More about Nelson Clocks
Well....it's been a bit of a drought lately, but I just won two Meridian ceramic clocks off eBay:

Hard to tell about what to do with that Museum Clock.....
It's not going for all that much, so I guess i'd try to restore it so you can get as much as possible...but I doubt it would be worth anymore than $30 or $40.

I have been lucky finding wall clocks, but I haven't a single table model!

really like the top one, the ...
really like the top one, the colour combo is great!

Also just got this cute 1969
Arthur Umanoff Swing Timers clock (#911)

Museum clock
Barry, I did paint the clock and it came out so well, I can't part with it and I'm keeping it. Did this clock originally come with a second hand?

Meridian Clocks
I don't think either Nelson or Harper had anything to do with those clocks, Barry. I understand Howard Miller had the right to use the hands so they sent them to Italy to be stuck onto some ceramic disks. Another example is Umanoff, who designed many Howard Miller Clocks after Nelson, but regularly "borrowed" Nelson's hands for his designs.

You will also note in the brochures that the Meridian clocks claim they come from the "skills of well-known designers and artist-craftsmen" whereas those clocks designed by Nelson are VERY prominently attributed to him in all marketing materials.

Moreover, Vitra tirelessly researched this issue when they put together the Nelson book. They confirmed the Nelson office was not involved in the ceramic wall clocks or that aluminum rosewood model that is listed in the Meridian catalog with them. (See George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher, List of Works, at 284-303 (listing all clocks attributed to Nelson's Office).) No evidence of involvement by the Nelson Office in those clocks was found in the Nelson archives, which contain drawings of almost all of the other clocks.

Furthermore, Irving left Nelson's studio in 1964 so it is very unlikely he was involved in any of those designs from a timing perspective.

So, again, if anyone has information other than Howard Miller using Nelson's old hands on these clocks, I'd love to hear it.

Umanoff never worked for Nelson ...
This too is confirmed in George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher at 338 (Members of the Nelson Office [including clock designers Harper, Pollock, and DeRespinis]). None of this is to say that some of those Meridian and Umanoff clocks aren't nice. They're just not Nelson designs.

As for the use of the hands, and this part is pure speculation, I suspect that Howard Miller bought those designs, along with the right to manufacture the clocks themselves, from the Nelson office and could use them as they saw fit.

And sometimes unfit. One classic example of this is the ball-inspired clock that uses wooden squares with Roman numerals on them in place of the balls. They come up regularly on ebay. It is model #571 (rather than the ball clock's #4755) and is most certainly NOT a Nelson design, even though it uses every piece of the ball clock with the exception of the balls themselves.

Zoo Timers
Not to confuse anyone, but I was told by Harper that the Zoo Timers were done by Umanoff - which wouldn't that mean Umanoff did work for Nelson?

I'm afraid Irving was mistaken on this count ...
Irving had left Nelson's office by 1964. The Zootimers were designed in 1965 principally by William Cannan of the Nelson Office. (See George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer Teacher [List of Works] at 299.) Umanoff -- not an employee of the Nelson Office -- had nothing to do with them.

George Nelson and Howard Miller...
My attempt to answer Barry's questions:

1) when did it end?

The Nelson Office designed the vast majority of their clocks for Howard Miller prior to 1965. The date coincides closely with Irving's departure from the Nelson Office, but make of that what you will. I don't have any inside knowledge. After the 1965 Zootimers (there appear to be no other Nelson clocks from that year), there were a few one-off series for Howard Miller like the Institutional (Office) Series (1968) [presumably related to Nelson's development of the Action Office Series for Herman Miller], three crappy plastic clocks in 1977, and the Memphis inspired "Tempo '21 Series (1984).

2) why did it end?

I have no idea, and haven't been able to get a straight answer on this one. My guess is that the Nelson Office lost the commission with Howard Miller and that Howard Miller went in another direction with Umanoff and others. Why? My educated guess is reduced sales. Most of the best-selling icons -- the ball (1949), steering wheel (1949), and spike (1952) -- had been available for between 12 and 15 years by 1965. Presumably, sales of those designs were down. The more recent clocks (like the motion notion series) were intricate and extravagant and thus more expensive to manufacture. Judging by the limited numbers available now and the high sales prices at the time (two or three times the ball clock prices), I presume they weren't big sellers. Look at Umanoff's designs. They were made of cheaper materials, were easy to manufacture, and sold for far less than Nelson's intricate clocks. Thus, presumably, they were so profitable. [Btw, this also explains why Howard Miller currently manufactures curio cabinets and marked up grandfather clocks. More people want that junk than good, clean design.]

3) were the Nelson clocks immediately discontinued at that time?

No. The Nelson clocks continued to be sold for quite some time after Nelson stopped designing for Howard Miller (with the above-noted exceptions).

4) was Howard Miller allowed to continue to use the Nelson clock hands on subsequent clocks that Nelson had nothing to do with?

Presumably, but I haven't seen the contracts. Clearly, they did use them.


5) when did Umanoff start? was there any overlap?

I have no idea, but I haven't seen any pre-1965 Umanoffs out there.


With regard to the publication, I've been referring to the new Vitra book on Nelson. It's an excellent sourcebook for all things Nelson, though understandably it does not go into depth about the ups and downs of the relationship between Nelson and Howard Miller.

Obviously, I welcome any insight others might have, but that is what I know/think on the subject.

mid mod thanks for the ...
mid mod thanks for the info..
I am trying to get t he Nelson vitra book but they say it will not be available to the end of December here in the US .