The Atmos clock – a mechanical marvel that literally lives on air
History lesson no. 1: Invented by Swiss engineer Jean-Léon Reutter in 1928 and perfected by Jaeger-LeCoultre in the early 1930s, the Atmos winds itself using nothing but tiny changes in ambient temperature.
Inside a hermetically sealed capsule, a special gas mixture expands and contracts with a temperature fluctuation of as little as one degree Celsius, winding the mainspring and keeping the movement running for days. Fully wound, the Atmos in fact runs for six months without stopping.
Its torsion pendulum oscillates only twice per minute, minimising energy loss and making the Atmos one of the most efficient mechanical timekeepers ever created.
It is a fusion of science and artistry: a luxury object and a piece of physics rolled into one.
