Airframe DESK Clock
- Tiffany & Co. Streamerica Airframe Collection
- Stainless Steel Desk Collection
- Releassed 1993?
- Made in Switzerland.
- Retail Price $1,200 US dollars, confirmed.
Tiffany & Co. introduced the Streamerica collection of personal accessories and watches in 1990 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its New York headquarters.
Tiffany & Co.’s Streamerica is inspired by the aerodynamic principles of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the Streamlined designed collection evolved from the profile of a DC-3 wing and the bolted metal sheeting of airplane construction. Steel and Industry symbolize America’s aspirations for progress and prosperity. A Timeless expression of Man’s fascination with speed and technology – and his desire to forge a better tomorrow.
The soaring form of an airplane wing inspired the Airframe Picture Frames and Airframe Perpetual Calendar.
This singular piece has got to be the rarest of all the Streamerica pieces that were made in Stainless Steel. I was under the impresion that this piece might have been a sample or display only item, but a buyer confirmed he purchased one in Beverly Hills in 1997 for $1,200. It is not pictured in any Tiffany & Co. catalog nor listed in the back of the Streamerica Catalog as one of the items produced, but neither where the Bar Coaster set that I personally purchased at the Atlanta store. I did not even knew of this piece existence until I ran across an ebay listing from Nov/Dec 2016 a week after it had ended! I totally missed out on this rare item.
In August 2018 I came accross another one on ebay. I have to say these are the only two times I have ever seen or heard about this piece since 1993. So be rest assured this is a very rare piece. For any clock collector or Tiffany afficionado, the selling price of $2,000 is pretty reasonable. Here is a link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tiffany-Co-Streamerica-Airframe-Desk-Clock-Stainless-Steel-Incredibly-Rare/142891323911
The design is based largely on the Airframe Desk Perpetual Calendar, so I assume it belongs to the Airframe Collection. It has the same size and structured walls of the Calendar, but it goes all the way to the bottom like the photo frames, and has a stainless steel plaque in the back. I have a photo of the side of the clock, but I assume it has to be thicker to accept the mechanisms of the actual clock, unlike the thin photo frames that only house the two pieces of glass plus the cardboard photograph.
It appears to be a regular clock without an alarm. I assume that to change the clock’s time, it must be removed from its casing, as it has no knobs in the stainless steel back plate. It is also Swiss Made, as most of the Tiffany clocks are.
I also see that it has a very nice curved line on the top and bottom of the clock, unlike any of the other framed pieces. You can see this on the side photo of the frame and the bottom part photo.
Please, if anybody has more information about this item, I’d greatly appreciate it if you posted your comments here so we can have a good record of all these incredible pieces. Thanks.
Detailed Photos of Streamerica Airframe Desk Clock.
A Detailed view of the back, base, and side of the Desk Clock.
