In contact even today

Lawrence & Mayo still carries forward its heritage of 130 years.

Many a romantic rendezvous was scheduled under the 70-foot wide, teak wood Lawrence & Mayo banner. Today the legendary signage has been replaced by a leaner, less conspicuous, heritage-compliant one but the vintage headquarters of Lawrence & Mayo on Mumbai's DN Road cannot be missed.

And that's hardly this 130 year-old company's sole claim to distinction. After playing authorised optician to kings and viceroys alike, the tagline "Helping visionaries see better since 1877" doesn't seem like an exaggeration.

Its roots can be traced back to British Jewish families who started optical showrooms in London and Kolkata simultaneously. Lawrence & Mayo's route to globalisation was straightforward "" they followed the East India company into each of their colonies.

Subsequently, with ownership change, most re-christened themselves... all except Lawrence & Mayo India, which was bought over by Isidore Mendonca, a faithful employee, who retained the brand.

Luckily for the 44-store strong company, that heritage is being preserved for posterity by marketing director Vivek Mendonsa who's accumulated albumfuls of archival photographs, correspondence and testimonials along with vintage advertisements.

He points out how aristocrats would ride up in horse driven carriages to order handmade gold frames studded with precious stones in their house colours.

That kind of patronage has given way to a more democratic customer base. However, they still retail Cartier and Mont Blanc at Rs 1 lakh for the new monied classes.

But one can't just rest on laurels of old. "Our differentiation from among the primarily disorganised market will always be our continued investment in specialist manufacturing technology," says Mendonsa, going on to mention that they were the first to introduce computerised testing in India.

"We're still the first choice for new brand launches," he adds. Of course, few are aware that about 35 per cent of Lawrence & Mayo's topline is also contributed by an instrumentation business that finds its takers among top construction companies.

They call themselves the family opticians. There are letters from Amitabh Bachchan and Sunil Dutt that suggest and prove that bond.

And as family, they send out nearly two lakh birthday cards each year. "We have made sure we always carry forward the bedside manners befitting our heritage," says Mendonsa.