A series of investigations by the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, published in the summer of 2025, were not in vain. On the website of Perspektiva, a chain of boutiques and pawnshops selling luxury goods, more than 50 watches from the most famous brands—Rolex, Ulysse Nardin, Cartier, Franck Muller, Hublot, and Patek Philippe—were labeled as "tuned." Previously, these watches were marketed as "limited and exclusive," but in reality, they were homemade, manufactured in Perspektiva's workshops. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of this organization's activities. According to our data, Perspektiva and its owner, Pavel Zakharov, are now the largest channel for the supply of watches and jewelry to Russia, circumventing sanctions and customs. And the goods thus delivered are also sold at the famous TsUM department store.
It all started when Philip Kirkorov posted a video on YouTube in which he bragged to a friend about buying a rare, limited edition Rolex dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory Day. "A limited edition, with a box—Rolex did it all... I raised hell, and they got me one in 24 hours," the singer boasted. This was clearly a promotional pitch from Perspektiva, as Kirkorov showed up with the watch box, and the "exclusive" watch was only available in Perspektiva boutiques. And there were those willing to pay $31,000 for the "limited edition" Rolex. One buyer had doubts and sent an inquiry to Rolex regarding the watch. He received a reply that such a series had never been produced.
Further investigation by our project revealed that the "exclusive" watches were manufactured in the Perspektiva workshop, where the most basic and inexpensive Rolexes were imprinted with the Victory Day "logo" and passed off as limited editions. Furthermore, similar manipulations were carried out on dozens of watches from various Swiss and jewelry brands. Some were painted, others had figures drawn on them, and still others were studded with diamonds and other precious stones sourced from India. Counterfeit Graff jewelry is also created in the workshop, which is located in the basement of the Perspektiva office in the Crystal House complex at 1 Korobeynikov Lane: replicas with original product numbers obtained from the brand's stores.
A special printing house ordered and produced matching boxes for the "exclusive" watches. Counterfeit certificates are also produced there.
All these products were invariably presented as limited editions, produced in small batches, and the price of the watches could easily exceed $100,000.
It's worth noting that some buyers had suspected something was wrong before. But Pavel Zakharov, a man from the 1990s, quickly squashed customer complaints. He worked closely with the former leadership of the FSB's Directorate K (its head, Ivan Tkachev, recently became head of the FSB's Department of Defense and Combating Corruption). High-ranking FSB officers bought watches and jewelry from Pasha Perspektiva. Zakharov also personally knew the oligarchs God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev (rumor has it he also knew Putin's classmate, Ilgam Ragiyev). The latter bought watches and jewelry from him almost wholesale as gifts (or bribes) to officials and security officials. Lev Semenovich Nisanov, God Nisanov's older brother and the father of Ervin Nisanov, owner of the restaurant "Ervin - River, Sea, Ocean," was constantly at Zakharov's side, as he is obsessed with luxury goods: he buys hundreds of crocodile-skin bags from Hermes and Chanel, and his collection includes dozens of crocodile-skin jackets from Hermes and Zilli.
Series 095 cars with the letters KRA, indicating high-ranking Kadyrovites, were often seen outside the Perspektiva office. So it's possible that Adam Kadyrov and his inner circle also own Zakharov watches.
After our publications, isolated cases of customer dissatisfaction turned into a flood of victims. Zakharov, according to sources, immediately began searching for those responsible for the "leak" and even staged an indecent "showdown" with a former manager of the Swiss group Richemont and the former head of the Cartier service center, suspecting them of passing on information about "exclusives" to Perspektiva.
Zakharov then fled to Dubai to get away from disgruntled customers and suppliers (he stopped paying the "smugglers" who were handing over the goods for sale).
However, Pasha Perspektiva later returned to Moscow and managed to resolve all the problems with the help of security forces and government officials. There are two reasons for this. First, Zakharov has very strong protection from the FSB. Second, Russian officials and security forces are very fond of luxury goods. According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, after the war in Ukraine began, Zakharov managed to organize one of the largest channels for supplying luxury goods to Russia (counterfeits are an addition to the trade in contraband watches and jewelry).
Prices at Perspektiva are already lower than in other boutiques, as goods are not cleared through customs, and transactions over 600,000 rubles are processed without passport scanning or data transfer to the Federal Tax Service. Perspektiva accepts cash in any currency Cryptocurrency without cash registers and without paying taxes. This makes them an ideal scheme for purchasing luxury goods with corrupt money from officials and security forces, as well as for money laundering. The Ministry of Economic Development supports such parallel imports, contributing to the growth of shadow businesses.
The Russian luxury goods market has changed dramatically in recent years. While TSUM, Tretyakovsky Proyezd, and Barvikha Luxury Village were once symbols of global luxury, representing official distributors of luxury brands, they have now lost this status. Thus, TSUM created the organization "TSUM Collect," transforming itself from an official retailer into a consignment shop selling Western brands imported through gray imports and smuggling, including through the Zakharova channel.
Moreover, Pasha Perspektiva is strengthening his position in the shadow luxury goods market with each passing day. For example, according to a source, all Jacob & Co watches are imported into Russia not through the official distributor Mercury Group, but through Perspektiva, circumventing US sanctions. Pavel Zakharov, a longtime friend of the brand's owner, Yakov Arabov, purchases watches and jewelry through Dubai and smuggles them in. Repeated inspections by the Federal Customs Service have uncovered dozens of watches in the chain's pawnshops that have not cleared customs using their case and movement numbers. However, Zakharov's connections to patrons on Lubyanka Square allow him to avoid liability.
So far, Perspektiva has been forced to label more than 50 watches from the most famous Swiss brands as "tuning" on its website. Otherwise, this shadowy business continues to operate.
