Gui­de

My Atmos has stop­ped – what can I do?

Don’t worry: an Atmos that has stop­ped is in many cases not “bro­ken”. Usual­ly all it needs is a simp­le ser­vice wit­hout spa­re parts. With the fol­lo­wing tips you can check for yours­elf in a few minu­tes whe­ther your clock has per­haps just been locked by acci­dent or is not stan­ding level – or whe­ther it real­ly belongs in the workshop.

How the Atmos powers itself

Insi­de the Atmos sits a her­me­ti­cal­ly sea­led cap­su­le fil­led with a gas mix­tu­re. When the room tem­pe­ra­tu­re rises, the gas expands; when it falls, the gas con­tracts. This tiny move­ment con­ti­nuous­ly winds the mainspring.

A chan­ge in tem­pe­ra­tu­re of only about one degree is enough for rough­ly two days of power reser­ve. The pen­dulum is a tor­si­on pen­dulum: it turns very slow­ly back and forth and needs hard­ly any ener­gy to do so. That is exact­ly why the clock reacts so sen­si­tively when the pen­dulum can­not swing freely.

What you can check yourself

Go through the­se points one after the other. The most com­mon cau­ses come first.

1. Is the pen­dulum still locked?

   For trans­port, the pen­dulum is locked with a small lever. Depen­ding on the model, it sits under the move­ment or on the under­si­de of the clock. If the lever points to the right, the clock is locked; if it points to the left, it is released – the tor­si­on pen­dulum should then wob­ble slightly.

   Video: releasing the lock

2. Is the clock stan­ding exact­ly level?

   Many models have a small spi­rit level at the front of the base and adjus­ta­ble feet. The bubble must sit in the midd­le. The pen­dulum must not touch any­thing underneath.

   Video: level­ling the clock with the spi­rit level

3. Cold start: have you given the pen­dulum a nudge?

   With one fin­ger, careful­ly turn the pen­dulum about half a turn to the side and let go. It should now turn slow­ly and even­ly back and forth.

   Video: if your Atmos clock should ever stop

4. Is the spot calm?

   Place the clock on a firm sur­face that is free from vibration.

We also show you every step in our ins­truc­tions for set­ting up your Atmos – with short videos.

When the clock belongs in the workshop

If you have che­cked all the points and the clock still does not run, the­re is usual­ly a case for the work­shop behind it. Typi­cal signs:

• The pen­dulum keeps stop­ping after a few hours.
• The pen­dulum hangs croo­ked, wob­bles or drags on the base. Then the fine sus­pen­si­on wire has often broken.
• The clock never starts, even though it has stood in one place with nor­mal tem­pe­ra­tu­re chan­ges for weeks or months. Then the cap­su­le may be leaking.
• The clock runs but does not keep time and can no lon­ger be regu­la­ted. Then it needs eit­her a ser­vice or a new sus­pen­si­on spring.
• The last ser­vice was many years or deca­des ago. Depo­sits from the air or old, gum­med-up oil slow down the deli­ca­te movement.

In all the­se cases a ser­vice will help: we dis­mant­le, clean and adjust the move­ment and replace wha­te­ver is necessary.

What you had bet­ter not do

• Never car­ry or ship the clock with the pen­dulum unlo­cked. Even a small jolt can break the sus­pen­si­on wire.
• Do not turn the pen­dulum forceful­ly! More than half a turn per­ma­nent­ly dama­ges the move­ment and the sus­pen­si­on wire.
• Do not oil it yours­elf or open the move­ment. Com­pared with every other clock, the Atmos runs prac­ti­cal­ly wit­hout oil – oil added after­wards does more harm than good. More: Does an Atmos need oil?