A few days ago, I was at the new City of Time in Gurgaon, Ethos Watches’ shiny new 22,000-sqft playground, for a watchmaking workshop. Somewhere between admiring the blingy dials and pretending to know what a tourbillon is, I found myself trying to take apart a mechanical movement, an oddly therapeutic exercise. But putting it back together? Chaos. Gathering the over 250 impossibly tiny parts felt like performing surgery with mittens on. But I did leave with a whole new appreciation for the madness behind these machines. Watches are no longer just ‘nice accessories’ in my uninformed brain. They’re mini miracles. And honestly? My smartwatch might need a little break. Just saying.
Luckily, I was in just the right place to take that new revelation ahead. At the City of Time store, there’s space for cult-favourite watch brands like Panerai, Breitling, Bell & Ross, and India’s first-ever standalone H. Moser & Cie. and Ulysse Nardin stores. The setup is intimidating, until it’s not. There’s also a cigar lounge, a cocktail bar, and two beautifully contrasting multi-brand galleries (one elegant, one sporty). Basically, enough distractions to make you forget you’re on a slippery slope to starting a watch collection that your salary might not forgive you for.—Sheya Kurian
Address: City of Time, Ethos, Emaar Capital Tower 2, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Sikanderpur, Sector 26, Gurugram, Haryana
Summer hair never smelled sweeter
Diptyque’s new Ilio hair mist isn’t just a fragrance, it’s a memory in a bottle. Lighter than perfume but just as transportive, it lingers like a half-remembered summer: sun-warmed skin, prickly pears and bergamot, the lazy haze of golden afternoons. Spritz it on and you’ll understand why someone might say, “Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine.” It’s intimacy bottled.—Chloe Chou
Address: Diptyque, The Chanakya, New Delhi. Price: ₹6,100
Tastes like Mumbai
