Art Deco Skyscraper Warren Telechron Clock Modernique by Paul Frankl, 1928

Art Deco Skyscraper Warren Telechron Clock 431Modernique by Paul Frankl, 1928.  It features Machine Age numbering around the dial, circumscribed by a starburst motif in alternating bands of silver and white gold hues. It is inscribed “Telechron” in the center of the dial. This rare iconic clock was designed  during a time when the majority of electric clocks sold for around 5.00, this clock retailed for $50.00, earning it the nickname “the fifty dollar clock.” The stock market crash and Great Depression struck shortly after an introduction and, as a result very few were produced and few sold.

It is inscribed on the back “Warren Telechron Co. Ashland, Mass. USA”. It has been newly serviced and in excellent vintage condition. A perfect new cloth cord with original connecting bakelite plugs. In excellent vintage condition with some restoration to the enamel paint on the sides and top. Exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, materials bakelite, brush-burnished silver, chrome, and enamel.

Paul T Frankl (USA 1886-1958)

Born in Vienna, he came to the United States in 1914, and he would go on to design furnishings emblematic of nearly every key stylistic chord in American modernism, from streamlined Art Deco to free-form organic shapes. Most well known for his “Skyscraper” cabinets. His work is represented in institutions such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1934 and luxuriated in the climate and lifestyle. His designs became found by audiences with the Hollywood elite. (Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Fred Astaire), were clients.