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Vintage American Studio Craft Artist Made Round Turned Wood Sculptural Clock
Located in Troy, MI
One of a kind artist made petite round wooden wall clock
Circa 1980s
Mixed woods design beautifully turned with contrasting inlaid markers and finished with unique sculpted hands
...
Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Clocks
Materials
Wood
Mid Century Modern Arthur Umanoff Rosewood Square Desk Clock for Howard Miller
By Howard Miller, Arthur Umanoff
Located in Troy, MI
Arthur Umanoff model 645 alarm clock for Howard Miller circa late 1960s
Rosewood case with aluminum dial on a black background
Plug in electric movement with black hour and minute ha...
Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Clocks and Desk Clocks
Materials
Aluminum
Vintage Large Mid Century Modern Pendulum Mantel Clock in Lucite and Brass 1970s
Located in Troy, MI
Large Vintage Lucite Brass Pendulum Mantel Clock 1970s
A rare lucite and brass mantel clock circa 1970s
Unique modern design with floating brass...
Category
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Mantel Clocks
Materials
Brass
Rare Mosaic Tile Wall Clock in Walnut by George Nelson & Assoc circa 1950s
By George Nelson, Irving Harper
Located in Troy, MI
Rare George Nelson And Associates Mosaic Tile Wall Clock
Designed by Irving Harper for George Nelson and Associates and produced by Howard Miller
Model 2232
1957
Walnut frame with...
Category
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Wall Clocks
Materials
Walnut, Glass
Vintage Brass Pocket Watch / Paperweight Attributed to Carl Aubock, 1950's
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Troy, MI
Vintage Brass Pocket Watch Paperweight, Carl Aubock attr. 1950's
Vintage paperweight attributed to Carl Aubock, 1950's. Modernist form of a...
Category
20th Century Mid-Century Modern More Clocks
Materials
Brass
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Fritz Hansen & George Nelson Stool Seat Wall Clock
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Mid-Century Modern Kite Wall Clock by George Nelson, Howard Miller, Vitra Label
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Carl Auböck Model #4273 'Foot' Brass Paperweight
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George Nelson Mid Century Ball Clock in Brass and Wood
By George Nelson
Located in Weesp, NL
Interestingly, while nearly all of the designs that came out of George’s studio were attributed to him, many were actually designed by him and his team. Some were even designed solely by someone else working at the studio.
Nelson famously recounted the story of how the Ball Clock came to life in an interview decades after it’s release:
“It was one of the really funny evenings. Noguchi came by, Bucky Fuller came by, and here was Irving, and here was I, and Noguchi - who can’t keep his hands off anything - he saw we were working on clocks and started making doodles. Then Bucky sort of brushed Isamu aside. He said, ‘This is a good way to do a clock’ and made some utterly absurd thing. Everybody was taking a crack at this, pushing each other aside and making scribbles. At some point we left – we were suddenly all tired, and we’d had a little bit too much to drink – and the next morning I came back, and here was this roll of paper, and Irving and I looked at it, and somewhere in this roll, there was a ball clock. I don’t know to this day who cooked it up.”
Nevertheless, whoever it was that came up with George Nelson’s designs, it’s almost certain that they would never have come to fruition if it wasn’t for George’s vision and forward-thinking approach.
Can you tell me more about his clocks?
George’s clocks were one of his most impressive bodies of work. In total, he and his team designed over 130 clocks in just three decades.
While it is widely accepted that Irving Harper was the lead designer for the Howard Miller Clock Company at George Nelson Associates, the collection arose after two insightful observations from George: one, that people no longer used the numbers to tell the time; and two, that since most people now used their wristwatch to tell the time, interior clocks were now free to become more decorative in nature.
The clocks were designed and released in batches of 8 and were initially only given numbers for names. The Sunflower Clock was simply ‘Clock 2261’, the Flock of Butterflies Clock was 'Clock 2226’, and so on.
The Ball was the first clock designed by George and his team and it was followed shortly after by the Star, Sunburst, Spindle, Asterisk, Turbine, Flock of Butterflies, Eye and others. The clocks were purposefully abstract and were designed to complement the modernist furniture emerging at the time.
As well as wall clocks, George’s studio also produced a series of desk clocks during that time, most notably the bubble-shaped Night Desk...
Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Clocks
Materials
Brass
Vintage Hollywood Regency Brass walnut Wall Clock by Kienzle, Germany 1950s
By Kienzle Clocks
Located in Kirchlengern, DE
Article:
wall clock
Origin:
Germany
Producer:
KIENZLE, Germany (marked on the wood)
Age:
1950s
Description:
This original vintage wall clock was produced in the 1950s ...
Category
Late 20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Wall Clocks
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Metal, Brass
H 12.21 in W 10.24 in D 2.17 in
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George Nelson Meridian Wall Clock Rimini Blue Face by Aldo Londi for Bitossi
By Bitossi, George Nelson, Aldo Londi
Located in Brooklyn, NY
“Meridian” clock designed by George Nelson for the Howard Miller
Clock Company. Face is made of “Rimini Blue” Italian ceramic designed
by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, battery operated.
Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Clocks
Materials
Ceramic
