“Anyone wearing a Rotoris watch will never feel special, even in a room full of Rolexes and Patek watches,” says Akash Anand, co-founder of the newly launched Indian watch brand Rotoris. He is joined in the venture by serial entrepreneur Prerna Gupta and co-founders Anant Narula and Kunal Kapania. We’re sitting at a bar in Delhi’s Greater Kailash 3, which over the next month will transform into Rotoris House, an experience center for watchmakers where customers can try on watches over cocktails and small plates.
In the middle of the space, the clocks appear as heroes. Rotoris currently has five collections – Auriqua, Monarch, Estonia, Arvion and Manifesta, each built around a distinct story. The Monarch draws from celestial architecture, with Roman indices giving it a classic presence. Astonia and Astonia Sport take cues from motorcycle racing, incorporating tachymeters and chronographs that reflect the speed mechanisms. The Arvion borrows from the performance dashboard of an old sports car, prioritizing legibility with a concise, one-handed display. Manifesta leans into royalty with materials like mother-of-pearl and lab-grown diamonds, while Auriqua channels the clean, smooth lines of superyacht design.
“Their specifications are aimed at chronometric precision or a high degree of precision, which is the benchmark for important watches,” says Harman Wadhwa, whom Rotoris describes as the only Indian-trained watchmaker to receive formal education 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 the movement, and can be auctioned by its owner after two years.
For Akash, who previously created the fragrance brand Bella Vita Perfumes, Rotoris aims to occupy the space between aspiration and accessibility. It targets men who are looking for craftsmanship without the intimidation often associated with vintage watchmakers. It took the team 18 months to translate this 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 queue model.
“We currently have an inventory of 2,100 watches across five collections. When we opened the website on February 1, half the pieces were sold out within three days. That’s when we stopped sales,” he says, adding that allocations will reopen in March with new collections.
Access depends on demand. Once the waiting list reaches 25,000 people, Rotoris sends out invitations to potential buyers, allowing them to view prices. The payment link remains active for 48 hours, and Anand believes that is enough time for those who are serious. Once you purchase the watch, it will arrive within two to three weeks.
Prerna explains that the goal of their strategy is to create emotional ownership rather than purely transactional buying. “We kept coming back to three words – ambition, craftsmanship and character. These are what define a Rotoris man.” The name itself comes from the rotor, the moving element in an automatic watch, which symbolizes movement and progress.
Their approach has already captured the attention of investors, with Rotoris raising $3 million from entrepreneurs and creatives including Nikhil Kamath, Vivek Anand Oberoi, and Tanmay Bhatt, along with institutional backing from Venture Catalysts and 100 Unicorns.
The founders say early adopters include entrepreneurs, designers and athletes, people they describe as “on the journey” and not yet arrived.
The Delhi outpost is, in many ways, a testbed for how the brand is trying to build a community of rotoris (or rotorians). Clients can book hour-long slots, often bringing a guest along, 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. The Gurugram store is scheduled to open by the end of April, and the founders are hinting at an upcoming sister brand focusing on women’s watches and jewellery.
In a category where storytelling increasingly shapes perception, Rotoris is betting that ambition, when combined with accessibility, can be as compelling as heritage.
Watches are priced at £25,000 and above. One can join the waiting list at www.rotoris.com.
