of the last bastions of almost exclusively male participation, and that is where we hope to make a change. We aim to welcome more female collectors in the future by creating a conducive atmosphere. I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the most knowledgeable women who can stand up to, and usually outmatch, most of the so-called experts of the hobby. Their fire, knowledge and finesse for the most part gets drowned out by the sheer number of men pursuing this hobby in our corner of the world.
A good thing that happened to me in all these years - I met my soul brother, Anirban. Him from Kolkata, and I from Delhi, hanging out at a local coffee place and realizing the similarities in values, habits, mindsets, and philosophies between us was like a lightning bolt out of the heavens! People spend their whole lifetimes searching for, and failing to, find their family, and life somehow brought two brothers together to achieve great things.
From 2021 we succeeded in bringing sponsors for our events. My gratitude to our friends at the brands and retailers and distributors who have trusted us with creating amazing, informative content and hosting world class, ultra-luxurious events all across the country. Without them we couldn’t dream big and conceive the idea of conquering new heights.
Events generally brought together the crowd who came for the free drinks and food but we knew that we had a responsibility, one to educate the wider coterie of the country, to promote the culture of hobby and collecting, and to welcome into our fold all the watch buyers, enthusiasts, hobbyists, connoisseurs, and collectors who are seeking meaningful connections. Someone has to be the voice of the Indian watch community, someone has to champion the cause, someone has to bring informative articles and videos to those who want to learn more, all within a safe space to talk about their passion.
That last bit is important because the Meta AI Overlords seriously went after WEI and many other watch groups for using brand names, pictures, and content on social media and blocked many groups willy-nilly. It must be easy for the AI to flip a switch, but it was very difficult to manually and painstakingly file appeals and send multiple emails the world over in the hope that someone in that organisation will look at our case and restore our safe haven, even if only out of pity. It has been a painful learning curve, one that has no clear path or direction, and is arbitrarily executed by external forces. In all, not a good thing for our community as it leaves us powerless.
Nothing, though, should stop Indian watch collectors from pursuing and enjoying their hobby. So, to recap - WEI is awesome, but keeping in mind the needs of the community, a lack of Indian representation, a dearth of information with an Indian perspective, and the dire need for freedom of expression, this is the time for monumental change of epic proportions.
Today, Watch Enthusiasts India is becoming CHRONOHOLIC. Our tagline reads “Voice of the Indian Watch Community”, and I on my part, as well as our team behind CHRONOHOLIC, fully intend to live up to it.
We have so much planned for this community. News, reviews, videos, reels, events, meetups, and, of course, a dedicated, privately hosted community. We selected a service which is user friendly, yet more robust and one that offers more features than any social media platform. Our content team is working round the clock to bring you fun, informative, and unique articles, videos, and reels. The best part? You, the community, our fellow CHRONOHOLICS, get to tell us what we should dwell upon, you can suggest topics for us to cover, heck, you can write for us should you choose to, and you can be the guiding force of a concept that has never been done before. If we don’t take up this cause, then no one else will do it for us.
So, be a part of the new movement, join us and make an impact on the global scale. Let us show the world what Indian watch collectors are made of and what we can achieve. Come be a CHRONOHOLIC.
“No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.”
A philosophy that is resonant with my being, a oneness I have always felt with the world, an entanglement at a metaphysical level. The reason why I wanted to talk to fellow Indian watch collectors, the reason why I reached out to anyone with India set as their location on various international watch forums.
Allow me to give you, our readers, members, and friends, a brief history of Watch Enthusiasts India (WEI) and an outlook of what the future holds.
It seems like a lifetime ago that I started this community on WhatsApp with only seven members, the rag tag bunch who initially replied to my ice breaker message. The growth back then, to over 80 members only via word of mouth, was phenomenal by 2015 standards, a time when the overall hobby culture was severely lacking in the country.
Switching to Facebook in 2017 cost us a few members because WhatsApp makes people complacent, and the fact that some snobs took it upon themselves to harass other well-meaning collectors by proclaiming in their most troll-like voices “Rolecks izz Besht!” Snobs may say otherwise but we all know that there is no reason to look down upon your fellow watch collectors! No one should tolerate discrimination of any sort in this day and age. Facebook, for all its ills, has a robust community management system through which we were able to streamline the content flow and welcome more members than we had ever hoped for.
By the time 2020 rolled around with its endless lockdowns and scaremongering we had touched 2000 members via organic growth, and I could safely say that I had met a majority of them through our many get-togethers (GTGs) in multiple cities. We covered Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai among the usual suspects like Delhi and Mumbai, and we hosted two annual events in Goa in 2018 and 2019 where we saw a lot of the OG crowd pack their watches and travel long distances to hang out with fellow watch nerds. Those were the good days when watch collecting wasn’t as nuanced. Those efforts gave us a lot of hope for the future!
At this juncture I must thank, from the bottom of my heart, all our admins and moderators, past and present, who have helped me manage the community, to shape the watch collecting landscape in India, and create a space for bigger things that we are now bringing to reality.
The pandemic for all its misery was a great boon for the luxury industry when a lot of people found themselves with time and disposable money to indulge in purchases and things they couldn’t enjoy earlier. From 2000 members in 2020 to over 7500 in 2024 we saw exponential growth in the community, and the spillover meant that other smaller groups formed to imitate us also gained some traction. The wider community grew quickly to bring in fresh faces, new perspectives on the hobby, and a greater purchasing trend which stemmed from a cultural movement conceived and fostered by us at WEI.
A sentiment expressed repeatedly at our meets and discussions is this - WEI is a safe haven for thousands of men. Men who work hard, provide for their families, have successful careers, shoulder all the responsibilities the world throws at them, and this singular space in the online world is their one true safe haven, where they can be themselves, enjoy their hobby, live their passion, and meet fellow like-minded people. I mean, in this day and age who even has the time to step out and make new friends? After one’s school and college days, when do we ever form those everlasting bonds of friendship and brotherhood? But we, WEI, have done it over and over again. WEI has become the refuge of the weary watch collector seeking human connection, the treasure trove of learning for the new students of horology, the melting pot of cultural opinions, tastes and proclivities within the hobby.
Not to say we don’t have women watch collectors! We do, but they are few and far between, and most women simply let this be one of the last bastions of almost exclusively male participation, and that is where we hope to make a change. We aim to welcome more female collectors in the future by creating a conducive atmosphere. I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the most knowledgeable women who can stand up to, and usually outmatch, most of the so-called experts of the hobby. Their fire, knowledge and finesse for the most part gets drowned out by the sheer number of men pursuing this hobby in our corner of the world.
A good thing that happened to me in all these years - I met my soul brother, Anirban. Him from Kolkata, and I from Delhi, hanging out at a local coffee place and realizing the similarities in values, habits, mindsets, and philosophies between us was like a lightning bolt out of the heavens! People spend their whole lifetimes searching for, and failing to, find their family, and life somehow brought two brothers together to achieve great things.
From 2021 we succeeded in bringing sponsors for our events. My gratitude to our friends at the brands and retailers and distributors who have trusted us with creating amazing, informative content and hosting world class, ultra-luxurious events all across the country. Without them we couldn’t dream big and conceive the idea of conquering new heights.
Events generally brought together the crowd who came for the free drinks and food but we knew that we had a responsibility, one to educate the wider coterie of the country, to promote the culture of hobby and collecting, and to welcome into our fold all the watch buyers, enthusiasts, hobbyists, connoisseurs, and collectors who are seeking meaningful connections. Someone has to be the voice of the Indian watch community, someone has to champion the cause, someone has to bring informative articles and videos to those who want to learn more, all within a safe space to talk about their passion.
That last bit is important because the Meta AI Overlords seriously went after WEI and many other watch groups for using brand names, pictures, and content on social media and blocked many groups willy-nilly. It must be easy for the AI to flip a switch, but it was very difficult to manually and painstakingly file appeals and send multiple emails the world over in the hope that someone in that organisation will look at our case and restore our safe haven, even if only out of pity. It has been a painful learning curve, one that has no clear path or direction, and is arbitrarily executed by external forces. In all, not a good thing for our community as it leaves us powerless.
Nothing, though, should stop Indian watch collectors from pursuing and enjoying their hobby. So, to recap - WEI is awesome, but keeping in mind the needs of the community, a lack of Indian representation, a dearth of information with an Indian perspective, and the dire need for freedom of expression, this is the time for monumental change of epic proportions.
Today, Watch Enthusiasts India is becoming CHRONOHOLIC. Our tagline reads “Voice of the Indian Watch Community”, and I on my part, as well as our team behind CHRONOHOLIC, fully intend to live up to it.
We have so much planned for this community. News, reviews, videos, reels, events, meetups, and, of course, a dedicated, privately hosted community. We selected a service which is user friendly, yet more robust and one that offers more features than any social media platform. Our content team is working round the clock to bring you fun, informative, and unique articles, videos, and reels. The best part? You, the community, our fellow CHRONOHOLICS, get to tell us what we should dwell upon, you can suggest topics for us to cover, heck, you can write for us should you choose to, and you can be the guiding force of a concept that has never been done before. If we don’t take up this cause, then no one else will do it for us.
So, be a part of the new movement, join us and make an impact on the global scale. Let us show the world what Indian watch collectors are made of and what we can achieve. Come be a CHRONOHOLIC.
