Nathan George Horwitt (c. 1898 – June 13, 1990) was an American industrial designer. 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 watch was intended to suggest a sundial, the most ancient form of keeping time.
Biography
Horwitt was born c. 1898 in Russia and emigrated to the United States as a child, where he attended the City College of New York and New York University. He later attended the Art Students League of New York and served in the United States Army during World War I.
He was hired as an advertising copywriter by the pharmaceutical firm E. R. Squibb & Company (now part of Bristol-Myers Squibb). Horwitt was eventually promoted to become the firm's director of advertising. 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.
Movado 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.
Honors and recognition
Horwitt supported the creation of the State of Israel, serving as a member of the board of the American League for a Free Palestine. For his efforts towards the establishment of the Jewish state, he was awarded the Jabotinsky Medal by Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin in 1980.