Cor­rect­ly locking the Calib­re 540 for shipping

In recent months it has hap­pen­ed quite often that an ATMOS Calib­re 540 “Clas­sic” was sent to us that had not been locked cor­rect­ly. (The Clas­sic is the 540 with a matt base and frame and polished colum­ns.) This led to (avo­ida­ble) trans­port dama­ge, and the service/repair work was in some cases con­sider­a­b­ly grea­ter as a result.
So here are a few tips in case you also own an Atmos Calib­re 540. Plea­se note the fol­lo­wing:
When locking the ATMOS Calib­re 540 in par­ti­cu­lar (pro­du­ced 1984–1987), the locking lever below the dial must be pushed to the right all the way to the “stop”. The main pro­blem: the last third may be stiff, but it is important, becau­se on most models the lever clicks into a kind of invi­si­ble “cam”. Only then is the pen­dulum secu­red and unable to “ratt­le around loo­se” during trans­port – as we have unfort­u­na­te­ly seen seve­ral times.

The dama­ge is then often:

• a torn tor­si­on pen­dulum spring
• a bent or bro­ken fine regu­la­ting tube/regulating sleeve
• and last but not least, almost always a bent pal­let fork
• a dama­ged locking mechanism

This must be avo­ided by cor­rect locking!
That is why many of the­se cali­bres have a small attach­ment with a rub­ber stop­per on the locking lever, which is meant to stop it “sli­ding back” when the glass panel is clo­sed. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, this part tends to get lost over time……!
The ATMOS Ely­sée has a polished base, frame and colum­ns and the addi­tio­nal locking screw in the base pla­te. If you tigh­ten it “gent­ly” with your fin­gers, all is well and hard­ly any­thing can go wrong.