Moscow Twilight (1992)

William E. Holland's 1992 novel opens in January 1989 with a gang attack on an after-hours cooperative cafe in Moscow that leaves a foreigner dead. KGB captain Sergo Chanturia finds that the man was Charles Hutchins, the CIA station chief, and ends up working the case alongside the American embassy's Ben Martin. At first the body has no papers, only good clothes and what was in the pockets. (Open Library)

Watches

Hermès (unidentified model): The militia investigator lists what "Mister X" carried: dollars, Finnish and German marks, lire, a lot of rubles, a French wristwatch by Hermes, an English fountain pen and an Irish linen handkerchief, to go with an English suit, Italian shirt and German shoes. When the KGB hands the case to the Procurator, Chanturia's colleague Orlov turns the Hermes under the light, says some interrogator's assistant will think it his lucky night and tosses it into the property box; Chanturia assumes someone will be wearing a very fine wristwatch before morning. The scan prints the name without its accent. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: "Too bad this has to go." He turned the Hermes watch carefully under the overhead light. "Some interrogator's assistant will think this is his lucky night." (William E. Holland, Moscow Twilight, scan cataloged as Pocket Books, 1992, p. 53; the inventory is on p. 7 and the dead man is named on p. 69; Internet Archive scan OCR)