Hosur

It was a frontier town on the road from Bangalore. Wikipedia says Hosur lies on the Ponnaiyar about 40 kilometres south-east of Bangalore, was once part of the Kingdom of Mysore, and that its industry began in the 1980s with the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu.⁵

The state wanted the project. Tata’s archive says Titan’s partner, the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, held a licence to make watches, and that its chairman from 1979, Iravatham Mahadevan, brought Tata the French partner.²

It was close to HMT. The Better India and The Federal note that Hosur is about 40 kilometres from Bangalore, HMT’s home, and Europa Star says Titan recruited HMT staff.^8, 9, 10

Tata describes the Hosur plant as an integrated factory making virtually all the parts of a watch, and says that by 1987–88 Titan was the leading Indian maker of quartz analogue watches.¹

When it opened is told two ways: Europa Star says production began in February 1987, while Tata’s archive says J. R. D. Tata dedicated the complex to the nation in March 1988 and The Better India dates the inauguration to 11 March 1988.^2, 3, 8

A town grew with it. Tata’s archive says the architect Charles Correa designed the Hosur township, with housing, schools and community buildings; The Federal describes the Correa school at Mathigiri, beside Hosur, for more than 2,000 people.^2, 9

Its millionth watch came on 10 April 1989.^8, 9

Movements are made there. Europa Star says the movement department has nearly 400 people and 204 calibres, and Titan says 81 of the 106 parts of its Slim Mechanical Edge of 2020 are made at Hosur.^3, 4

The technology came from Besançon. Europa Star says Xerxes Desai visited Besançon in September 1979 and that France Ebauches, Tata Industries and TIDCO signed a cooperation agreement in 1985; Tata’s archive says J. R. D. Tata bargained for more training of Titan’s workers in return for the French fee.^2, 3

The workers came from round about. Tata’s archive says Titan hired young men and women from the nearby districts and trained them for precision work.²

Managers came from HMT. Europa Star names B. N. Yalamalli and I. K. Amitha among those who moved from HMT’s Bangalore factory to Titan in 1985.¹⁰

Machines and partners came from abroad as the work grew: Europa Star names the Swiss firm Bumotec for Titan’s CNC case-making, and Wikipedia records an agreement with Casio in 1986 for two million digital watches.^10, 11

Hosur made India’s quartz watches by the million. Europa Star says the works made four million watches a year about thirty years ago and about fifteen million now; The Better India gives 16.692 million.^3, 8

It became Titan’s legal home: Wikipedia records Titan’s registered office at Hosur, and Titan describes a manufacturing unit there and three assembly plants in northern India.^11, 12

It became an industrial city. Wikipedia lists Titan beside makers of lorries, motorcycles and electric scooters at Hosur, which became a municipal corporation in 2019.⁵

Its mechanical work is new. Tata dates Titan’s own mechanical movements to work begun in 2011, and in 2025 Titan entered a watch with its own flying tourbillon at the Geneva watchmaking prize.^1, 14