This beautiful and rare clock is one of the most iconic desk clocks created by Fabergé. The view of the Admiralty in St. Petersburg, delicately painted in sepia enamel, together with its unusual shape and very fine guilloché enamel make this clock one of the most impressive examples that survived.

The recently discovered Bainbridge Papers which include a daybook and a diary of Henry Bainbridge, the manager of the London Fabergé shop, revealed a fascinating sketch of this clock made by Bainbridge during his visit to St. Petersburg in 1910. Whilst there, he sketched stock pieces in his notebook and made a note of their prices, costs and stock numbers. In his role as a manager, Bainbridge used to suggest which pieces are to be made for the London branch. This particular clock was certainly of interest to him, as it is sketched in his daybook and described as ‘Clock. Blue opal.[escent] with view of Admiralty’ (see illustration, ©Wartski, London). An inventory number '19326' and the cost of 525 roubles, which was a large sum for a clock, are noted next to his pencil drawing (see K. McCarthy, Fabergé in London: The British Branch of the Imperial Russian Goldsmith, United Kingdom, 2017, p. 219).

The Admiralty is one of St. Petersburg’s oldest buildings and a focal point of the city’s main streets. Construction of the Admiralty began in 1704 in accordance with Peter the Great's personal designs and was originally built as a fortified shipyard. A tower and spire, which are featured on the present clock, were constructed between 1806 and 1823 by the architect Andreyan Zakharov.

The clock forms part of a series of objects decorated with important monuments of St. Petersburg, inspired by the city’s Bicentenary in 1903. The surviving album of Wigström's designs contains a number of works with images of buildings and monuments of St. Petersburg. The tradition of using famous monuments and city views to decorate Russian snuff boxes, porcelain and glass works in the 18th and 19th centuries was well-known to Fabergé, and he continued to popularise the views of the city, encapsulating St Petersburg's most famous landmarks in miniature.