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ACHIEVEMENTS
From 1878, W. GABUS used LeCoultre quarter-repeater movements in silver and gold watch cases.
From 1885, W. GABUS used the Breguet overcoil in its watches.
By 1891, W. GABUS was among the three largest watchmakers in Russia, alongside the prestigious houses of Pavel Bure and Henry Moser.
From 1893, W. GABUS’s Swiss division, Berna Watch Company, won gold medals for watchmaking at international exhibitions in Chicago (1893), Paris (1900) and Milan (1906).
From 1895, W. GABUS used LeCoultre minute-repeater movements, complex striking mechanisms and perpetual calendars in gold cases.
From 1897, W. GABUS represented Patek Philippe watches in the Russian Empire.
From 1908, W. GABUS was listed in the first category of the Moscow Merchants’ Board.
After founding the watch company in the Russian Empire, Louis William Gabus decided to open a boutique on Nikolskaya Street, one of Moscow’s most prestigious shopping streets. From 1895 until the 1917 Revolution, it occupied No. 15 Nikolskaya Street (now No. 23). The ground floor housed the store and watch workshops; the basement served as storage and staff space.
Industrialist N. A. Varentsov, a contemporary of Gabus, recalled the store’s distinctive window displays: wristwatches and pocket watches were lit by tiny lamps to make them appear to glow. Red and black velvet, strands of pearls and large individual pearls decorated the windows.
W. GABUS Boutique Price List
According to a W. GABUS price list from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, gold watches with minute repeaters started at 150 imperial rubles, while watches with perpetual calendars or striking mechanisms started at 400 imperial rubles. The Russian original gives approximate modern-ruble equivalents of 195,000 and 512,000 rubles, respectively.
Gallery of Greeting Postcards
From customers of the W. GABUS boutique in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
English translations appear beneath each postcard.
(translated from French)
“My dear friends, greetings from Stockholm. The weather is fine, with no snow. This evening I leave for Åbo by boat and will be home on Sunday morning. It will be lovely to see you again. Armand.”
To Mr A. P. Chernyshov
Gabus Store
Moscow
(translated from French)
“Warmest wishes and a happy New Year.
To Mr Alexander Chernyshov
House of Gabus
Nikolskaya Street, Moscow”
(translated from French)
“During our walk we thought of you and send you our warm greetings and affectionate embraces.
From Volodia and Émile Burkhard
W. Gabus Watch Store
Nikolskaya Street, Moscow
For Mr Alexander”
(translated from French)
“It is good that you did in Neuchâtel what you told me about. Happy Easter.
To Mr Chernyshov
Gabus Watch Store
Nikolskaya Street, Moscow”
“Dear Bertha,
I arrived safely. It has been raining all the time. I could not write yesterday; it was late and the post had already gone. Aunt is unwell. My regards to everyone. Kisses, your Alexander.”
To B. B. Chernyshova
W. Gabus Watch Store, Nikolskaya Street
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