A native of Russia’s capital city, Stefan Vinogradov began making skeleton mechanical wristwatches in 2015. Each of his watches are custom made, featuring motifs dictated by the client.

Now 28 years old, Vinogradov began his career at the Carl Faberge College in Moscow where he learnt the skills of a jeweller, which are similar to those in open-working watch movements,techniques like sawing, filing, engraving and so on. Upon graduation Vinogradov joined a Russian independent watch brand specialising in skeleton watches, where he spent seven years plying the trade of a watchmaker.

Having struck out on his own last year, Vinogradov combines both those skills with his watches. He specialises in hand-made skeleton watches, with both the dial and movement open-worked and hand-engraved. Additional decorative techniques for the watches include precious stone setting, coloured epoxy lacquer and wood inlay.

Vinogradov’s repertoire is versatile, ranging from the familiar to the exotic to the unusual. His past watches have been decorated with themes as diverse as Chinese dragons, Darth Vader and Yoda from Star Wars, the Colosseum in Rome, and even the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

A watch with the logo of Alfa L Service, a Russian food processing equipment manufacturer

All of his watches are hand-wound and time-only, powered by either the Unitas 6497 or 6498, both large and robust pocket watch movements. Vinogradov’s watches are primarily steel, but he also produces watch cases in titanium and gold. The watch cases are typically 41mm to 45mm.

Dedicated to the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh, along with the country’s parliament and flag (the reverse of the watch is show in the opening photo)

Each order takes six to eight weeks to complete, with the average price range for a steel skeleton watch being US$3000 to US$3500. Vinogradov now produces about seven watches a year, but plans to grow his production. He can be reached via email on his Instagram.