George Nelson Mid Century Modern Retro Clocks

If there was ever a time in history when creative design juices ran freely, the Mid Century Modern period is that time. Artists, architects, and all kinds of designers of that time were taking great risks and expanding the boundaries of accepted traditions. This can be seen in the styles of homes and buildings and interior furniture, designs and colors. One of the most outstanding areas of imagination came in the design and style of clocks.

Clocks are one of the oldest gadgets created by man and came into existence out of necessity - man needed a way to be able to accurately determine segments - or intervals- of time that were shorter than a day, a month, and a year. A number of different devices have been used throughout the eons to do this eventually leading to spectacular designs of the 50s through 70s.

An interesting distinction is made by horologists (people who specialize in the science of horology -telling time) between the use of the terms clock and timepiece. In the vernacular of the horologist, the term clock refers exclusively to a devise that has a striking mechanism that can be audibly heard; such as bells, chimes, and gongs. A timepiece is silent. Although these terms are held to by horologists, the word clock today is used to refer to any device measuring and showing time.

George Nelson has to be (in this author's opinion) the most awesome clock designer of the Mid Century period and he was multi-talented. When he wasn't designing clocks for the Howard Miller Clock Company, he was designing furniture for the Herman Miller Company. If you are lucky enough to run across a George Nelson clock, you will probably find the hands of the clock don't point to numerals but rather to colored 3-D balls. These balls won't be attached to a typical clock face either, but rather to slim rays or spikes of metal. Nelson's clocks were famous for looking like starbursts and sunflowers.

Because Nelson's clocks were so wonderful, his designs were quickly copied by other famous clock manufacturers such as Elgin, Lux, and Seth Thomas. They knew when they saw a good thing and were quick to embellish Nelson's designs with ideas of their own. One attractive enhancement to the Nelson spike design was alternating starburst-like metal rays with wooden spikes, rays, or fans. One starburst clock made by Westclox had an outstanding design with 48 rays or spikes. Some of the clocks that had metal rays, also had tiny metal balls on the tips of them.

Once the creative juices started flowing, designers started to get creative with clock faces exploring the use of bright pop art colors and designs. Not only did designers mix media, they began adding complementary pieces such as sconses. There are some wonderful links added to the end of this article. Check them out if you love Mid Century Modern Clocks.