Omologato is fast becoming a big name in the world of watches and motoring. We had a chat with the founder, Shami Kalra.
Motorsport is a big business; the upper echelons are often full of rules, regulations and corporate agreements. When I first met Shami Kalra, the founder of Omologato watches, it was clear that he had no interest in any of that. For him, it’s all about the passion, the people and, of course, the watches.
He started life as a watch designer, creating watches for several motoring brands in limited numbers. It might sound great, but things did not go so well, and in 2015 it was all looking a bit dire to the point that he only had a couple of hundred rands in the bank and bills mounting up.
Now he’s taken delivery of a brand-new Ford GT, which has pushed his Porsche 911 GT3 out of the garage where it sits on the driveway alongside his beloved Volkswagen Up! GTI. He’s also opened a new office right opposite the entrance to Windsor Castle in England and has retail agreements worldwide. He has achieved all of this by believing in the passion for the watches he creates and the passion of the people who love motoring.
“What I try and do with my brand is to include everybody. It doesn’t matter what your budget is; it doesn’t matter how much money you have, you’re included, you can afford a motorsport watch,” he says.
His first watch was Le Mans blue or Gulf colours, and not surprisingly, the phone rang. “I got my knuckles rapped by Gulf immediately because they saw it and said hold on a second, that’s not authorised, you shouldn’t be doing that,” he told us. “So I said, listen, I don’t want to work against you, I want to do this right, it’s a long-term thing for me, so what can I do?”
What they did was help him tweak the design slightly, and then they unofficially endorsed it. The CEO of Gulf South America even has an Omologato Derek Bell 500 watch on display in his office in Mexico.
From that first watch to the catalogue of designs available today, Kalra says that everything must be authentic. He admits he has done some versions that he’s not proud of over the years because he has a bond to pay, but today he can make the watches that he wants to buy himself. They all have great names and designs, like the Le Mans ’59, Maranello California ’57, Panamericana, World Racer and the Dakar Chronograph. Then there are the circuit watches like the Zandvoort Chronograph, the VIRginia International Raceway Oak Tree Edition, Imola Acque Minerali and the Kyalami.
It’s still very much a family business, however. His wife is involved in marketing, his daughter heads up distribution, and when we spoke to him, he was busy making watch straps. He’s taken on a couple of designers and has a few other employees who help with sales, packing and so on, but it’s all a small, intimate business with a loyal global following. This following is partly because Kalra likes to engage and give back to his customers, to provide something that is often not part of the big-money nature of motorsport.
“I’m always happy to give back to motorsport because for far too long it’s been exclusive, and I hate exclusive. You’re invited to the party, and you’re allowed to look through the window; that’s rubbish.”
“I took a guy to the British Superbike Championship last year, a 65-year-old who’d bought our British Superbike watch. He’s a massive bike fan, and I said, well, come along with me to a race. He said, you’re joking, and I said no, and I took him onto the grid. He was crying. He said he felt like he’d won the lottery, and it made me almost cry as well.” To reach the point where he has the kind of clout that can get a customer onto the grid of a major race meeting, Kalra deals not with corporations but with people.
“Every deal I do, I do with people, not the organisations. I’ve just terminated three deals because I can’t get on with the people; they’re too corporate, they’re too stiff. I’m not like that,” he told us, adding, “The thing is to be straight. In any relationship, you’ve got to be straight, you’ve got to be authentic and don’t bullshit anybody. I’ve come through many people in motorsport who bullshit you, promise you the earth, and they can’t deliver.”
What Kalra loves the most is knowing that people who love motorsport love his watches. This approach has turned him into a successful watchmaker and businessman, as well as being taken seriously by the motorsport community at all levels. It’s not something he takes for granted.
“I never take my eye off of the fact that we were broke when we started out, and you never know how karma and things work,” he told us. “Everyone needs something emotive, everyone needs something to show their personality and show what they love, but nobody needs a watch. We have to give them a reason every day to buy an Omologato. That’s the pressure every single day; that is what keeps it going,” he said.
It’s common for watchmakers to say their timepieces tell a story, but rarely is that story as passionate and inspiring as that of Kalra and Omologato.
