Reimagining watchmaking through craft and community

“Anyone wearing a Rotoris watch will never feel singled out, even in a room full of Rolexes and Pateks,” says Aakash Anand, co-founder of the newly launched Indian watch brand Rotoris. He is joined in the venture by serial entrepreneur Prerna Gupta and founding partners Anant Narula and Kunal Kapania. We’re seated in a concept bar in Delhi’s Greater Kailash 3 that, for the next month, will double up as Rotoris House, an experience centre for the watchmaker where customers can encounter timepieces over cocktails and small plates.

At the centre of the space, the watches sit on display like protagonists. Rotoris currently has five collections—Auriqua, Monarch, Astonia, Arvion and Manifesta, each built around a distinct narrative. Monarch draws from celestial architecture, with Roman indices lending it a classical presence. Astonia and Astonia Sport take cues from motorbike racing, incorporating tachymeters and chronographs that echo the mechanics of speed. Arvion borrows from the performance dashboard of a vintage sports car, prioritising clarity through a pared-back, single-hand display. Manifesta leans into regality with materials such as mother of pearl and lab-grown diamonds, while Auriqua channels the clean, fluid lines of superyacht design.

“Their specifications aim for chronometric precision or high degree of accuracy–the standard for serious timepieces,” says Harman Wadhwa, whom Rotoris describes as the only Indian-trained watchmaker formally educated in Switzerland. The watches feature anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint finishes, power reserve indicators, and a mix of automatic and Q-matic movements. Each piece is numbered, comes with a lifetime warranty on movement, and can be auctioned by its owner after two years.

For Aakash, who previously built the fragrance label Bella Vita Perfumes, Rotoris is meant to occupy the space between aspiration and accessibility. It is targeted at men who seek craftsmanship without the intimidation often associated with legacy watchmakers. It took the team 18 months to translate that vision into a tangible product. The brand’s route to market is also different from the rest: instead of relying on traditional retail or even e-commerce, Rotoris operates through a waitlist model. 

“We currently have an inventory of 2,100 watches across five collections. When we opened the website on February 1, half the pieces sold out within three days. That’s when we stopped sales,” he says, adding that allocations will reopen in March, with new collections. 

Access hinges on demand. Once the waitlist reaches 25,000 people, Rotoris sends invites to prospective buyers, allowing them to view pricing. A payment link remains active for 48 hours—time, Anand believes, is enough for those who are serious. Once a watch has been purchased, it arrives in two to three weeks. 

The intent of their strategy is to create emotional ownership rather than a purely transactional purchase, explains Prerna. “We kept coming back to three words—ambition, craft and character. These are what define the Rotoris man.” The name itself comes from the rotor, the moving component in an automatic watch, symbolising motion and progress.

Their approach has already captured investor attention, with Rotoris raising $3 million from entrepreneurs and creators including Nikhil Kamath, Vivek Anand Oberoi and Tanmay Bhat, along with institutional backing from Venture Catalysts and 100 Unicorns.

Early adopters, the founders say, include entrepreneurs, designers and athletes—people they describe as being “on the journey” rather than having arrived.

The Delhi outpost is, in many ways, a testing ground for how the brand is attempting to build a community of Rotoris owners (or Rotorians). Customers can book hour-long slots, often bringing along a guest, to experience the watches in an informal setting. Similar pop-ups are planned in other cities before permanent stores follow in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai over the next two years. A Gurugram store is set to open by the end of April, and the founders hint at a forthcoming sister brand focused on women’s watches and jewellery.

In a category where storytelling increasingly shapes perception, Rotoris is betting that aspiration, when paired with access, can be as compelling as heritage.

The watches are priced ₹25,000 upwards. One can join the waitlist on www.rotoris.com.

Published – February 19, 2026 05:11 pm IST