This watch and chain is surely one of the most exceptional and impressive pieces ever made for the Indian market. It was once part of the famous collection of jewels belonging to one of India's wealthiest and most flamboyant princely rulers, the Nizam of Hyderabad. A fascinating insight into the purchase of watches by the Nizam is recounted in the following anecdote. The story-teller was an elderly salesman of the renowned firm of Marcks & Co. ?I was very young then", he told me with a trembling voice, "and had been taken on as an assistant salesman at Marks & Co., of Bombay, which also had a branch in Poona. At the time it was the most important firm importing watches from Switzerland, and it also commissioned various precious and complicated watches marked with the name of the firm. One of the manufacturers working for us, Grandjean & Co. from Le Locle, was a company that today no longer exists but which then enjoyed an excellent reputation for the high quality of its complicated watches. I remember that we had in our showcases watches that no one makes anymore, decorated with polychrome enamels and covered in diamonds, rubies, emeralds, the size of walnuts. We, ourselves, often suggested decorations of this type when we commissioned pieces from prestigious Swiss manufacturers. In our showcases, these watches shone like many bright suns! Some chimed so loudly that we could still hear them when the showcases were closed. Among these watches, some had moon phases, or a perpetual calendar. Some had automata, which came into motion when the watches were wound. Other watches would strike the hours and quarter-hours, reproducing the sound of London's Big Ben, and still others repeated the minutes on bells on demand. One of these actually played the music of ?God Save the Queen?. They were truly splendid and I would look at them and listen to them for hours on end. We did not make those watches here, they came from very, very far away. Then one day I was told that an important person was in town, Mahbub Ali Khan (1869-1911), the Nizam of Hyderabad. He was expected to come and visit the shop because he was passionate about watches. Indeed he arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, dressed in Indian fashion, with a big cloak and a gold cane, accompanied by several people all bowing down to the ground as he went by. We all lined up to greet him with the respect due to such an important and famous person. He entered the shop majestically, slowly looking to the right and to the left, not a glance at any of us, as though he were deaf to all the words of praise coming from the manager. He went straight to the showcase that housed the most beautiful and expensive pieces. After one brief glance, he raised his cane, lightly touching the showcase in a diagonal movement. He paused a few more seconds, looking around and taking it all in, and slowly went for the door, not saying a word, his eyes shining with joy." Recalling the moment with excitement, the salesman continued: "it was like living through one of the stories that you are told when you are a child. So I went next to Ramesh, my master, and asked him what had happened. He looked at me before he replied. Then, after hushing a few words of thanks to Krishna, he told me that the Nizam had bought all the watches in the showcase, and that they had to be packed as quickly as possible since the Nizam was unaccustomed to waiting. Yes. Those were the good old days," said the salesman finally.? The Nizams of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, on the River Musi five miles east of Golconda, was founded in 1591-92 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. In the 16th century the city grew to accommodate the surplus population of Golconda, which was the capital of the Qutb Shahi rulers. Many buildings sprang up along the River Musi. The Qutb Shahi dynasty founded the Kingdom of Golconda, one of the five kingdoms that emerged after the break up of the Bahamani Kingdom. The Qutb Shahis ruled the Deccan for almost 171 years. All the seven rulers were patrons of learning and were great builders. They contributed to the growth and development of Indo-Persian and Indo-Islamic literature and culture in Hyderabad. During the Qutb Shahi reign, Golconda became one of the world?s leading markets for diamonds, pearls, steel for arms, and also printed fabric. The seven Nizams of the Asif Jahi dynasty ruled the Deccan for nearly 224 years, right up to 1948. During the Asif Jahi period, Persian, Urdu, Telgu and Marathi developed simultaneously. The highest official positions were given to deserving persons irrespective of their religion. Persian was the official language up to 1893 and then Urdu up to 1948. When the British and the French spread their hold over the country, the Nizam soon won their friendship without bequeathing his power. The title "Faithful. Ally of the British Government" was bestowed on Nizam VII. The British stationed a Resident at Hyderabad, but the state continued to be ruled by the Nizam. The incalculable wealth of the Asaf Jah Dynasty. The collection of jewels of the Nizams of Hyderabad is one of the finest in the world. In addition to turban ornaments, gem-set and enameled necklaces, earrings, armbands, bracelets, belts and other items of jewelry, it includes twenty-two unset emeralds and the fabled 184.50 carat Jacob Diamond - a magnificent South African gem believed to have been used by the last Nizam as a paperweight! After the integration of Hyderabad state into the Union of India in 1950. Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan instituted a jewelry trust to which he assigned the most important items from the Hyderabad treasury, with the stipulation that they could only be sold after his death. In the nearly three decades since 1972 (when the collection was first offered to the government of India), the unfolding drama of the Nizam's jewels entailed court cases, intrigue, conflicting decisions and colossal expenses.