Louis George
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Louis George was a Prussian master watchmaker of the late baroque era. Louis George was a descendant of French
Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
living in Berlin in the third generation. Louis George produced mainly daedal watches. Reported makes are: pocket watches, nautical clocks, mechanical odometer, console clocks, long case clocks, dead second watches.


Working period

On the 26 December 1769 Louis George applied for the patent as the royal watchmaker and succeeded. He was allowed to call himself from now on “Horloger du Roy” — in English, "watchmaker to the king". French was the language of the Berlin nobility. The literature on Louis George reports different working periods. The writer Gerhard Koenig states in his book a working period from 1769 to 1796. The address calendar of Berlin lists the Louis George in the editions of the years 1799 and 1801. The addresses of Louis George's workshops mentioned at the Berlin ''Adresskalender'' are ''Schlossplatz 10'' and ''13'' (in 1799) and ''Schlossplatz 10'' in (1801), right opposite the Stadtschloss (city palace) of Berlin. Starting in 1815 ''Louis George et compagnie'' produced lever pocket watches, most probably a son of the royal watchmaker.


Watchmaker to the King

Louis George was a talented watchmaker and artist. He did not just create watches but real gems of watch making. His posh watches enchanted the audience and recovered the respect of the Berlin nobility and solvent bourgeoisie. His business flourished and he was capable of opening a second shop in the same street opposite the royal city palace. Located at Berlin he provided watches for three generations of Prussians kings: * Frederick II. (the Great) King of Prussia * his nephew and successor Frederick William II. King of Prussia * his nephew and successor Frederick William III. King of Prussia Other German monarchs appreciated the masterly crafted clocks and watches too. A long case clock with an organ movement formerly owned by Georg I. Duke of Saxe-Meiningen is preserved on castle of Elisabethenburg at Meiningen. It can be visited at the art collection of the Meininger Museen at the Schloss Elisabethenburg Inventory-No. II 1908, height 2,93 m. approx. 1790; watch dial reads: „Ls. GEORGE HORLOGER DU ROY“ / „A BERLIN“. The curator M. Ruszwurm reports that clock is equipped with a precious flute watch (also called organ watch). A console clock with an attached flute work is exhibited at the Schloss
Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...
at Potsdam. File:Louis_George_Bodenstanduhr_Flötenuhrwerk.jpg, Louis George long case clock of Georg I. Duke of
Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernest ...
File:Louis_George_Historische_Uhr_1.jpg, Clock dial of a Louis George console clock at
Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...
File:Louis_George_Music_Clock.jpg, Louis George alcove clock with an attached bronze flute work, auctioned 2005 in Paris File:Tischflötenuhr_Matthias_Naeschke_komplettes_Flötenwerk.JPG, Table flute clock by Matthias Naeschke File:LOUIS_GEORGE_Berlin_Taschenuhr_montre_de_poche_pocket_watch_01.jpg, ''Louis George'' lever watch, face File:LOUIS_GEORGE_Berlin_Taschenuhr_montre_de_poche_pocket_watch_02.jpg, ''Louis George'' lever watch, back File:LOUIS GEORGE montre de poche.jpg, ''Louis George'' pocket watch, made in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
about 1810, photo: Dr.Ilk, Munich, Germany File:Berliner_Adresskalender_1769_Louis_George_1.jpg, Entry of the address of ''Louis George'' at the Berlin address book of 1769


European market

Louis Georges watches and clocks can be found all over Europe. A bedroom clock displaying hour, minute and date with a rich decorated and gold-plated case was auctioned in Paris in 2005. Other clocks made by Louis George have been found in Spain. Louis George discussed technical problems of watchmaking with other watchmakers from the Swiss Canton of Neuchâtel. He had business connections with the Swiss watchmaker
Pierre Jaquet-Droz Pierre Jaquet-Droz (; 1721–1790) was a watchmaker of the late eighteenth century. He was born on 28 July 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Principality of Neuchâtel, which was then part of the Kingdom of Prussia. He lived in Paris, London, and ...
and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. These watchmakers tried to find technical solutions going far beyond the requirements of ordinary watch making. Jaquet-Droz created mechanical puppet automats. Louis George created complicated clocks with an attached organ or flute work.


Berlin – the Baroque Hub of watchmaking

Berlin was considered a hub for the production of organ and flute clocks. The clock movements released an attached organ, flute or harp unit at a preset time – working like a music alarm clock.


Sites of historical Louis George Clocks


Musée d´Art et d´Histoire
Geneve, Switzerland: ''Dead Seconds Watch'' (Inventory No. H2006-106) * Schloss
Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...
, Maulbeerallee, 14469 Potsdam, Germany * Art collection of th
Museums at Meiningen
- Schloss Elisabethenburg, PF 100554, 98605 Meiningen, Germany


Bibliography

* ''Uhren und Uhrmacherei in Berlin 1450 - 1900 - Miniaturen zur Geschichte, Kultur und Denkmalspflege Berlins, Kulturband der DDR, Berlin 1988'', by Gerhard König * * * * * * ''Le Grand Frédéric et ses horlogers: une émigration d'horlogers suisses au XVIIIme siècle; un demi-siècle d'horlogerie berlinoise (1760–1810)'', by Alfred Chapuis, publisher: Journal suisse d'horlogerie et de bijouterie, 1938, page 64 and 65, illustration of a Louis George pocket watch


External links


Louis George ''dead second'' pocket watch with Pouzait escapement
exhibited at the 13e Journée d'étude de l
Société Suisse de Chronométrie

LOUIS GEORGE website


History


Berlin address calendar of 1799
at the Historische Sammlungen of the Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin, Breite Str.36, 10178 Berlin, Germany
Berlin address calendar of 1801
at the Historische Sammlungen of the Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin, Breite Str.36, 10178 Berlin, Germany

– Berlin history web portal, registered association {{DEFAULTSORT:George, Louis Year of birth missing Year of death missing People from Berlin German watchmakers (people)