: Story of Titan Began with a Tamil Nadu Village Making Watches For The Common Indian #IndiaNEWS #Icons of India At first, it looks like any other commercial, with the prankish humour of college students

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Story of Titan Began with a Tamil Nadu Village Making Watches For The Common Indian #IndiaNEWS #Icons of India
At first, it looks like any other commercial, with the prankish humour of college students trying to disrupt a lecture, tapping on benches and clicking away on their calculators. But as soon as the noise snowballs into Mozart’s Symphony No. 25, you know what you’re in for. You know the tune by heart, and you might even catch yourself tearing up.  
A student walks up to the professor (played by veteran actor Avijit Dutt) and gives him a book with ‘farewell’ inked on it. The look of confusion on the professor’s face is replaced with a smile as he opens the book to find a collage. He can’t help but hold back his tears when he sees a Titan watch with black leather straps on the following page.

There are no dialogues, in-your-face shots of the watch, or dramatic voice overs telling you why you should buy it. The advertisement effortlessly and beautifully encapsulates the legacy of the iconic brand Titan, and the emotions behind its ‘Joy of Gifting’ campaign.  
The ad, created by Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) in 2013, aptly sums up the original narrative of gifting Titan watches that was unleashed back in the 1980s. Back then, HMT watches had a monopoly on wrist watches, and you had to place your order months in advance. Another option was to turn to NRI relatives for this prized possession.  
But Titan’s entry turned things around.  
Established in 1984 and launched in 1987 under the joint partnership of Tata Industries and TIDCO (Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation), Titan dismantled the habit of waiting by offering a variety of quartz watches, and mind you, not mechanical. The brand also labelled the watches as valuable. The only difference was that now they were easily accessible and affordable as a gifting option for the common man.
“I wore several watches for kids when I was younger, but when someone asks me about my first one, those are not the ones I tell them about. I tell them it was a Titan watch, with a brown leather strap and a silver dial that shone like a polished coin on my wrist. I got the little beauty as a gift from my father when I turned 16. It was tradition in my family to get a Titan watch on your 16th birthday, and I had desperately waited for my turn to visit the Titan store after seeing my elder sister get one. I would rub it for good luck before every exam. It’s a memory that returns every time I listen to Titan’s signature tune,� says Himachal Pradesh-based Sanchari Pal.  

On 23 December 1987, Titan opened its first showroom in Safina Plaza, Bengaluru. Hundreds turned up with newspaper cuttings of the Titan catalogue. By 2018, the watchmakers had 1,000 stores across India.

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