Another Nelson(ish) Clock thread  

too bad that's not a Nelson...
too bad that's not a Nelson Associates clock..

The Meridian line
of ceramic clock faces imported from Italy and distributed by Raymor (Richards Morgenthau./..the distributed for ALL of the Nelson clocks made by Howard Miller) hail from 1964...the period that the Nelson Associates were producing their clocks. This I believe is prior to Arthur Umanoff's involvement with Howard Miller.
Two other points; most of the Meridian clocks use the Nelson-designed clock hands, and if you look at the George Nelson.org website, the ceramic Meridian's are listed as being Nelson clocks.
so.......does that mean that you (I clock) still dislike the clock because 'it's not Nelson'??
I like the ceramics and have 5 of 'em. (one of them is Bistossi and I collect Bitossi)

Meridian clock
You know Barry, it's a very nice looking Howard Miller clock. I didn't say I did not like it.? I have a few ceramic Meridian clocks too. It's just that you put it under "Another Nelson clock thread" and it is not a Nelson Associates design. True it is in a 1964 Howard Miller catalog, but no where in that catalog does it mention George Nelson Associates as the designers. The Vitra book also doesn't list the ceramic Meridian clocks as Nelson's. Irving Richards (of Richards Morgenthau, Inc) had the deal with the ceramic Meridian clocks and distributed them for Howard Miller. He also distributed items for Raymor, Russel Wright and others too. As far as the clocks using the same hands that Nelson Associates designed for their clocks, well, all I can say is, that must have been Howard Millers decision, with or without GN's blessing. Howard Miller used a lot of those same hands for years and years after. Who knows they may still be using them. I have seen parts of a 1958 Howard Miller catalog called Lifetime Clocks. The clock designs in there are in a modern vein, but were not designed by Nelson Associates. The 4-digit model number sequences fall in between those of Nelson clock design model numbers. Howard Miller numbered the clocks for their catalogs, not the designers of the clock. I wish I knew more about these clocks or who designed them, but I don't. It just goes to show that just because Howard Miller was selling Nelson designs during those years, it doesn't mean that they weren't selling other people's designs too at the same time. I thought much of this issue was clear up for you by MidMod in a previous thread.

Until somebody proves me wrong,
I believe that the hands used for the Nelson Associates clocks were designed by either George Nelson and/or Irving Harper.
I'm quite sure the arrangement to import those Italian ceramic discs and use the Nelson hands were either with Nelson Associates involvement, or at least their blessing.
Yes, some of the Umanoff clocks used Nelson clock hands, but only for a period of time. During the sales life of those Umanoff clocks, the 'Nelson' were replaced by more generic hands.
Yes, the ceramic clocks are not in the Vitra catalog. Also with no explanation, either.
Still, one of the geniune Nelson clocks had wood imported from Denmark and were made by Fritz Hansen, so I consider those beautiful ceramic clocks part of the Nelson Associates era clocks.
By the way, Howard Miller does not have any Nelson clock hands left in their inventory and when I called them last year, the guy I spoke to was pretty dismissive about it, too....like the Nelson clocks never existed.

Nelson or not, nice clock
Nice looking clock, Barry! Does your book have the fish meridian clock also?
iclock, from what I read here you have a nice collection of gn clocks? I'm curious which ones you have.

I don't hjave a pix of the fish clock
but, how about....the horse clock?
I have this one and it's really cool.

nice clock
Did you see the post on meridian clocks? You need to add your new clock to it.

Thanks rockybird
I have around 54 different vintage George Nelson Associates clocks, and of those , some I have several variations of. Two of Nelson's 80's Post Modern clocks. Also have 5 different Frederic Weinberg clocks and a few other miscellaneous clocks, such as ceramic Meridian clocks, Umanoff clocks, Aroura clocks, Peter Max, Higgins, Harris Strong, and others. You can see some of them on your previous thread about displaying clocks. Sounds like your collection is growing all the time too.

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iclock, sounds like a great collection. You should post pics online sometime. I would love to see pics of the rarer ones.
Barry, I just found this pic of your clock, with a second hand and different hands:
http://www.treadwaygallery.com/ONLINECATALOGS/SEPT06/catalog9-06/larg/08...

Rock
this is the way it look in the Meridian brochure too. The black Eye Clock-style hands seem to be original and vintage, before I painted them white!
It appears that the hands I have are another one of those variants.....I'd prefer the hands like yours, of course.
Here's the Meridian clocks I own:

more
more

I switched
the motor and hands between the one on top and the rather bland ringed ceramic clock (also above), so the better clock has the right hands!

nice collection!
I only own two meridians...the fish clock and the table umanoff clock. I didnt realize there were so many nice ones. I will keep my eye out for more now. 🙂