Vitra Cone Desk Clock

Manufacturer: Vitra | Designer: George Nelson, 1947/53

A Desk Clock from the Nelson Family

The Cone Desk Clock is part of the Nelson clock family that began in 1947, when George Nelson was commissioned to create a collection of timepieces for Herman Miller. His starting point was the observation that people read the time by the position of the hands, not by numerals — which made numbers on a clock face redundant. The result was a series of designs that treated the clock as a sculptural object first and a timepiece second.

The Cone takes that logic into a compact desk format: a smooth, tapering polyurethane form with a clean, numberless face. Vitra has reissued the Nelson Clocks since 1999 as part of the Vitra Design Museum Collection, produced true to the original.

Specifications

• Dimensions — W14.6 × D15.5 × H16.7cm
• Materials — Polyurethane
• Movement — High-quality quartz; 1.5V battery included
• Collection — Vitra Design Museum Collection

Part of the Vitra Accessories collection.