Hussainabad

Project Brief - Hussainabad

Sometimes the next project finds you when you're not looking for it.

During a recent trip to Sri Lanka, we found ourselves stopping in front of old clock towers more often than we expected. From the Old Colombo Clock Tower overlooking the harbour to the clock tower standing proudly within Galle Fort, each structure seemed to tell more than just the time.

For generations, these towers quietly watched cities grow around them. They witnessed celebrations, farewells, changing skylines, and countless ordinary days. Long before watches became personal objects, these public clocks kept entire communities in rhythm. They were landmarks. Meeting points. Symbols of progress. And above all, they were trusted keepers of time.

That journey sparked a question that stayed with us after we returned home.

What are India's great clock towers?

The answer led us on a journey across the country, exploring the remarkable clock towers that have stood for well over a century. Each had its own story, its own character, and its own place in the city's memory. Yet one tower continued to stand above the rest.

The magnificent Hussainabad Clock Tower in Lucknow.

Elegant, imposing, and rich in architectural detail, it is more than one of India's tallest clock towers, it is a monument to craftsmanship, engineering, and an era when public timekeeping was an integral part of everyday life.

Today, we're beginning the research and design journey to reinterpret this remarkable landmark as a wristwatch.

As with every Kala project, our goal is to understand the history, symbolism, and spirit of a place, and translate those ideas into a watch that tells a story.

Over the coming months, we'll be sharing our research, sketches, inspirations, and the process of bringing this project to life.

This is the first chapter of a journey inspired by India's clock towers. And we couldn't think of a better place to begin than Hussainabad.