The Howard Miller Clock Company was formally established in 1937, when Howard Miller took over the clock-making branch of his family’s business, the Herman Miller Furniture Company of Zeeland, Michigan. Howard had learned to make clocks from his father, Herman, who had been the general manager of Colonial Manufacturing, which produced conservative-looking grandfather clocks. After graduating from college, Howard studied clock-making in the Black Forest region of Germany and returned to work for the Herman Miller Furniture Co., renamed for Howard’s father after he helped his son-in-law, Dirk Jan De Pree, purchase a majority stake in the former Star Furniture Company. Howard’s clock business really got its start in 1926, when his brother-in-law, Dirk, launched Herman Miller’s clock-making department to produce chiming wall- and mantel-clock cases fitted with movements sourced from Germany. During the 1920s and early ‘30s, industrial designer Gilbert Rohde created several memorable clock designs for the Herman Miller Company as he pursued an increasingly popular Modernist aesthetic. These included the famous “Z Clock” from 1933, featuring a round glass face, with hour markings made from simple frosted lines, suspended on a diagonal chrome bar. Amid the Depression, when Howard took over the horological branch of Herman Miller, he stuck with the minimalist, forward-looking style. In 1939, the Howard Miller Clock Co. showcased several of its Modernist designs at the New York World’s Fair, but shortly thereafter, its manufacturing facilities were transformed to support the war effort. However, after World War II ended, Howard began working with noted designer George H. Nelson—then design director for Howard Miller Furniture—to create clocks in the exciting pop style known today as Mid-Century Modern. Beginning in 1948, Nelson introduced a series of Howard Miller clocks without numbers on their faces that have since become icons of the Mid-Century Modern movement. These include Nelson’s Ball clock with its 12 atom-like spheres emerging on thin metal rods from a simple cylindrical base. In subsequent accounts, Nelson credited the design to his friends Isamu Noguchi and Buckminster Fuller, who had been helping him brainstorm shapes over drinks in his office late one night. Other familiar forms from Nelson’s prolific work for Howard Miller include the Sunburst, Spindle, Star, Sunflower, Asterisk, and Wheel clocks, all of which are still sold by Vitra today. During the 1960s, Nelson’s Meridien clock series adapted textured ceramic faces made by the Italian pottery Bitossi, often glazed in rich blue, green, yellow, brown, orange, and red hues. In 1970, Nathan George Horwitt took the minimalist aesthetics a step further with his Museum clock (based on his famous Museum watch from the 1940s), featuring a solid black face with only a single circle in gold or white marking the 12-o’clock hour. Yet despite such innovative shapes, most products made by Howard Miller in the 1950s and ‘60s were traditional grandfather-style clocks. During the ‘70s and ‘80s, the business began focusing on smaller bedside models like digital alarm clocks. Howard served as company president until 1980, and remained chairman until 1990. Generally, all authentic clocks should have a Howard Miller Clock Company label featuring a model number and other information affixed to the back or inside of the clock. Older Howard Miller models often have "Made in Germany" printed on their faces.