puzzling is this box

So I received a most intriguing gift for Christmas this year. One of my colleagues had gone to the UK for work and got a puzzle box from the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.

I've been spending the whole Christmas trying to figure this thing out, because apparently the real gift was in the box, and I had to get it opened somehow!

It looks quite harmless, with a couple of hinges on each side, a circle for a knob and interlocking parts which can't be moved. Hope the gift doesn't have an expiry date; I may be playing with this thing until the next Christmas!