This fine, diminutive pocket watch is engraved with the inscription, 'Henry Grendon in y ^e Exchange fecit'. Grendon, who was a well-known watch-maker of the day, was admitted to the Clockmakers Company in 1640 and operated from a premises at the Royal Exchange in London. The watch is made of silver-gilt with the face elaborately engraved with floral motifs and covered with faceted rock crystal. Its accompanying case is of leather decorated with pin work and lined with red velvet.

The watch was presented by Charles II to Jane Lane in recognition of her bravery and resourcefulness following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. During his escape from the battle, Charles II lodged for a short time at Bentley Hall near Wolverhampton with Colonel Lane, a Royalist officer. From there he travelled to Dorset via Bristol, with the colonel's sister, Jane Lane, disguised as her servant before finally escaping to France from Shoreham, near Brighton. The watch was kept in the Lane family until 1928, when Major General Sir John Lane presented it to George V.

Text adapted from Charles II: Art and Power (2017)