In the 1940s the first “mystery clock” that had no visible working parts was designed by Leendert Prins, a clockmaker from the Netherlands. This clock was called The Dutch Secret. Jefferson Electric purchased the rights for patent number 2,248,195 from Prins, who received royalties of 3.5 percent from the sale of each clock. They modified the design, and in 1949 they produced the Golden Hour, which originally retailed for $19.95. The Golden Hour was plated with 24K gold and had hands painted with radium paint, which is still radioactive. The use of this paint was banned in the mid-1960s.
Jefferson later produced other models, but the Golden Hour was the most popular. It remained in production until the clock division closed in August 1991. About two million of these were sold over the years.
From roger-russell.com
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| Front row (l to r): Golden View Mahogany, "500" Gold, "500" Chrome, Intermezzo, Lady Marion Gold, Lady Marion Gray, Integer Gold, Integer Chrome, Golden View Blonde. Back row (l to r): Golden Secret, Golden Helm, Golden Minute, Suspense, Golden Hour, Exciting Hour, Contemporaire. ("880" not shown) roger-russell.com |
 Golden Hour (l) and Golden Secret (r) roger-russell.com  |
| From Golden Hour manual roger-russell.com |
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| Vintage Jefferson Electric sample case Bottom row (l to r): Golden Minute, Golden Hour, Golden Secret. Top row: Contemporaire. roger-russell.com |
The Golden Secret was designed and patented by Jan Walma, who was an acquaintance of Prins and is also from the Netherlands. It also was 24K gold plated and was sold by Jefferson in the USA. The Golden Secret had no glass at all.
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| Golden Secret roger-russell.com |
My daughter found a Jefferson "500" Chrome in perfect working order at an estate sale at another one of her ridiculously low prices. I was outbid on one the other day on eBay, but I'll eventually find one at an affordable price.
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| Jefferson "500" Chrome hiandlomodern.com |
Jefferson Electric ran a number of successful marketing campaigns. They sold a number of clocks to other companies to be used in promotions, and they ran print ads in magazines, such as Coronet and The New Yorker. One of these campaigns is knows as Four Men in Blue Blazers.
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| Rhapsody in Blue Blazers ad roger-russell.com |
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| Wanted for Stealing the Show ad roger-russell.com |
If you'd like more information about vintage clocks, audio equipment and much more, I encourage you to visit Roger Russell's site. The amount of research he has done for the site is truly impressive. I extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Russell for granting me permission to use information and images from his site, which are almost impossible to find elsewhere.
