Bangalore Watch Company™ Pays Tribute to ISRO’s Chandrayaan Missions with a Watch Containing an Outer Space Meteorite Stone
In the spirit of producing world-class watches that tell stories from India, Bangalore Watch Company™ celebrates India’s Chandrayaan missions with two new watches called Manzinus and Earthshine. The Manzinus model contains a piece of an outer-space Meteorite stone recovered from Sweden.
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A photo of the Apogee Manzinus that appears to be seated on the Moon’s surface
“India’s space ambitions started in the 1970s, our Moon missions did not take off until the 2000s. Unlike USA or USSR, we did not have powerful rockets to take a straight path to the moon, but ISRO’s ingenuity led to the Chandrayaan missions use Earth’s own gravity to slingshot to the Moon. This was a genius move, and an inspiring story!” said Nirupesh Joshi, Co-founder and Creative Director of the brand.
“In 2019, we launched the Apogee collection as a tribute to the Indian space program. We made a limited-edition watch called the Extraterrestrial which contained a dial made of an outer-space Meteorite that we recovered from Sweden. This watch received worldwide acclaim and our owners’ community loved it. India’s moon missions are inspiring, so we wanted to create a collection for this backstory,” said Mercy Amalraj, Co-founder and Head of Ownership Experience.
The Manzinus and Earthshine models are made of a high-grade stainless-steel inner core with a Ceramic outer body. Since this is a unique coating combination developed for Bangalore Watch Company™, the material is called Cerasteel™. The Cerasteel™ cases are mated with a domed Sapphire crystal, built for 100 Meters of water tightness, and are powered by a Swiss automatic movement.
The Manzinus model is named after the Manzinus crater located at the South pole of the Moon. This crater was the planned landing site of the Chandrayaan-2 mission; the Earthshine model is inspired by the faint-brown glow that appears with the crescent moon.
To make the Manzinus watch special, the brand has recovered Meteorite rocks from Sweden to form watch dials. Called the Muonionalusta meteorite, these rocks have unique patterns due to millions of years spent in space. Each watch is unique with its own pattern, and no two watches are alike.
“Meteorites are outer space rocks, they mostly burn up when entering Earth’s atmosphere, but some of them make it through. We found one such rock and worked with our manufacturing partners in Switzerland to make watch dials. Because of the unique patterns on this material, the watches are special and become collector’s items,” said Nirupesh Joshi.
“Our Owners Community spans 35 countries worldwide. They’re young professionals who are well travelled and well read. They seek out brands that are special and mean something to them emotionally. Our watches are not just high-quality timepieces built to last a lifetime, they also tell stories that allow our Owners to connect with these watches and make them conversation pieces,” said Mercy Amalraj.
The Earthshine and Manzinus watches are priced at INR 92,000 and INR 122,000 respectively. They can be pre-ordered on the brand’s website www.bangalorewatchco.in starting today.
About Bangalore Watch Company™
Bangalore Watch Company™ produces world-class, affordable luxury wristwatches from India. Each collection, produced in limited numbers, tells stories from the Indian Air Force, Indian space program and others from modern-India. Founded in India’s watchmaking ground-zero, Bengaluru couple Nirupesh Joshi and Mercy Amalraj left behind their tech-consulting careers overseas. They returned to India to start Bangalore Watch Company™. With a debut in 2018, the brand has built an enthusiastic following around the world, with patrons in over 30 countries.
