Russian wooden watch with birchwood movement Circa 1820

Rare wooden cylinder watch
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A fine and very rare Russian, birchwood wooden pocket watch with birchwood movement, circa 1820. A wooden watch with glazed back, the bezels with turned ribbed decoration, gilt brass hinge. Silver dial, annular, with radial champlevé Roman numerals on polished reserves, outer minute track, wooden centre. Steel Breguet hands.  Wooden plate mounted movement on a brass front plate, wooden bridges, wooden standing barrel, wooden wheel train, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Signed: No Name
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Watches made of birchwood are usually made by the Bronnikov family of watchmakers working in Vyatka, Russia. However, the watches made by Bronnikov are quite distinctive and the movements are usually made entirely of wood and bone and the reverse of the dial forms the front plate for the wheel-train. The present watch, whilst clearly inspired by Bronnikov’s work is likely to have been made in central Europe because the movement is a European movement copied in wood, and the dial is made as a separate piece.