Media Kit

Boilerplate — Short

Maison Gabus — The Gabus Archive is a research reference for the Gabus name in watchmaking: three houses founded by paternal half-brothers and their first cousin — W. Gabus / В. ГАБЮ (Moscow, 1868–1917), Gabus Frères (Le Locle, Hammerhead №141), and Gabus-Guinand (Les Brenets). Compiled by Jason Zahorenko and Jack Gabus. maisongabus.org.

Boilerplate — Full

Maison Gabus — The Gabus Archive is a research reference documenting three separately documented Gabus watchmaking enterprises: W. Gabus (В. ГАБЮ), a Moscow retail and repair house (1868–1917); Gabus Frères, a Le Locle case-maker (c. 1881–1981) whose Hammerhead №141 mark appears on cases for Rolex, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Breitling, Universal Genève, Longines, Omega, Zenith, Gruen, Lucien Piccard, Baume & Mercier, and Blancpain / Rayville; and Gabus-Guinand (Les Brenets, documented active 1883–1923), whose four original trademark filings, dated 1887–1897, covered nine distinct marks, the last written in Cyrillic for the Russian trade. The Le Locle registers name all three founders as grandsons of Félix Henri Gabus; no direct commercial link between the businesses has been documented. The archive is compiled by Jason Zahorenko and his uncle Jack Gabus. maisongabus.org.

Fact Sheet

• W. Gabus / В. ГАБЮ — Moscow, 1868 – c. 1917. Moscow retail and repair house; its 1890s catalog named “the famous Patek factory” among the watches it carried.
• Gabus Frères — Le Locle, c. 1881–1981. Case-maker; Hammerhead PdM №141 (mark introduced 1926, centralized federally 1934); cased for Rolex, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Breitling, Universal Genève, Longines, Omega, Zenith, Gruen, Lucien Piccard, Baume & Mercier, and Blancpain / Rayville.
• Gabus-Guinand — Les Brenets, documented active 1883–1923. Four original trademark filings, dated 1887–1897, covered nine distinct marks; the final registration was written in Cyrillic for the Russian trade.
• The “Rolex Gabus” — Rolex Ref. 8206 (1949), cased by Gabus Frères and known to collectors under the family name. Production figures for the reference are unsettled: Christie's cites 37 examples in 18ct yellow gold; a figure of 37 in yellow and 37 in pink gold, 74 in total, circulates across several auction houses; Lyon & Turnbull records approximately 12 examples appearing publicly since 1992. Examples made and examples known are not the same measure.
• Patents — Swiss patent CH144357A (1930), linked to Rolex Ref. 3068 and independently confirmed by Antiquorum Hong Kong (2019).
• Bern Zoo — Louis William Gabus's 1900 will endowed CHF 150,000 that founded Bern's Tierpark Dählhölzli, which still operates today.
• Origin — Le Cerneux-Girard and Les Brenets, Canton Neuchâtel; the family was established at Le Locle by 1768. The direct line is documented in the parish registers from Jacob Gabus and Judith Bourquain, whose children were baptised at Les Brenets from 1714.
• On the family question — the Le Locle parish and civil registers name all three founders as grandsons of Félix Henri Gabus and Émilie Dubois: Louis William (1847 baptism) and Georges-John (1854 civil birth act) as sons of Louis Gabus, and Georges (1855 civil birth act) as the son of Louis’s brother Édouard. Two compiled genealogical tableaus held at CEJARE, one drawn by Sam. Vuille Robbe (Neuchâtel, 1921), record the same relationships and carry the wider family line further back; those charts remain compiled genealogy rather than civil-register acts.

How to Cite This Archive

Maison Gabus: The Gabus Archive (maisongabus.org), accessed [date].

Images

High-resolution images of held collection pieces (dials, casebacks, hallmark details) are available on request for editorial use.

Credit: Maison Gabus, for held-collection photography only. Third-party material is credited to its source and is not Maison Gabus's to license: CEJARE, fonds Gabus Frères (workshop photographs; Photo: Teco, La Chaux-de-Fonds); Watch-Wiki (W. Gabus portrait and storefront); and Goldammer (one caseback and one dial photograph). For logo use, see the site mark.

Sources

Every claim on this site is sourced — see the full Sources page for citations, including the family relationship documentation; the The Family page presents the fuller narrative account. The Methods page explains how evidence is rated and uncertainty handled.