Among the exhibits of the museum and cultural center “House of Merchant Grigory Tetyushinov” there is a wall clock with a pendulum in a wooden case with a glazed door.

The maker’s mark indicates that the interior item was produced by the “Chetunov Brothers” trading house, which was widely known in the second half of the 19th century. One of their stores was located in the very center of Moscow on Ilyinka Street in the tenement building of the Troitsky metochion. The “Chetunov Brothers” trading house, the largest supplier of clocks for the Russian market, did not have its own factory.

The trading house was founded in 1856 by two brothers — 2nd guild merchants Ivan Ivanovich and Pavel Ivanovich Chetunov. They set up a number of stores where they traded in imported goods in order to ensure successful commercial activity.

The products came from the famous German clock company Lenzkirch and the Swiss factory Le Locle. The ready-made products were imported into Russia in large batches, then they were branded with the trademark of the trading house and resold. Somewhat later, following the request of Russian customers, the manufacturers of Swiss clocks began to mark their products “B.Ch.M.” (“Brothers Chetunovy Moscow”) at the assembly stage.

The range of the Chetunov brothers’ stores was wide: from cheap models to gilded and silver ones. There were wall, table and floor clocks, as well as corset and pocket clock movements.

All products that were available in the stores of the “Chetunov Brothers” trading house were labeled. Pocket watches were labeled on the inside of the lid. All inscriptions on wall and floor clocks were applied with wax paint over enamel, and an ink stamp was placed on the back of the case.

In 1877, the brothers split up, and each began to run the business independently. Another seven years later, Pavel Ivanovich’s sons Nikolai and Pavel reestablished the trading house, although under their own names — “Brothers N. and P. Chetunov”.

In 1888, the brothers met their co-founder, the Swiss pocket watch manufacturer Karl Karlovich Tissot. Since that time, the company has been called “Brothers N. and P. Chetunov and Tissot”. Even after the appearance of a companion, the watches that came to Russia for the trading house continued to be branded “B.Ch.M” and inscribed “Factory Brothers Chetunovs Locle”.