Prepare to hear a story.
A story about a man who deserves to be far more well-known than he is someone who practices his craft for passion, not profit.
When I worked at Thomson Reuters, there was a tradition of gifting a premium watch after ten years of service. But this story isn’t about me. It begins with my father and his watch.
For an entire generation, receiving an expensive watch at retirement was almost a rite of passage symbol that even after decades of service, time was still yours to enjoy. My father received a Tag Heuer as his parting gift when he retired from the only company he ever worked for, right as the new millennium began. A beautiful, fitting tribute for a lifetime of dedication.
Naturally, the watch carried immense emotional value. Like many heirlooms, it eventually passed down to the next generation to me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working. A dead battery had leaked inside, and two decades of age had taken their toll.
I searched for an authorised service centre in Bangalore, only to realise that Tag Heuer support in India was limited. For nearly two years, I held on to the watch assuming one day I’d go to Delhi, where the official centre was located. But eventually I accepted that I had waited long enough.
I decided to try my luck with Zimson, a well-known retailer in Bangalore. The watch had several issues; the battery leakage had damaged the quartz movement, the crown was worn out, and the dial carried a few scratches. Still, a watch like this deserved at least one chance at restoration.
After a month of follow-ups, Zimson finally quoted ₹44,000 for the repairs. The number shocked me enough to reconsider my “it deserves a chance” sentiment. But after a few days, sentimentality won. Before giving up, I decided to exhaust every option — including ChatGPT, reviews, forums, anything that could help me find someone who wouldn’t charge based on the brand, but the actual work.
That’s when I first heard of Jileesh, a quiet watchmaker who owned a small shop near Indiranagar. Online reviews spoke highly of him, but with the number of fake reviews today, I was cautious.
One Monday morning, I took the Metro to Indiranagar and then an auto to his shop. As we neared the building — an old structure on a narrow lane — my doubts returned. The staircase led to the first floor, where to the right sat his shop: Time and Me.
The moment I stepped in, I felt relieved. The interior looked exactly like what you’d expect from someone who handles luxury timepieces. Behind the counter was the only person in the shop — Jileesh himself.
I handed him the watch. He quietly took it to his back office, examined it carefully, and returned with exactly what I suspected: the battery had leaked, the quartz movement had corrosion, the crown was worn out, and there were minor scratches. He asked me to leave the watch with him and said he’d call in a few days.
A few days later, he did.
And the news stunned me.
He could repair the watch for ₹3,000 it only needed deep cleaning and a new battery. The crown would be trickier since the model was 25 years old, but he promised to try sourcing the part. A week after my visit, I had a fully functioning Tag Heuer on my wrist. The crown still needed work, but the watch lived again.
Now, you might think this is just a simple repair story. It isn’t.
When dealing with luxury watches, you need someone who knows exactly what they’re doing, and someone you trust. And that’s exactly who Jileesh is.
He is the watchmaker trusted by Mohanlal, the legendary Malayalam actor and multiple-time National Award winner.
As if that wasn’t enough, the lobby of his tiny office displays a handwritten letter from Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut, thanking him for repairing the Omega he wore inside his spacesuit during his mission to space. There’s even an interview on YouTube about it.
So yes, now you understand why this has turned into a thousand-word tribute to a watchmaker.
When a man who routinely repairs watches worth thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars chooses to fix a 25-year-old heirloom for the equivalent of 40 dollars… you realise something important:
For him, it was never about the money.
It was always about the craft.
To be fair he is well known among watch collectors but given how humble he was and his passion for his trade I was shocked that someone so talented is drowned out online by the marketing and brand presence of larger companies. This isn’t a shoutout to the little guy (it well could be). This is a salute to an honest guy doing an honest day’s work in a job he loves doing. In the age of AI, automation and hype it was refreshing to see that true artists still shine through the fog of social media if you are willing to look hard enough.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jileesh-e-j-85479516/?originalSubdomain=in