Modernique Clock by Paul Frankl Art Deco Skyscraper Telechron Clock 1928

Art Deco Skyscraper Warren Telechron Clock 431Modernique by Paul Frankl, 1928. This very rare two-tone gold model with a bakelite base and rear panel includes a blue chapter ring dial with a black logo and numbers. This radio has just been recently restored on the outside as well as the inside. The standard M1 rotor movement with a detachable cord. 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. This one is also accompanied by a new cloth chord and a period-correct plug switch.

It has a metal plate on the back inscribed  “Warren Telechron Co. Ashland, Mass. USA”. Exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, because of its high original cost only limited numbers were sold, and the Modernique especially in this rare two-tone gold color is very hard to find today.

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 like 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.