Serial Numbers


When purchasing expensive mechanisms assembled in Switzerland, P. Bure was obliged to put the number of the purchased mechanism on his watch. And the mechanisms that came from abroad in the form of a set of spare parts (90% of all Bure mechanisms) and assembled in Russia by Russian craftsmen in the Bure workshops were numbered according to the table.
The numbering ends with the year 1917 for the reason that the table is compiled according to the award inscriptions on the Bure watches of the tsarist period. Accordingly, it ends with a year of revolution, after which the watch was no longer officially presented as a reward.

Actually, the assembly factory was still working and later also moved to Riga, where in antique shops you can still find many hours with numbers 49xxx. Presumably, in the 1919 - early 1920s there was a transition period when they began to produce watches on traditional "P-U" mechanisms but already oriented to Europe with the signature "Paul Buhre". Later, in the 1920s, the remnants of production and the brand were sold to Switzerland.

The early models of P. Bure’s pocket watches were made at the LONGINES factory; their numbering can be checked on the tables of the Longines release years.


YearSerial Number
1880-18871 000 - 9 000
18889 000 - 12 000
188912 000 - 15 000
1890 15 000 - 18 000
189118 000 - 21 000
189221 000 - 24 000
189324 000 - 27 000
1894 27 000 - 30 000
189530 000 - 33 000
189633 000 - 36 000
189736 000 - 39 000
189839 000 - 44 000
189944 000 - 49 000
190049 000 - 54 000
190154 000  -59 000
1902 59 000 - 60 000
190369 000 - 82 000
190482 000 - 96 000
190596 000 - 110 000
1906110 000 - 140 000
1907-1908140 000 - 223 000
1909223 000 - 246 000
1910246 000 - 260 000
1911266 000 - 280 000
1912286 000 - 306 000
1913306 000 - 345 000
1914345 000 - 378 000
1915378 000 - 400 000
1916400 000 - 420 000
1917420 000 - 440 000


 Source: https://german242.com/articles/bure_serial.htm