In May 2024, Sherpa Kami Rita strapped on a Delhi Watch Company Everest II for his 29th summit of Everest — the most summits of any human in history. The watch cost ₹6,999. This is how it got there.
The Record
On May 22, 2024, Sherpa Kami Rita stood on the summit of Mount Everest for the 29th time. No human being has stood there more often. The mountain had become his home, the ascent a ritual. On his wrist — a Delhi Watch Company Everest II, retailing at ₹6,999.
Delhi Watch Company didn't issue a press release before the climb. They confirmed it only after Kami Rita was safely back at base camp. The restraint was deliberate: this wasn't marketing, it was documentation.
The Watch
The Everest II is 36mm — smaller than you might expect for an expedition watch. The NH35 automatic movement inside doesn't know it's at altitude. Sapphire crystal. 100m water resistance, which is more than adequate for the dry cold of the upper mountain. The summit-white dial references the permanent snowpack of the Himalayan high camp zone.
At 36mm, it's also DWC's most wearable everyday automatic. The watch that reached the world's highest point is also the watch you'd wear to the office on a Tuesday. That accessibility is the point.
The Brand
Delhi Watch Company was founded in 2020 by Anish Dandwani. The premise: dial designs that told Delhi stories. The Chandni Chowk collection. Connaught Place's Georgian circles as a sunburst dial. The fire god Agni on a chronograph. A city with too much history and too little representation in global watchmaking.
The Everest collection extended that logic outward — not just Delhi, but the India that exists beyond the capital. The Havelock dive watch references the Andaman Islands. The Vayu references the Vedic wind god. The Agni references ancient Sanskrit fire mythology. DWC has become the brand that treats India's entire geography and mythology as source material.
What It Means
The watch industry has a long tradition of summit watches — Rolex has been to Everest since 1953. But those are luxury timepieces worn by funded expeditions. Kami Rita wore the Everest II because it worked, because it fit, because a Sherpa who climbs Everest for a living doesn't need a watch rated for conditions that haven't existed since the Ice Age.
The world record summit. The most-climbed mountain. The most accessible Indian automatic. Together, they make a case that Indian watchmaking has arrived somewhere worth noticing.
