In the annals of Kolkata’s heritage, the story of Bhim Chandra Nag’s shop is inseparable from both sweet and timekeeping. Famous for inventing the Ledikeni — a syrupy fried delight created in honour of Lady Canning, wife of the then Viceroy Charles John Canning — the shop on Wellington Street (now Nirmal Chandra Street) was also the site of another cultural milestone. In 1858, the prestigious watchmakers Cooke and Kelvey crafted what is believed to be the first clock with Bengali text.
Legend has it that Thomas Cooke, struck by the absence of a timepiece at the confectioner’s bustling shop, gifted Bhim Nag a clock that his Bengali-speaking employees could read. With Swiss machinery inside and Bengali lettering on its face, the clock became an emblem of both innovation and pride in the Bengali language.
More than 165 years later, that historic clock continues to inspire a new generation. For 30-year-old PhD scholar in Indian classical music, Kiran Baidya, and her husband Subhajit Parui, a researcher himself, the Bhim Nag clock was more than an antique curiosity. It was a call to reimagine time itself through the lens of Bangla heritage. The couple, hailing from Bandel in Chinsurah, launched their brand Muhurto just two and a half months ago with a mission: to create watches that carried the soul of Bengal in their design.
Reimagining the ‘ghori’
“When I first saw the Bhim Chandra Nag watch, I wanted to have a Bengali ghori of my own,” Kiran explains. That impulse led to their first creation — an almost exact homage to the Cooke and Kelvey original. Instead of Roman numerals, the dials carry Bengali numbers written out — a subtle yet profound reminder of cultural continuity. The watches are not replicas in the narrow sense. While the spirit comes from the 19th-century sweetmaker’s clock, the engineering combines the present and the past. Parts are sourced from across India, the clockwork Japanese, and final assembly is done in Kolkata. In an age where mass-produced Chinese watches dominate, Muhurto stands apart.
The couple admits that watchmaking is not their professional background, but their passion for the Bengali language gave them the courage to start. “There is no watch brand doing this in West Bengal. We wanted to fill that void and do it with Bangla at the centre,” Subhajit says.
Tribute to the doyens
Their second watch pushes the idea of cultural homage even further. Inspired by the doyens of Bengali cinema, Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar, the dial bears a single word — Nayak. The calligraphy is influenced by Ray himself, referencing his classic film Nayak, which immortalised Uttam Kumar as Bengal’s beloved Mahanayak.
“It is not about making just another fashionable watch,” says Kiran. “We want people to carry Bengal’s stories on their wrists.”
Beyond the dial
The reception has been enthusiastic. An exhibition at a museum drew large crowds, and the project has already gone viral on Facebook. Orders are placed through Muhurto’s page, with physical availability at select stores such as D.M. Library in Maniktala, Meghbir Boutique near Chandni Metro, and Bichitra opposite Chinsurah bus stand. For young Bengalis searching for a blend of tradition and style, these watches have quickly become a statement.
Yet the founders are not stopping here. They have begun exploring new designs, one of which imagines the face of a watch inspired by Kolkata’s yellow taxi. With a dial that doubles as a taxi meter, it aims to display both date and time in quintessentially local fashion. Kiran acknowledges that such projects take patience. But the ambition is clear: to build a brand rooted in the Bengali language and aesthetics.