Titan Company Limited (“Titan”) has entered its newly launched “JALSA” Tourbillon for the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) awards, scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland on 13th November, 2025.
Nebula by Titan “JALSA Tourbillon
Image: Titan has entered the “JALSA” Tourbillon for the GPHG’s Artistic Crafts category. Notice the flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock set against the backdrop of a métiers d’art dial from India.
The “JALSA” Tourbillon is a creation of Nebula, a premium sub-brand of Titan that specialises in crafting 18K and 22K solid gold jewellery watches for men and women.
A limited edition of 10 pieces, the “JALSA” Tourbillon is Titan’s second flying tourbillon model. (The first was launched last year to celebrate Titan’s 40th anniversary.) It combines an in-house flying tourbillon movement with a hand painted marble dial by Sri Shakir Ali, an Indian artist renowned for his Mughal and Persian miniature paintings. The dial depicts a royal procession at the Hawa Mahal, created using natural gemstone pigments and techniques that go back a few hundred years. Please click here to read our in-depth article on the “JALSA” Tourbillon.
Titan Company Limited
Image: Titan’s corporate office building in Bengaluru.
Titan was founded in 1984 as a joint venture with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). It is part of India’s TATA Group – the USD $150 billion “Salt-to-Software” global conglomerate, and one of the largest watch producers in the world, selling approximately 15 million watches every year. They serve the high-volume mid-market segment to the luxury and premium segment. Their brands include Titan, Fasttrack, Raga, and Nebula.
Titan has a workforce of approximately 12,200 employees, and benefits from a “fully integrated design and manufacturing capabilities, 11 production and assembly sites as well as a network of over 3,240 points of sale in 431 cities.” It has a growing international presence in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and North America.
Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG)
The GPHG awards is considered the Oscars of watchmaking. Last year, 90 watches were nominated across 20 categories. 20 watchmaking prizes were awarded, with the 21st being the Special Jury Prize awarded to renown casemaker, Jean-Pierre Hagmann (who sadly passed away earlier this year). Please click here to read our coverage on the 2024 award winners.
Image: Notice the red agate (left) used in the 3-part case and (right) bridges inlaid with it. Red agate is a stone known to have healing properties.
“With JALSA, we mark a decisive step in Titan’s ambition to build a premium segment within our watchmaking portfolio. This piece is a reflection of our vision – to bring India’s deep cultural heritage into conversation with the standards of haute horlogerie.” – Kalpana Rangamani, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, Titan Company Ltd – Luxury Watches.
Our Thoughts
Titan is a company I am familiar with – my late mother was an authorised dealer in Kolkata during the mid-1990’s to early 2000’s. While mostly known for elegant, stylish, and accessible quartz watches, Titan made the leap to mechanical automatic watches as well. I was pleasantly surprised when they launched their flying tourbillon model last year. Titan has the resources to create a world class range of mechanical haute-horology watches; similar to what Seiko achieved with Grand Seiko.
Left: C. K. Venkataraman, Managing Director, Titan Company Limited. Right: Sri Shakir Ali, the artist who painted the dial.
We wish them all the best for their GPHG entry. The sheer audacity to craft last year’s flying tourbillon and the recent “JALSA” Tourbillon have signalled to the global horological community that they “have arrived.” That they too can craft grand complications and métiers d’art at a world class level. I am excited for them and look forward to witnessing their journey.
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