Clocks · Ball wall clock, model no. 4755
Ball Wall Clock, Model no. 4755 by George Nelson & Co., Inc
- Maker / attribution
- George Nelson & Co., Inc. (designer); Howard Miller Clock Company (manufacturer)
- Date
- designed 1947; manufactured by 1948–69
- Historical period
- Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Place
- Zeeland
- Object type
- Ball wall clock, model no. 4755
- Materials / technique
- brass, steel, maple
- Dimensions
- 14 × 14 × 2 1/4 in. (35.6 × 35.6 × 5.7 cm)
- Holding institution
- Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
- Accession / object no.
- 2001.12.1
- Credit line
- Bequest of Doris M. Brixey, by exchange
- Catalogue title (original)
- Ball Wall Clock, Model no. 4755 (English)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (object number 2001.12.1), this is a ball wall clock, model no. 4755 by George Nelson & Co., Inc., made in Zeeland, United States, dated designed 1947; manufactured by 1948–69. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, steel, maple. Recorded dimensions: 14 × 14 × 2 1/4 in. (35.6 × 35.6 × 5.7 cm). The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Catalogue description — Yale University Art Gallery
Beginning in 1947, the Nelson design office developed a series of new clocks for the Howard Miller Company. Having no traditional clockface or numbers, the clocks were considered radically modern. The wall was the ground, and the clock became part of the architecture rather than an unrelated hanging object. This model is often referred to as the "Atomic Clock" because the rods and balls evoke the familiar emblem of atomic structure.
Published references — Yale University Art Gallery
"Triple Pier Antiques Show," Antiques and the Arts Weekly (April 13, 2001), 82 · "Acquisitions 2001," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2002), 115, ill. · Christina Borger, "Hidden Treasures," New Haven Register (December 13, 2009), E1, ill. · John Stuart Gordon et al., A Modern World: American Design from the Yale University Art Gallery, 1920–1950 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2011), 383–84, no. 268
Provenance
Mode Moderne, Philadelphia, by 2001 This clock was exhibited in the dealers' booth at the Triple Pier Antiques Show, New York City, 3/17/01.
Historical context
Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.
Post-war clocks combined new materials and industrial design: plastic and metal cases, battery-powered transistor movements from the late 1950s, and design classics by George Nelson, Max Bill and others. The first caesium atomic clock (1955) moved the definition of time from astronomy to physics.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking
Atlas type guide
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
Related records
Clocks · 1937; 1980
Clock by Bestone and Hammond, United States, 1937; 1980
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1968
Table clock, United States, c. 1968
German Clock Museum
Clocks · c. 1960s
Bulova wall clock, Lighted Advertising Wall Clock for Robert Schenck Jeweler, circa 1960s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Clocks · c. 1960s
Chelsea Clock CO. "MARINER" SHIP's Bell Clock Boston, circa 1960s Dial
LiveAuctioneers auction archive
Clocks · 1950s
Ingraham 1950s Ornate Custom Cabinet Wall Clock Xt
LiveAuctioneers auction archive
Clocks · c. 1960s
Waltham Aircraft Clock, ref. A-13A-1, circa 1960s
Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom
Clocks · c. 1960
Clock, Germany, c. 1960 (no. 58196)
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1930–1960
Ferranti electric mantel clock. (no. Y1996.10.820)
Science Museum Group, London