Family Matters

We visit the legacy of one of India's oldest retailers, the Pune-based C.T. Pundole & Sons, and how its rise mirrors that of the watch market in India

- Preetika Mathew

The business of watches often tends to stay in the family. There are plenty examples to prove that the reins of most legacy Swiss watch brands have passed on from one generation to the other, down several centuries. While economic conditions may have caused some ownerships to be sold or taken over, even today many watch brands see the participation of the founder's family in one way or another. The watch retail business, at least in India, is no different. And though it tends to be primarily family owned, there are few like C.T. Pundole & Sons, who now have the fifth generation at the helm.

C.T. Pundole & Sons is one of India's oldest watch retail chains, established in 1909 in Pune, a city it continues to call its home more than a century later. Retailing luxury watch brands like Rolex, Chopard, Omega, Tudor, Hublot, Breitling, Longines, Grand Seiko, Rado and more, it is spread over 15 multi and monobrand stores, apart from a dedicated service centre, two eyewear boutiques, and a 2,000-square-feet wall clock showroom, one of the biggest in India.

"It's a business my great grandfather started, which my brother and I grew, and my son and I built to include luxury brands," says Cawas Pundole, 70, who currently leads C.T. Pundole & Sons with his son Hormuz and daughter Aviva.