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magnificent clocks in the New Palace - expert tour
Nine of the original twelve magnificent clocks are still in the New Palace. King Friedrich II had a particular fondness for music boxes. These masterpieces can be found in his own apartment as well as in outstanding guest apartments.
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The special thing about it is that Friedrich bought “antiquarian” clocks from well-known previous owners in Paris for the New Palace, which was built from 1763, or had clocks made by artisans in Potsdam and Berlin in a style that was actually outdated at the time. Their role models are English and French clocks from the 1730s to 1740s.
It was important to the king that the case was finished with tortoiseshell veneer or inlays and lavishly gilded bronze ornaments, mostly by Johann Melchior Kambly.
Even though the outside of the clocks was old-fashioned, the local watchmakers used all their skills and equipped them with the most modern movements of the time. Court clock maker Fischer, for example, built his own "piano clocks", Carl Ludwig Bauer invented a flute mechanism for the king, which was even mentioned in the newspapers of the time because of its excellent sound.
(Program in German)
