Precious Time: Repeating Watch with the Cipher of George III

Repeating Watch
Once belonged to King George III and
King George V
Swiss, 1802
Gold
The Royal Collection

While Britain’s King George III loved lavishing extravagant gifts upon his friends and family, his personal style was considerably more subdued than the items he gifted. Take this watch for example. This was a favorite of George III who had been bequeathed the timepiece from Adophus, Duke of Cambridge. George added his own cipher to the back of the watch.


The watch was made in 1802 by watchmaker Louis Recordon. Recordon was an important part of horologic history and developed one of the first self-winding watch mechanisms. This particular timepiece is a repeater—meaning that it chimes the hour twice. It also chimes on the quarter hour.

George III presented his nephew, the future King George V, with this watch on his wedding day in 1893.