Jaeger-LeCoultre are pioneers in the watch game, with timeless wristwatch designs such as the classic “Reverso”, in which everyone in and around the watch community has seen and admired. But today, we aren’t going to be talking about the traditional Jaeger-LeCoultre wristwatches we all love and know. Instead, we’re going to discuss the Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos table clock. Ingenuity at it’s finest, with the clock displaying the highest levels in which watchmaking/ clockmaking has to offer.
The Design
We’ll get into the nitty gritty of this Jaeger-LeCoultre table clock a little further down, but first lets appreciate the skeletonised yet simplistic Atmos clock in which they have crafted. All of the elements throughout this table clock blend seamlessly. For instance, the blue roman numerals along with the blue sword-style hands, which are given freedom to stand out against the rhodium plated brass case. Having a brass case was a wise choice by Jaeger-LeCoultre, as working with brass is easier, as it’s a softer material than stainless steel for example.
As stated by Jaeger-LeCoultre themselves “The Atmos clock, for its part, is designed to display the moon phases with exceptional accuracy for more than 4,000 years.” Which just highlights the exceptional skills required in order to complete such a task.
What Makes the Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos Clock so Special?
Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the first to state the impossible nature of achieving natural perpetual motion, however this was obviously tested by tenacious researchers such as Neuchâtel engineer, Jean-Léon Reutter. Reutter discovered and designed through his own research the revolutionary clock that drew power from variations in ambient temperature. With a little extra research and persistence on the manufacturing side of things, meant the Atmos clock could be born. In essence this clock is run by “A gaseous mixture in a hermetically closed capsule expands when the temperature rises and contracts when it falls.”
This Atmos clock doesn’t want any unwanted resistance so much so, the balance wheel moves so slowly that it’s 60 times slower than that of a normal clock and 240 times slower than that of the average wristwatch.
How Does the Jaeger-LeCoultre Table Clock run?
The source of power for this Jaeger-LeCoultre table clock is the variation in temperature, this in turn allows for the oscillation of the balance wheel. It’s a fascinating concept which is almost hard to believe, but the gaseous mixture which is trapped inside the expansion chamber compresses the winding spring when an increase in temperature occurs, and retracts/ relaxes the spring when the temperature decreases. This change in temperature is what allows for the efficiency of the clock to prevail through what is essentially winding the clock.
The Dial
The white lacquered dial on this clock features hours and minutes hands along with the date, month and year and a moon phase window. The accuracy in which this clock achieves is phenomenal, with the average Jaeger-LeCoultre watch deviating from its accuracy around 1 day every 122 years. However, this table clock is designed to display the moon phases accurately for around 4000 years.
