NO. 25'074

This impressive and substantial repeating and calendar watch was presented to the remowned surgeon Albert Ritter Mosetig von Moorhof by King George V of Hanover in 1874. The nature of the inscription suggesting everlasting gratitude implies that von Moorhof successfully treated the King or a member of his family.

The present watch was evidently an important and substantial gift, it has been engraved with von Moorhof’s arms as Surgeon-General of the German Order of Knights and was purchased in Paris from the very prestigious jewellers Tessier. The motto “Per Ardua ad Alta” translates as “Through hardship, great heights are reached.”.

Of both historical and horological interest, the present watch is a superb piece for the collector and connoisseur of fine watchmaking. Albert Ritter Mosetig von Moorhof (1838-1907) was a famous Austrian surgeon who was present in the battlefield in Bohemia in 1866. He was chief surgeon in a French military hospital in Paris in 1870/1871 and was then appointed to the primary surgical department of the Rudolf Institution hospital. In 1873 he worked as the chief physician of the Viennese world exhibition. He is most remembered for the introduction of iodoform in the treatment of wounds and devised a number of useful instruments.

George V of Hanover (1819 – 1878) was the last king of Hanover, the only child and successor of King Ernst Augustus. George V's reign was brought to an end by the Unification of Germany. Born Prince George of Cumberland, he was the only son of Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, fifth son of King George III. Upon the death of William IV and the accession of Queen Victoria to the British throne, the 123-year union of the British and Hanoverian thrones ended. The Duke of Cumberland succeeded to the Hanoverian throne as Ernst August I, and Prince George became the Crown Prince of Hanover.

As a legitimate male descendant of George III, he remained a member of the British Royal Family, and second in line to the British throne until the birth of Queen Victoria's first child, Victoria, the Princess Royal, in 1840. The Crown Prince succeeded his father as the King of Hanover in November 1851, assuming the style George V. From his father, George had learned to take a very high and autocratic view of royal authority and engaged in many disputes with the Hanoverian parliament. George V died in Paris, on 12 June 1878. He was buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.