The Meteorite Dial Of The Bangalore Watch Company Apogee Visitor

Founded in 2018 by Nirupesh Joshi and his wife Mercy Amalraj, Bangalore Watch Company is a rare representative of Indian watchmaking, producing affordable mechanical watches with a strong Indian connection. Fascinated by all things related to aviation and space, Joshi designs models inspired by India’s Air Force and space programme. The Apogee, launched in 2021, is India’s first space-qualified watch, with a helmet-shaped case that captures the design groove of the late 1960s and 1970s, when India’s space programme was taking off. The latest Apogee to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere features a sliver of outer space booty in the form of a meteorite dial: welcome the Apogee Visitor.

Joshi’s inspiration for the Visitor dates to a moment that changed our understanding of space when astronomers spotted an interstellar object hurtling through our solar system at great speed with a hyperbolic trajectory. The first confirmed object from another star system, the Visitor, officially known as the Oumuamua, was detected by the Pan-STARRS telescope on October 19, 2017.

To recreate an authentic out-of-space experience, the Visitor has a meteorite dial, crafted with a sliver of the famous iron Muonionalusta meteorite. Considered one of the oldest known rocks from outer space, the 4.5 billion-year-old Muonionalusta has striking Widmanstätten patterns. While it is not the first Apogee watch to flaunt a meteorite dial, the difference here is that the meteorite is treated with a matte black PVD coating. Framed by two peripheral tracks, with 24-hour and 12-hour scales, the white minutes/seconds track has red markings at 5-minute intervals. The applied rectangular indices and square-tipped hands are treated with C3 Super-LumiNova, and the round date window at 6 o’clock has a black disc to match the dial.

The helmet-shaped Apogee case, with a 40mm diameter, a lug-to-lug span of 44mm and a thickness of 12mm, is crafted from the brand’s proprietary Cerasteel, based on a steel case construction with a ceramic-coated surface. Machined from a single block, the Unibody case has a sleek matte grey finish and is water-resistant to 100 metres. A signature feature of the Apogee, the two steel crowns with their pronounced knurling perform different tasks. The crown at 2 o’clock is used to activate the internal unidirectional rotating bezel to display a second time zone, and the lower one to set the time and wind the movement.

Hidden beneath the caseback with an embossed image of India’s first satellite is a Sellita SW200-1 automatic, a proven Swiss workhorse with a 38-hour power reserve. The watch is paired with a black leather strap with white stitching and a steel pin buckle. It can be exchanged thanks to the quick-release pins. The Apogee Visitor can now be ordered on the brand’s website and retails for INR 216,000 (approx. USD 2,500).

For more information, please visit BangaloreWatchCo.in.