Jaeger-LeCoultre opened an exhibition devoted to the Atmos clock.
In the presence of the famous designer Mark Newson, known for designing the Ikepod fake watches, and a million other sleek objects, Jaeger-LeCoultre opened an exhibition devoted to the Atmos clock. The exhibition threw light on the various stages in the history of this exceptional mechanical timepiece.
Last year the Atmos clock, which «lived on thin air», celebrated its 80th anniversary. In 1928, the engineer Jean-Léon Reutter invented an ingenious mechanism which did not need energy to function. In fact, the myth of the perpetual motion is not true. The Atmos clock is powered by a hermetically sealed capsule of gas and liquid ethyl chloride which expands into a chamber as the temperature rises, thus compressing a spring which winds the mechanism of the clock.
Designer Marc Newson, who has always been fascinated by the Atmos clock, has designed its case as a Baccarat crystal bubble, the rounded off cubic form of which reminds of the 1950s. This extraordinary clock is made in a limited series of 888 pieces.
The legend of acquiring the patent for the Atmos clock by JAEGER-LECOULTRE is rather interesting. Rumour has it that one day back in 1930 the manager of a famous Swiss watch making company JAEGER-LECOULTRE was walking down a street in Paris and noticed an Atmos clocks in a shop window. He was so delighted with Reutter’s Atmos clock that he immediately purchased it. Later, after meeting between LeCoultre and Reutter, the company bought out the license and the Atmos Clock patent.