Glass Art Deco clock by ATO

ATO, 1930s

A small, moulded glass Art Deco mantel clock by the French company ATO with silver plated hands with ‘spoon’ ends and black hand-painted numerals. The face marked ATO in moulded text, and the Bakelite case covering the movement also marked in raised text moulded into the Bakelite. Fitted with a modern battery movement, the Bakelite case back reveals the original instructions for battery connection, fixed to the inside of the case. With a triple-stepped black Bakelite plinth. French, circa 1930s.

Height: 10 inches (26 cm).

ATO was a company established in the 1920s by Léon Hatot (1883-1953). Trading under the name ATO from 1923, electric clocks were produced in a partially rebuilt factory in the rue de la Rotonde in Besancon. They were an immediate and unprecedented success, and at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs in 1925, Léon Hatot won a Grand Prix for a range of electric clocks, housed in marble, chrome and fine wood cases, and some in cases of moulded glass from the famous Lalique factory. Léon Hatot company still functions as a watchmaker, trading under the umbrella of the Swatch group.

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