Nathan George Horwitt (c. 1898 – June 13, 1990) was an American

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

er. He is most renowned for his ''Museum'' watch, which featured a black dial with a single silver circle situated at 12 o'clock. The Museum watch is part of the permanent collection of New York's

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

. The watch was intended to suggest a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

, the most ancient form of keeping time.

Biography

Horwitt was born c. 1898 in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and emigrated to the United States as a child, where he attended the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He later attended the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Cook, Joan
"Nathan Horwitt, 92; His Designs Included The Movado Watch "
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 20, 1990. Accessed January 8, 2009. He was hired as an advertising copywriter by the pharmaceutical firm E. R. Squibb & Company (now part of

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...

). Horwitt was eventually promoted to become the firm's director of advertising. The firm of Design Engineers in Manhattan was established by Horwitt in the late 1920s, a company that lasted for three years. After that he developed patents that could be sold to other manufacturers. In the 1960s and 1970s, Horwitt ran an organic farm in

Berkshire County, Massachusetts Berkshire County (pronounced ) is a county on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield. The county was founded in ...

Designs and patents

Among Horwitt's designs were the Beta chair, featured in the collection of the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

.Nathan George Horwitt

. Accessed January 8, 2009. He held a total of 18 patents in the United States, including a frameless picture frame that he invented, which was intended to focus attention on the picture.

The Museum Watch

His best known design was for the "Museum Watch", which features a black dial without any numbers, symbols or lines to mark hours and minutes. The only mark on the watch was a single gold dot at the twelve o'clock position, intended to be evocative of a sun dial. The original Museum Watch, designed in 1947, manufactured by Vacheron & Constantin-Le Coultre Watches, Inc., Switzerland, was added to the permanent collection of the

in 1960.The Museum Watch: 1958

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of t ...

. Accessed January 8, 2009."Wristwatch Face: Nathan George Horwitt (American, 1898-1990)"

. Accessed January 8, 2009.

Movado Movado is an American luxury watchmaker. It is best known for its Museum Watch. Movado means "movement" in Esperanto. The watches are known for their signature metallic dot at 12 o'clock and minimalist style. Movado traces its origins to La Ch ...

started producing an unauthorized version starting in 1948, copying Horwitt's design. Movado finally settled with Horwitt in 1975 with a payment of $29,000. Following Horwitt's death, Movado started heavy promotion of Horwitt and the design of the Museum Watch. A wall clock of this design was created in the late 1960s for the

Howard Miller Clock Company The Howard Miller Company is a Zeeland, Michigan, based manufacturer of longcase clocks and other home furnishings. History Howard Miller Clock Company was founded in 1926, as the Herman Miller Clock Company division of office furniture manufact ...

."Wall Clock: Nathan George Horwitt"
MOMA collection

Honors and recognition

Horwitt supported the creation of the State of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, serving as a member of the board of the

American League for a Free Palestine American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. For his efforts towards the establishment of the Jewish state, he was awarded the

Jabotinsky Medal The Jabotinsky Medal may refer to one of several awards named in honor of Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky: Jabotinsky Foundation awards The Jabotinsky Centennial Medal was awarded in 1980, the centenary of Jabotinsky's birth, by the Jabotinsky Foundat ...

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...

in 1980. Horwitt was rumored to have made his farm in

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is h ...

available for training exercises for the Jewish underground force, the

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

, between 1945 and 1948.

Death

Horwitt died at age 92 on June 13, 1990, of natural causes at his home in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horwitt, Nathan George American industrial designers Farmers from Massachusetts American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish American military personnel American Zionists City College of New York alumni Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States New York University alumni People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts United States Army soldiers 1890s births 1990 deaths 20th-century American Jews