Rohde was known primarily as a furniture maker whose progressive designs were produced by well-known manufacturers such as Heywood Wakefield, Troy Sunshade, John Widdicomb, Herman Miller, and Thonet. In 1932 and 1933 he created a series of clocks for the Herman Miller Clock Company that were remarkable for their daringly advanced designs. The transparent glass face of this example is suspended in front of a chromed diagonal support, its sharp angle abstractly reinforcing a sense of dynamic motion. The "numerals"—slashes of white—seem to float on the clear glass surface, highlighting the sharp, dominant black hour hand. The color scheme of black, red, and silver and the use of sleek materials such as chrome and glass typify the kind of furnishings that complemented luxury interiors of the 1930s. Although most people were struggling to make ends meet during the decade-long Great Depression, the elegant penthouse atop a skyscraper apartment building represented a privileged fantasy world that dominated Hollywood movie sets as well as designs for luxury city dwellings created by the most contemporary architects and designers.