Geneva, Nov 09, 2025

LOT 648

LOUIS WILLIAM GABUS, PERPETUAL CALENDAR, MINUTE REPEATER, CHRONOGRAPH, POCKET WATCH MADE FOR THE RUSSIAN MARKET, 14K YELLOW GOLD

CHF 18,000 - 28,000

HKD 176,000 - 272,000 / USD 22,500 - 35,000 / EUR 19,400 - 30,100 / JPY 3,420,000 - 5,320,000

Sold: CHF 23,750

An extremely fine and important, large, heavy 14k gold, manual wind hunting case keyless pocket watch, perpetual calendar, minute-repeating with Chronograph and phases of the moon. White enamel dial, gold spade hands. Made for the Russian market.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 2-8

Very good

Slightly scratched
Movement: 3-6*

Good

Slightly oxidized

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Brand Louis William Gabus

Year Circa 1910

Case No. 23908

Diameter 60 mm.

Caliber 48 mm., based on LeCoultre & Co., Le Sentier (Vallée de Joux), extra quality, 30 jewels, lever escapement

Weight 206 gr.

Signature Dial, case and movement

Notes

Louis William Gabus (1847–1901)

Louis William Gabus was a Swiss watchmaker and entrepreneur, born on May 6, 1847 in Le Locle, in the Jura mountains of Switzerland, into a family of horologists.

At the age of 20, in 1868, he moved to Russia, where he founded his own watchmaking company. Within a decade he became a highly successful businessman, establishing the “W. Gabus” trade house in Moscow. His firm enjoyed an excellent reputation and even became the official representative of Patek Philippe in Russia.

Gabus produced fine Swiss watches, often destined for the Imperial Russian market, with his name appearing on dials in Cyrillic script as “В. Габю” (sometimes misread as “B. Gabus”). His pieces included high-complication pocket watches with chronographs, minute repeaters, perpetual calendars, and moon phases, many crafted in Le Locle and then sold in Russia.

In 1899, he purchased the historic castle of Worb in Switzerland. He died on March 14, 1901, in Muralto (Ticino). In his will, he bequeathed 150,000 Swiss francs to the City of Bern to establish a zoological garden, which later became the foundation of Bern’s Dählhölzli Zoo.

Today, watches signed W. Gabus / В. Габю remain highly collectible as rare testimonies of the close ties between Swiss watchmaking and Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century.