Louis Poulsen PH5 (1960s) rewire  

@rca60

 I am not an electrician, licensed or otherwise, but I don't believe basic household 120V lamp cords require grounding by uniform building codes. Is the socket on your lamp original and conforming to US standard? 

You or any electrician can test for continuity with a multimeter. I'm sure there's a YouTube video or a dozen on procedure.

@cripes_a_mighty

Without benefit of seeing the fraying, I agree. And, depending on required length, the frayed part might just be cut off.

Your ID photo, OTOH, is a sore reminder of news, received today, that the movement in my beloved 1958 Rolex is toast. I feel naked without it. I could (and might yet) acquire another like it, but it wouldn't be my father's. Vintage sometimes comes at a premium. I'm (temporarily) left bereft. Another scotchy-wotch should help...

Thank you so much for all the replies!  It’s all so helpful.

The fraying is just right above the shade and it seems to just be the cloth.  The socket seems to be a simple rewire that are connected to screw terminals — so I’m debating on re-cutting the cord and wiring the socket from a cleaner section.  The wires are however brown and blue.  As long as I match this up to the US black and white correctly (brown to black for hot wire and blue to white for cold wire) would this create an issue for installation in the US?

Another thing I realized is that the porcelain socket is much larger than the standard e26 bulb.  I think this socket may use a e39/ mogul bulb?  If this is true, has anyone installed an e39 to e26 adaptor in these older sockets? And is this safe?

@tktoo and @cripes_a_mighty does needing only 2 wires without a ground also apply to hardwired lights?  It seems most European lights have just two wires and the grounding happens at the switch or something..would it be okay 

@tktoo sorry to hear about your fathers 1958 Rolex - it was painful to read!  

@rca60

It's a bit of a challenge for some, but it's often helpful to post pix.

Otherwise, I'd say go ahead and try the original cord and see if it works. Maybe throw a two-pronged plug on the end and stick it into a wall outlet for a quick and easy test. Polarity shouldn't be a factor.

FWIW, I re-wired a pendant fixture hanging over our kitchen table with new "vacuum cleaner" cord sold by the foot at at the orange big-box home improvement store. I think it has 3 leads in it, but I used only two and it functions and looks great. No issues in 20+ years. 

Screw base adapters work fine. It's not like you're gonna put a 300W tungsten-filament incandescent bulb in there anyway, right?

Thx for condolences re my dad's watch. I think he paid maybe $100 for it when I was a one-year-old. Its last service cost me nearly $700. Things mechanical eventually wear out despite regular maintenance. Besides, Rolex lost their way decades ago when they decided to morph into a luxury brand. Now, they're more interested in manipulating prices on the grey market as a major global cartel member. Loved the vintage watch, hate the brand. Maybe a 10-yr-old mid-range Seiko automatic for me next. I do love the hunt.

@tktoo

Thank you again for the replies!  Over the last couple days as I was cleaning and more closely inspecting the PH5, I was able to take a few pictures and naturally have a few more questions. 

I was able to disassemble the socket and the fraying seems to be only on the cloth and as opposed to the wire itself.  I've realized that the rewiring would be quite simple as the wire can be cut at an un-frayed section and attached the socket.  However perhaps a more concerning issue is that I've realized that a piece may be missing from the porcelain socket itself.  I was wrong and it does not use a mogel e39 socket...but rather there might be some sort of screw adaptor specific to the ph5 that holds the bulb in place. 

Lampe mestern seems to sell this piece but the shipping is 74 euros?!   which is more than the cost of the piece?

https://www.lampemesteren.com/lp-porcelaen-fatning-louis-poulsen.aspx

Lastly, I noticed that the bottom shade seems to be slightly crooked and one of the small spacer covers that is located under the blue cover plate at the bottom seems to be missing.  I'm wondering if maybe this missing pieces could be causing the shade to be crooked and if you know may know of any fix. 

I'll have to post all the pictures on separate posts as each post allows only one picture. 

Great advice about the vacuum cord - I looked into an Ikea cloth covered cord as a possible replacement...or even less expensive is the white non cloth covered cord...has anyone used these as replacements? and will it fit the PH5?

Hemma Cord (non-cloth)

Sunneby Cord (cloth)

This is the picture of the porcelain socket:

a side view of the crooked 3rd shade:

lastly, this is the view from the bottom with the blue cover plate removed of the missing purple spacer cover: