Russian 14 carat gold open faced keyless lever pocket watch Circa 1900

Pink gold keyless pocket watch by Paul Buhré
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A Russian pink gold open faced keyless lever watch, made for the Russian market, circa 1900. The timepiece features a damascened movement with lever escapement, bimetallic compensation balance, and wolf’s tooth winding. It has a white enamel dial with Roman numerals, an outer minute ring, and subsidiary seconds, signed Paul Buhré. The 14 carat gold case has an engine turned back, and the gold cuvette is also signed and numbered by Paul Buhré in Russian, with a serial number.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: Paul Buhré
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The movement is functional, but there is a crack across the top of the dial. The seconds hand appears tarnished and bent, and there are scuffs throughout the case. Additionally, the engine turning is very worn.
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Montres Paul Buhré. The Buhré watch company was founded in 1815 in St. Petersburg by Karl Buhré, a Russian businessman of German descent. He moved from Revel together with his son Pavel Karlovich who grew up in the watch business of his father and eventually became his assistant and successor. His eldest son, Pavel Pavlovich Buhré, graduated from the Petropavlovsk Commercial College and became his father’s companion at the age of 26 in 1868. In 1874, he acquired a large watchmaking factory in the heart of the Swiss watchmaking industry in the town of Le Locle. In 1880 he was an appraiser under the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty, a technician at the Imperial Hermitage, a supplier of the Supreme Court since 1879 and a Merchant of the First Guild since 1884. In the last 30 years before the revolution, Pavel Buhré became the firm without which it is inconceivable to talk about the history of Russian watchmaking. A store was opened in Moscow and then in Kiev to expand the business.
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In 1899 the company was awarded the title of Supplier of the Imperial Court. Further, Buhré supplied watches to the railways and the army. Between 1881 and 1894, under the reign of Alexander III, watches were made in simple metal cases. These were prize army and railway watches and the world’s first real wristwatches. At a time when luxury accessory watches turned into a necessity, Pavel Buhré sold watches for everyone. Prices for their watches started from just two rubles. The company owned 50 per cent of the Russian market of inexpensive watches. For more wealthy buyers, the same mechanisms were inserted into the silver and gold cases. Complex mechanisms were ordered from the most authoritative Swiss watch companies. In 1916, Buhré obtained a Swiss patent No. 74144 for a chronograph mechanism of its design. The company was awarded the highest awards at many national and international exhibitions, including at the World Exhibitions in Paris in 1889 a silver and in 1900 a gold medal.
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The Revolution of 1917 put an end to business in Russia, but the firm did not cease to exist. The fact that the main production facilities were in Switzerland and the transfer of the headquarters from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to Le Locle, Switzerland saved the company. Since the main market Russia was lost the first years were very difficult, but the company could not only survive it also significantly increased the geography of supply and became one of the leading watch companies in Switzerland. To be recognizable by consumers all over the world, the name was changed from Pavel Buhré to Paul Buhré. The brand returned to Russia in 2004 with the efforts of the trade house striving to revive the traditions of Pavel Karlovich Buhré, the watchmaker, and the following year, the year of the 190th anniversary of the firm.