circa 1880, the front lid with blue enamel Roman numerals around an inner chemin der fer chapter ring, the unsigned white dial 32mm diameter, with black Roman numerals, gold coloured spade hands and chemin de fer chapter ring, the unsigned crown wind mechanical movement with hand setting button at 2 o'clock, the case, 36mm diameter, covered with engine turned engraving, verso with a small circular and vacant cartouche, inner stamped '18K' numbered 15614, the cuvette, similarly numbered and engraved, 'To the Queen, Charles Frodsham, 84 Strand, London' below a crown, gross weight 48g

Charles Frodsham was a distinguished English horologist founding his business in the 1840s. From 1884 he traded as Charles Frodsham & Co, which remains in existence as the longest continuously trading firm of chronometer manufacturers in the world.

At the Great Exhibition in 1851, he was awarded a first-class medal for his timekeepers. The firm won fourteen further medals and honours at the major international exhibitions over the rest of the nineteenth century.

In 1997 the company moved to new retail premises at 32 Bury Street, St. James’s, and set up a manufacturing and conservation workshop in East Sussex, where it continues today, specialising in English precision horology.