We first introduced India’s Jaipur Watch Company as a maker of affordable timepieces with collectible coins on the dials. The success of those watches inspired Jaipur Watch Company beyond the coin to a different type of currency dial: the postage stamp. While other companies have used coins for a watch dial (though it is hardly a common practice), I don’t recall any instances of watches having stamps as dials. Jaipur Watch Company claims it is the first to put a stamp on a timepiece face. Now that I’ve seen the result, the Jaipur Watch Company Stamp Watch has made me very bullish about how timepiece faces can be made more interesting and attractive with stamp art.
Jaipur Watch Company currently has a wide variety of Stamp Watches in its collection, but all of them currently share the same case design. What the different models offer is a steel or gold-toned case, bracelet or strap option, and dial choices featuring several different historic Indian stamps in a rainbow of colors. Jaipur Watch Company’s Stamp Watches can vary in price depending on the rarity of the stamps. The Stamp Watches start at just over $400 USD in price, but special versions with rare stamps or with modest amounts of diamond decoration can go up to over $1,500 or even $2,000 USD in price. That isn’t extremely high in the context of luxury watches, but it does demonstrate a very important point about the popularity of the watches. It means that the stamps themselves, or the Stamp Watch visual concept, are so compelling that Jaipur Watch Company is easily able to sell some of them outside their normal price zone because of special demand for this particular product family. That’s impressive, and I think the proof is how satisfying a concept these products are.
What helps the popularity of a stamp dial watch is the popularity of square or rectangular watch cases. These Stamp Watch cases were clearly designed to be like a frame for the stamp. Since many stamps are standard sizes, it is possible for a watchmaker to design a case that can perfectly frame a large number of stamp styles. Many current and especially historic postage stamps had beautiful artwork on them. The detail and complexity of the artwork were traditionally part of forgery protection. Stamps are really just small artistic compositions that are supposed to be highly detailed. A perfect subject for a watch face, if you ask me.
While Jaipur Watch Company has so far only leaned into British Colonial era Indian postage stamps for watch dials, that is only a strategic limitation. Stamps of all sizes, nations, ages, and types could make for fascinating and emotionally interesting timepieces. I very much want to see other creatives experiment with how they can adopt the idea of a stamp watch dial for something completely different. This particular Jaipur Watch Company Stamp Watch dial has a King George VI 1 anna denomination India Postage from the early 1940s. These are not particularly valuable vintage stamps (worth only a few dollars a piece), but they are nonetheless pretty and help tell an interesting story about the history of our modern world. According to Jaipur Watch Company, King George VI has special significance to the brand because its first coin dial watch used a British India one-rupee coin with King George VI on it.
The “picture-frame case” (as I call it) is made in polished steel and, for the reviewed model, coated with a yellow gold tone. I believe this same King George VI India Postage stamp dial can be found on a similar Stamp Watch with a naturally finished polished steel case. The case is 30.2mm wide, 34mm tall, and 7mm thick. The dial has a flat AR-coated crystal over it. No mention of water resistance, but I am guessing the case is resistant to 30 meters. Note that the blue color on the crown in the pictured timepiece is a protective plastic and is typically removed. The Stamp Watch case design is primarily intended for women. I put the watch on myself in some of the pictures because I like the concept, but Jaipur Watch Company will need to think of a more masculine way to achieve the same impressive effect as they have for female wrists. That’s OK, there are plenty of watches out there for men, and I am not complaining about needing more. But women should enjoy stamp-dial watch availability exclusivity while they can. This is just too marketable an idea for it to end with the current selection of Jaipur Watch Company India stamp dial items.
Inside the Stamp Watches are Swiss Ronda 1062 battery-powered quartz movements. The watch displays just the time with hour and minute hands. Clearly, precision when reading the time is not the point of this and other art dial watches. With that said, the hands are easy enough to spot and don’t overly blend into the composition of the dial. This is not a sports or chronometry timepiece, but rather a fun and elegant design-focused watch. With that said, even though Jaipur Watch Company intends for their Stamp Watches to have mainstream appeal, as a product, it was very much conceived with enthusiast customers in mind. This is a well-refined product despite its fresh approach to watch dial artwork.
Unlike many other Jaipur Watch Company Stamp Watches that come on a leather strap, this comes with a matching gold-tone steel bracelet. I like how the bracelet uses quick-release springbars so that you can swap it out with something else – should you so desire. Otherwise, the bracelet on its butterfly-style deployant clasp is unremarkable, though it is comfortable and matches the style of the case. In addition to the accessible price point, what makes these Stamp Watch products fun for those not specifically moved by Indian colonial history is the novelty and beauty of a watch with a stamp dial. I really do think these products are globally alluring, beyond just those people with Indian background or an interest in philately. Price for this particular Jaipur Watch Company King George VI India 1 anna Postage Stamp dial timepiece is about $460 USD. Learn more at the Jaipur Watch Company website.
