The Watch Man from Jaipur

Jovial, curious, and offering tons of excited insights into the world of horology, Gaurav Mehta's life is a collectors' dream. Between brushing shoulders with India's watch collection elite and a stunning new launch, the watchmaker and founder of Jaipur Watch Company gives us a closer look at the 'complications' of running one of India's most unique micro luxury brands

- Sharan Sanil

Often spotted with either a beaming grin or a furrowed, curious frown, watchmaker Gaurav Mehta isn't the type to leave a conversation unexplored. As a breed, collectors can come off as gated, even snobbish. On the contrary, Mehta's affable, warm approach to following his coinage passion and sharing it with the world is downright infectious - a charming combination of enthusiasm and deep knowledge that draws you in before you notice it, and touches upon the primal human instinct to explore, curate, preserve, and discover.

It's been just over a decade since Mehta set off to revolutionise India's global watchmaking footprint with the Jaipur Watch Company. This proved to be an uphill battle, considering that Indian watchmaking was largely relegated to long-haul players such as Titan and HMT. Today, with multiple eclectic collections that respect and elevate India's intertwined relationship with art, numismatics and philately, Mehta's brainchild and love-letter to old-world India continues to flourish, expand, and bring generations both old and new into a blooming space within India's burgeoning homegrown luxury landscape.

We caught up with the watchmaking maven at the launch of his latest boutique in Ahmedabad's Vastrapur, taking a moment to talk collections, business, motivation, family and more. Excerpts:

Why did you start working with coins in your timepieces?

It was something of a coincidence! I've always loved watches. I own over 400 watches from brands other than my own, and I'm the kind of guy who loves to open up his watches and see how they function. I have also been collecting coins for a long time - it's a childhood thing. I used to buy them from eBay, from auctions, here and there. Nothing too expensive, but I collected them.