P Orr & Sons

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A little less than a kilometre north from Higginbotham’s along the Mount Road, another Chisholm masterpiece greets the wanderer. Inaugurated by King George V and Queen Mary in 1879 and home to watchmakers P. Orr & Sons, a three-faced clocktower, quite suitably dominates the façade of this building constructed in the Byzantine style of architecture.

 Scotsman Peter Orr reached the shores of the quaint little sea town of Madras in 1843 with his brother, Alexander Orr. They eventually joined George Gordon & Co. in the watchmaking business, ultimately taking over in 1849 after Gordon’s retirement and even earning the monicker ‘the timekeepers of Madras.’

P. Orr & Sons ventured into a variety of business that included everything from crockery, clothing and cycles to even arms, ammunition and airplane metres, their most successful diversification was into gold, diamonds and silverware. 

They popularized micro-repoussé jewellery based on Hindu mythological figures crafted by artisans from Trichy as Swami Ware and produced lockets, necklaces and bracelets in that style. These pieces became extremely fashionable in the West and visitors to India often shopped specifically for Swami Ware jewellery. 

An exquisite example of Swami Ware, mythological repoussés inspired by artisans from Trichy 

The aftermath of the Second World War left the business reeling and soon after independence, the company was sold to Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar, a textile baron in 1967. Chettiar cut down the flab in the product mix and returned P. Orr & Sons to its roots as a watchmaker. Today, the business functions as a subsidiary of Loyal Textiles owned by the Chettiar family 

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