Museum Collection
A Golden Wedding Present
A watch with a bracelet of the Swiss company “Patek Philippe” was presented by L.I. Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, to Mariya Petrovna Sholokhova on January, 11, 1974, for the 50th anniversary of the conjugal life with Mikhail Alexandrovich.
On the back lid of the watch there is a gift inscription: “To Mariya Petrovna L. Brezhnev 11 January 1974”. According to recollections of Mariya Mikhailovna Sholokhova, the writer’s daughter, the present was handed by Pavlov Gheorghiy Sergheyevich, administer of the affairs of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union Communist Party.
The watch frame is round. The face is white, on the place of the figures there are 13 small rectangular gold plates (each plate marks a point for 1 to 11, two plates mark 12). The face top bears an inscription in two lines: “Patek Philippe Geneva” (a company brand), the face bottom bears a word “Swiss” (the inscription means that the product conforms to identification “Swiss Watch”). The bracelet is made of figured links, is inseparably connected with the watch frame, it consists of two unequal parts, each ending in a part of a fastening. The winder and the bracelet fastening bear an image of the company symbol – a cross of the Spanish Order of Calatrava.
“Patek Philippe” is a Swiss watch company founded in 1839 in Geneva. It has been still popular by now. All the watch models of the company bear a Geneva brand to guarantee a high quality of manufacturing and reliability of mechanisms functioning.
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