The history of the Buhre watch company began in 1815, in St. Petersburg, where Karl Buhre moved from Revel together with his son Pavel, who eventually became an assistant and continuator of his father's watch making business. His eldest son, Pavel Buhre, graduated from the Petropavlovsk Commercial College and became his father's companion in 1868, at the age of 26. In 1874, he acquired a large watch factory in the heart of the Swiss watch 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, the Supreme Court supplier since 1879, and a merchant of the 1st guild since 1884. In the last 30 years before the revolution, the firm became exactly that "Pavel Buhre", without which it is inconceivable to talk about the history of Russian watch making. To expand business, a store was opened in Moscow, and then in Kiev. In 1899, the company was awarded the title of the Imperial Court Supplier.

During the reign of Alexander III (1881-1894), employees of His Majesty's Cabinet presented 3,477 gift watches worth 277,472 roubles. The vast majority of these honorary watches were produced by Pavel Buhre. In the late 1890s, Pavel Buhre supplied watches to the Supreme Court in the amount of 50-60 thousand roubles per year. In total, of the 15,000 watches purchased during the thirty pre-revolutionary years through His Majesty's Cabinet, more than 80% – were produced by the firm “Pavel Buhre”. Watches were also made in elementary metal cases according to government orders. These were honorary military and railway watches and, of course, the world's first real wrist watches. These watches were ordered by the Main Artillery Directorate in 1904, in connection with the Russian-Japanese War. There were a lot of Pavel Buhre watches – weight-driven clocks and chronographs, carriage and wall clocks, alarm clocks and gold repeaters – the whole story is literally riddled with references to Pavel Buhre works.

It was not without the participation of writers that this name practically became a household word. Thus, for example, only in the works of Anton Chekhov "Buhre watches" occur more than 20 times. Experts of ancient watches find it difficult to explain why the watches made by Buhre were better than watches of other firms that worked in Russia at the turn of the centuries. Some of them, like Buhre, had their own factories in Russia, where watches were assembled from the mechanisms imported from abroad. At a time when from being a luxury accessory, watches turned into a necessity, "Pavel Buhre" was selling watches to everyone. Prices for “Pavel Buhre” watches started from just two roubles. The company owned 50% percent of the Russian market of inexpensive watches. For more affluent buyers, the same mechanisms were inserted into silver and gold cases. Complicated mechnisms (repeaters, chronographs, calendars) were ordered from the most authoritative Swiss watch companies. And in 191, Pavel Buhre obtained a Swiss patent No. 74144 for a chronograph mechanism of his own design. "Pavel Buhre" was awarded the highest awards at many national and international exhibitions, including at the World Exhibitions in Paris: in 1889 – a silver medal, and in 1900 – a gold one.

The Revolution of 1917, put an end to the business of “Pavel Buhre” in Russia. However, the "Buhre" watches themselves were popular with the new regime. In the Kremlin, the office of Vladimir Lenin, there were circular wall-mounted “Buhre” clock. For many years, Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev, controlling the passage of time in the country, consulted pocket watches made by ‘Pavel Buhre’ firm. It should be noted that the firm “Pavel Buhre” did not finished its existence in 1917. The fact that the main production facilities were in Switzerland saved the company. The regular work was resumed with the transfer of the headquarters from Petrograd to the Swiss Le Lockle. Although the first years were very difficult, since the main market – the Russian one, was lost. But the company was able not only to survive, but also to expand the geography of supplies significantly and become one of the leading watch companies in Switzerland. In order for the Pavel Buhre watch to be recognizable by consumers all over the world, the logo was changed from Cyrillic to Latin one. The watches received more than 500 prizes for stroke accuracy and were successfully sold worldwide. In the middle of the last century, they were supplied to the English court. The brand returned to Russia in 2004, through the efforts of the Trading House created with the aim of reviving the traditions  of the watch maker Pavel Karlovich Burhe. And the very next year, in the year of the company's 190th anniversary, the first new products were released under the revived brand, conveying the classic spirit of the company masterpieces. Special attention is paid to the high reliability and quality characteristic of the pre-revolutionary "Buhre". And the enthusiasm with which the new products made by the Buhre firm have been received by people of different generations in many countries of the world inspires confidence in the revival of another ancient tradition – to determine the time with Pavel Buhre.

A story about watch company of Pavel Buhre is posted in the video cycle "Museum stories".

The museum "Collection" section "Clocks and Objects with Movement" features unique specimens made by this world-famous watch company.