I'm currently reading Crime and Punishment. The importance of poverty and money is already clear 100 pages in.
The money of the time, as you know, was Rubles. They also use Kopecks, which I believe are the equivalent to a USD cent?
My question is: What is the current USD equivalent of one Ruble and Kopeck?
Are you talking paper ruble or metallic ruble?
Catherine the Great started issuing paper rubles in 1768, and the value of these fluctuated greatly in the 18th and 19th centuries until the currency reforms of the 19th century.
In 1704, Peter the Great set the value of the metallic ruble at what is now about 12 grams of silver.
To make some comparisons.
1 Russian Ruble (100 Kopeks) = 12 grams of silver (thanks /u/The_Alaskan for this).
1 British Shilling (12 Pence) = 20,98 grams of silver.
1 US Dollar (100 Cents) = 24,06 grams of silver.
1 Prussian Thaler (30 Silbergroschen or 260 Pfennig) = 16,7 grams of silver (the newer Vereinsthaler that started to come into circulation at this time contained 16,67 grams of silver).
1 Swedish Riskdaler (100 Öre) = 6,38 grams of silver.
1 Sardinian Lira (100 Centesimi) = 4,5 grams of silver.
1 French Franc (100 Centims) = 4,5 grams of silver.
Using the measure how much an average worker woudl have to work to earn that amount then and how much he would earn if he worked as much today, one 1860 Shilling is worth £32,09.
The Ruble is then worth £18,35, which makes $28,79 today.
He's getting $33,11 for the watch, which I guess is a rather low Prince for a quality object.