A very fine and interesting watch with strong Royal connections. The watch and key bear the initials of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Garrard's have been royal jewellers since 1735, when its founder George Wickes was appointed Royal Goldsmith by Frederick, Prince of Wales, and continues in the role to the present day. The watch would have been ordered from Garrard's some time in advance. It would have been purchased from Frodsham (one of the most eminent watchmakers of the time) as an undecorated half-hunter and then it would have been decorated as requested and the key made for it by them. The work and stones are of the highest quality, as would be expected. The inscription would have been engraved after the wedding.

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) Born on 24 May 1819, the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg. In 1837, at the age of 18, she succeeded her uncle William IV. In 1840 Victoria married her first cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. For the next 20 years they lived in close harmony and had a family of nine children, many of whom married into the European monarchy. Albert's interests in the arts and sciences inspired the celebratory Great Exhibition of 1851, held at the Crystal Palace. The proceeds form the exhibition led to the foundation of some of Britain's greatest public museums, including the Victoria and Albert institutions that fueled the national pride, while reflecting the Queen's personal ethics and vision. After Albert's death of thyphoid in 1861, Victoria remained in mourning for the rest of her life. The most notable achievement of her long reign was probably the expansion of the British Empire, which doubled in size, comprising India of which she became Empress in 1877, Australia, Canada and parts of Africa and the South Pacific. Although she retired to the Isle of Wight after the death of her beloved husband, and tended to remain hidden from the public eye, she emerged form this seclusion to celebrate her Golden and Diamond jubilees, even making a royal visit to France- the first by a ruling British monarch since 1431. Victoria died on 22 January 1901. Her reign had dominated most of the 19th century. Princess Alice Maud Mary was much beloved by her mother, who remarked "Alice is very good, gentle, and intelligent, and a real comfort to me.? The death of Prince Albert, just as preparations were being made for Alice?s marriage, was a great blow, and the burden of comforting the Queen fell largely on the Princess?s shoulders. The wedding was delayed until the following summer, and took place on July 1, 1862, as a strictly private ceremony.