Telechron Model #431 - The Modernique

In 1927 Telechron introduced a “Fifty Dollar Clock”, The Modernique, designed by Paul T. Frankl. The clock was larger than other models, 7.75" high by 5.75" wide, with a Bakelite base and rear panel, two-tone gold, silver, or blue paint over the solid brass body, a blue chapter ring with black logo and numbers, and the standard M1 rotor in a movement with a detachable cord.
Because of its high original cost only limited numbers 1,570 units were sold, and the Modernique is hard to find today.
Paul T. Frankl was born in Austria in 1887. He trained as an architect in Vienna and Berlin, and emigrated to the United States in 1914. He opened a gallery/showroom on Madison Avenue in 1924, and developed his "Skyscraper" style of furniture design as early as 1925. A major influence in modern decorative arts, he wrote the books New Dimension in 1928 and Form and Reform in 1930. He helped establish the American Designers Gallery and the American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen. Frankl died in New York in 1958.