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A Howard Miller Clock Is the Pinnacle of Excellence
From a Howard Miller wall clock to a Howard Miller grandfather clock, Howard Miller mantel clock or Howard Miller floor clock, Howard Miller makes fine clocks that make beautiful additions to your home. The perfect clocks for helping you mark time - including those rare times when you don't have to think about time at all.
The Howard Miller Clock Company adheres to a few principles: Incomparable workmanship. Unsurpassed quality. A quest for perfection. It's what Howard C. Miller insisted on when he founded the company back in 1926, at the age of 21.
Every Howard Miller Wall Clock and More Is Made to Last a Lifetime
From the beginning, every clock that bore his name was held to the highest standards of quality. When you buy a Howard Miller floor clock, Howard Miller grandfather clock, or Howard Miller mantel clock you're assured to get not just a timepiece, but a piece of clock making history that you can pass down to future generations.
Howard Miller was schooled in the fine art of clockmaking by his father, Herman, in the Black Forest region of Germany. Howard developed into a visionary whose keen sense of innovation spawned a tradition of excellence that has been uncompromised through three generations.
While the early years focused on the manufacture of chiming wall and mantel clocks, Howard Miller also produced trend-setting avant garde clocks that stand today in collectors' galleries. During World War II, Howard Miller joined forces with the Ford Motor Co. to produce anti-aircraft covers. In the 1960s, the company turned its attention to grandfather clocks, eventually earning the company the title of "World's Largest Grandfather Clock Manufacturer."
In 1989, Howard Miller began creating collectors cabinets with the same attention to detail and craftsmanship inherent in their clockmaking. Fashioned from glass and hardwoods, the cabinets are ideal for displaying heirlooms, plates, glassware and other collectibles.
As part of the company's continuing effort to bring customers only the best in handcrafted products, Howard Miller recently acquired three companies: The Hekman Furniture Company produces a strong cadre of carefully sculpted hardwood pieces that range from 18th and 19th Century reproductions, to contemporary products featuring fine metals and exotic woods. The Woodmark Company makes fine upholstered pieces. And the exquisite movement in many clocks we offer is made by Old World craftsmen employed by the Kieninger Company of Germany. Very recently, Howard Miller acquired the Ridgeway Clock Company, maker of fine Ridgeway Grandfathers Clocks and other timepieces.
While Howard Miller products might once have been primarily considered as gifts for weddings, anniversaries and retirements, the company's expanded line of offerings is enticing more and more buyers who simply desire quality timepieces and furniture in their homes and businesses -- no occasion required.
We offer hundreds of items to complement any decor ranging from portable alarm clocks to desk sets to wall and mantel clocks to collectors cabinets to limited edition grandfather clocks. And in price ranges that may surprise you - from $5 to $15,000.
No matter the price of the purchase, you have the same assurance that Howard C. Miller provided when he began offering clocks more than 70 years ago: That quality be reflected both in the products we create, and in the people whose artistic talents we rely on to manufacture them.
The legacy left by Howard C. Miller isn't an easy one to emulate. But it's the only way we know of doing business. Incomparable workmanship. Unsurpassed quality. A quest for perfection.
Howard Miller products are sold exclusively through Howard Miller Authorized Dealers.
View our selection of Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks, Wall Clocks, Mantel Clocks, Atomic Clocks, and more.
Further Information on the Howard Miller Clock Company below, all adapted From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Type Private
Founded 1926
Location Zeeland, Michigan; manufacturing facilities also in Germany
Key people Phil Miller, President
Industry Clocks
Products Longcase clocks
Curio Cabinets
The Howard Miller Clock Company is a Zeeland, Michigan based manufacturer of longcase clocks. The company bills itself as the "World's Largest Grandfather Clock Manufacturer".
History
Howard Miller Clock Company was founded in 1926 as the Howard Miller Clock Company. Originally a division of office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, the company was spun off in 1937 under the leadership of Herman Miller's son Howard C. Miller. Today, there is no connection between the two companies although their headquarters are across the street from one another.
Originally the company only made mantel clocks. Grandfather clocks did not become a part of the product line until the 1960s.
The company began making curio cabinets in 1989.
Trivia
Howard Miller Clock Company owns the Kieninger Company of Germany, which makes many of the mechanical movements in Howard Miller clocks.
During World War II, the Company joined forces with Ford Motor Company in making anti-aircraft covers.
Howard Miller Clocks are a frequent prize on the game show The Price is Right.
Howard C. Miller's father Herman founded office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller.
Longcase clock
A longcase clock, also grandfather clock or floor clock, is a freestanding pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside its own tower, commonly around 1.8-2.4m (6-8 feet) tall. The tower often features elaborately carved wood at the head, surrounding the clock face. The English clockmaker William Clement is credited with the development of this form in 1670. Most longcase clocks are striking clocks. The terms "grandfather", "grandmother", and "granddaughter" have been applied to longcase clocks. Although there is no specifically defined difference between these, the general perception seems to be that a clock over 1.8m (6 feet) is a grandfather; over 1.5m (5 feet) is a grandmother; smaller than that is a granddaughter.
Traditionally, the clocks were made in two types: eight-day clocks and 30-hour clocks. An eight-day clock was designed to be wound once a week, while the generally lower priced 30-hour clock had to be wound every day. Eight-day clocks have two pendulums, and two keyholes on either side of the face to wind each one (as can be seen in the Thomas Ross clock illustrated to the right). Some 30-hour clocks were made with false keyholes, for customers who wished that guests to their home would think that the household was able to afford the more expensive kind of clock.
How longcase clocks came to be known as "grandfather clocks"
During the 19th century two brothers named Jenkins worked as managers at the George Hotel in Piercebridge, Country Durham, England. One of the brothers died, and according to the story told to Henry Clay Work in 1875, the clock (made by James Thompson) began to lose time. Repair attempts were made, but failed. When the other brother died at the age of 90, the clock stopped running altogether, and was never repaired in remembrance of the brothers. Work decided to write a song about the story of this clock, which he called "My Grandfather's Clock". The song became popular, and it is from this song that the current usage derives.
Herman Miller (office equipment)
Herman Miller, Inc., based in Zeeland, Michigan, is an American Manufacturer of office furniture and equipment. It is notable as the manufacturer of the Aeron chair. Many of Herman Miller's products are designed to be ecologically sound, and many are good examples of ecodesign techniques for achieving sustainability include saving materials, energy efficient manufacturing, recycled content, and recyclable content, including design for disassembly. The design process also utilizes life cycle assessment.
Herman Miller helped fund the start of the US Green Building Council, and hired architect William McDonough and Michael Braungart to design them a factory incorporating green design principles. The building is known as the Greenhouse and is an example of green building.
One of the best examples within Herman Miller is the Mirra Chair. By looking into the de-construction of the product after its life cycle had ended, the initial design is thought to be more environmentally effective.
"Sustainable design. Mirra is made of a minimal number of parts and is easily disassembled for recycling; the recycled content is high, and it's 96 percent recyclable. Recylable fabric. Latitude back upholstery is 100 percent recyclable." - Herman Miller Mirra Chair.
The company is also famous for having partnered with furniture designers Gilbert Rohde, George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames, Paul Laszlo and Isamu Noguchi. The line of furniture published by Herman Miller in their catalogs from 1948 to 1952 is considered to be among the most influential in modern design.
Mantel clock
Mantel clocks are relatively small, moveable clocks traditionally placed on the shelf, or mantel, above the fireplace. The form, first developed in France in the 1750s, can be distinguished from earlier clocks of similar size due to a lack of carrying handles. These clocks are often highly ornate, decorative works. They are most frequently constructed from any combination of ormulu, porcelain, and wood. The mantel clock is featured as the character, 'Cogsworth' in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
Below is more background information on Howard Miller clocks.
Howard C. Miller was born in 1905, only two years after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. His father, Herman Miller, helped him start the clock business in 1926 after studying the clockmaker's art in Germany. In the early years, the company made reproduction wall and mantle clocks. Then in 1933 Howard Miller Company began producing modern design clocks. The company won numerous awards for its design leadership. In 1964 the company completed the building of a modern factory, and thus began its domination of the grandfather clock market, worldwide. Although he died in 1995, his company is committed to continuing his vision.
Today Howard Miller Clock Company is the largest clock company in the United States and the largest manufacturer of grandfather clocks in the world. To Howard C. Miller, however, what mattered most was something more than just size. "Our focus is not only on building a product that is dependable and has quality; we're building a product that is going to be passed on from one generation to the next." "It's more than just making something. You're making something that has life. It has chimes. You go into a house and hear those chimes every fifteen minutes, that house has life that another house doesn't have."
Howard Miller Grandfather clocks are designed the way they should be: for initial ease of setup, for interim maintenance of the works, for later packing up and/or moving. Only a clock company, as opposed to a kit company, knows how to design beautiful cabinets around the characteristics of a complicated chiming timepiece. And with Kieninger movements, Howard Miller's grandfather clocks' durability over decades is ensured, as long as they are properly maintained. Howard Miller clocks are clocks built to be enjoyed not only by you, but your children and your children's' children. They are tomorrow's antique and classic clocks! Always buy a grandfather clock from knowledgeable professionals. Only they can honestly explain the different features of the clock, how they are utilized, and also how they add to your investment. And remember that the Howard Miller Company encourages and invites you "to inspect our craftsmanship with your eyes, with your ears, and with your hands."
Herman Miller Clock Company Stock Certificate signed by Herman Miller and D.J. De Pree - Zeeland, Michigan 1927
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Beautifully lithograph certificate (#11) from the Herman Miller Clock Company issued in 1927. This historic document has an ornate border around it. This item is hand signed by the Company's President ( Herman Miller ) and Secretary ( D.J. De Pree ) and is over 77 years old. The certificate was issued to William C. Croll and is endorsed by him on the verso.
The Herman Miller Clock Company is located in Zeeland, Michigan. It was an outgrowth of the Herman Miller Furniture Company. In the 1937, it became the Howard Miller Clock Company when Herman Miller's son, Howard, took it over. Today there is no formal relationship between the two companies.
In 1905, the Star Furniture Company, a manufacturer of high quality traditional-style bedroom suites, opens for business in Zeeland, Michigan.
In 1909, the Star Furniture Company is renamed Michigan Star Furniture Company.
In 1923, the Michigan Star Furniture Company becomes the Herman Miller Furniture Company when D.J. De Pree convinces his father-in-law, Herman Miller, to purchase the majority of shares of Michigan Star Furniture Company. De Pree becomes the first president of the Herman Miller Furniture Company, which continues to manufacture reproductions of traditional home furniture.
1927, the Herman Miller Clock Company is founded. The clock company made traditionally designed clocks and later adds Gilbert Rohde designs.
In 1937 the Herman Miller Clock Company is turned over Herman Miller's son, Howard Miller, who renames it the Howard Miller Clock Company.
The clock company made traditionally designed clocks and later added the Gilbert Rohde designs.
History from Herman Miller Furniture Press Information.
