JAEGAR-LECOULTRE UNVEIL TWO NEW INTERPRETATIONS OF ATMOS RÉGULATEURS

Jaegar LeCoultre turns its legendary “clock that runs on air” into two stunning works of art...

Jaeger-LeCoultre has unveiled two new artistic interpretations of Atmos Régulateur Calibre 582, with the clock’s mechanism set in a transparent glass cabinet and framed by two dramatic decorative panels. The new clocks offer masterful demonstrations of two very different traditional craft techniques and creative approaches, qualities long nurtured by La Grande Maison alongside its pursuit of timekeeping precision.

Atmos Régulateur Enamel Colibris is decorated with blossoms and hummingbirds (colibris in French) miniature-painted in Grand Feu enamel, and Atmos Régulateur Wood Marqueterie features a striking Art Deco-inspired design in wood inlay.     

TIME, TURNED INTO ART

The perpetual power of a 1928 vision: Thanks to its unique mechanism – a breakthrough and visionary concept invented in 1928 by Swiss engineer Jean-Léon Reutter and further developed by the watchmakers of LeCoultre & Cie (later Jaeger-LeCoultre) to make the revolutionary concept viable for series production, Atmos runs independently of human intervention, meaning that it needs no winding or other input of energy.

The clock of unrivaled efficiency: Known as the ‘clock that runs on air’, it is powered by a movement that effectively achieves perpetual motion by drawing its energy from barely perceptible variations in ambient temperature. This thermal energy is transformed into mechanical energy, which drives the movement of the balance wheel. The secret lies in a hermetically sealed, gas-filled capsule, which is connected to the clock’s drive spring by a membrane. The slightest temperature variation changes the volume of the gas, causing the membrane to expand and contract – ‘breathing’ like the bellows of an accordion – thus winding the spring and providing the minuscule amount of energy needed for the balance wheel to make its once-a-minute, back-and-forth oscillation. A temperature fluctuation of a single degree Celsius is enough to provide the clock with an operating autonomy of about two days; its energy consumption is so slight that it would require 60 million Atmos clocks to use the same amount of energy as a single 15-watt incandescent light bulb.

Where mechanism becomes art: The technical requirements of Atmos determine the distinctive architecture of its mechanism, which – being fully open to view within its glass cabinet – has anchored the clock’s strong aesthetic identity since the beginning, thus enabling experiments with design as early as the 1930s. The strength of this identity also makes Atmos an ideal canvas for artistic creativity.

Since the 1970s, Jaeger-LeCoultre has invited leading designers, alongside masters of traditional crafts – such as enamelling and marqueterie, first introduced in 1934 – to reinterpret the clock in their own style.

These explorations have extended to material experimentation, from ambrolite to all-glass constructions, as well as lacquer work and gem-setting.

Complications engineered for perpetual motion: Because the nature of Atmos mechanism requires its energy consumption to remain as low and as consistent as possible, it does not naturally lend itself to the addition of other timekeeping complications – the operation of which requires surges of higher energy. However, as the Manufacture continually worked to improve the clock’s performance over the decades, its engineers succeeded in developing the first Atmos with a moon-phase indication in 1992. Further complications have followed, including calendars, a celestial chart, Equation of Time, sunrise and sunset times, a regulator display and, most remarkably, a tellurium.

CALIBRE 582: A REGULATOR WITH 3,821-YEAR ACCURACY

Distinguished by its regulator display, Calibre 582, like all Jaeger-LeCoultre calibres, was conceived, designed and is entirely produced within the Manufacture. In keeping with the Maison’s pursuit of precision, Atmos Régulateur represents a modern continuation of a centuries-long lineage of scientific reference clocks. In clock and watchmaking, the regulator design originated not as an aesthetic choice but for the purpose of professional high-precision horology. Since the separation of the hour and minute displays enables exceptionally clear reading of smaller units of time, the regulator was often used as the reference for setting the time on other instruments. Continuing this emphasis on precision, the moon phase display of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Calibre 582 is so accurate that it would take 3,821 years to diverge by just one day from astronomical reality.

The design of Atmos Calibre 582 is defined by circles within circles, with layered concentric indications organising the information clearly and intuitively. The large minutes ring anchors the architecture and is complemented by the smaller hours ring, a 24-hour ring and a circular display comprising the monthly calendar and moon-phase display. The symmetry of the displays is amplified by three large, open-worked guide rollers arranged in a pyramid formation: two lateral rollers, attached to arc-shaped bridges on the left and right of the mechanism’s centre line, support the suspended 24-hour ring, while a stabilising roller located at the 12 o’clock position ensures perfect positional stability.  

Produced in only 3 pieces, decorated with a graceful representation of hummingbirds, cherry blossoms and hydrangeas, Atmos Régulateur Enamel Colibris pays homage to the delicate beauty of nature’s flora and fauna, while shining a spotlight on both the technical watchmaking expertise of Jaeger-LeCoultre and the artistic savoir-faire nurtured by the in-house Métiers Rares™ atelier.  

The dial and panels alone required a total of 45 Grand Feu enamel firings (15 layers for the dial, and 15 layers for each of the two panels). Each firing presented a constant risk of breakage, potentially requiring the entire process to start from scratch. Miniature painting is usually performed on the tiny surfaces of wristwatches, however, these decorative panels – each measuring 196 mm x 105.2 mm – posed significant technical and artistic challenges and required extensive research and trials before the enamelling could begin.

Steel was chosen for the base material as it would provide greater resistance to the multiple firings at 800°C or more that are necessary to obtain and fix the desired enamel colours. First, a layer of contre-émail (‘opposing enamel’) had to be applied to the reverse side to help equalise the tension that would be created by the multiple layers of dark-green enamel to be applied to the front of the panels. For the large surfaces of the panels, the enamellers had to perfect the ‘dry enamelling’ technique of sifting powdered pigment onto the plates – rather like dusting the top of a cake with icing sugar – repeating the process multiple times to achieve the desired depth and uniformity of green.

After every layer, the panels had to be fired, then cooled and perfectly flattened – with every stage carrying the risk of bubbling, cracking or dust specks, any of which would ruin the entire work. Finally, when the background was completed, the miniature-painter could begin work, balancing the apparent contradictions of artistic flair and absolute precision. The work was done in multiple layers, each needing to be fired, with every firing again carrying the risk of irreparably damaging all that had been done before. To succeed in such work is testament to a degree of mastery that can be achieved only with countless years of experience.

The miniature-painted image extends in an uninterrupted flow, from a rich floral display on the left-hand panel, across the enamelled minutes ring, to the opposite panel where three hummingbirds hover among the blossoms. To create the hour and minute rings, the silver base of the rings was hollowed out to form shallow troughs, which were then filled with multiple layers of enamel – again, with firing after every layer. Once satisfied with the depth and richness of colour, the enameller could begin miniature-painting the floral details. The final staged was the addition of dots to mark the hours and minutes, using gold leaf paillonné, an enamelling technique that consists of cutting tiny fragments of gold leaf into precise shapes, placing them in position, then covering them with layers of translucent enamel. The decorative enamelling on Atmos Régulateur Enamel Colibris required 230 hours to complete.

Limited to just 5 pieces the Atmos Régulateur Wood Marqueterie is a contemporary celebration of the age-old craft of wood marqueterie. This decorative art technique was perfected in the latter half of the 17^th century, particularly by Dutch and French master cabinetmakers, the most celebrated of whom was André-Charles Boulle, whose works – often combining wood with tortoiseshell, brass and other materials – for the French royal palaces are now highly valued museum pieces. 

To create the decorative panels for this Atmos clock, the desired pattern – a trompe l’oeil effect of apparently infinite depth – was meticulously hollowed out from the metal base material, leaving only the fine and perfectly straight-edged ‘ribs’ that were rhodium-plated to highlight the geometry of the pattern created by the wood inlay.  Then came the challenge of finding the desired wood veneers – mostly walnut – with complementary grains. In a process that required 50 hours to complete, 52 fine slices of wood veneer, each no thicker than 0.6 mm – as fine as a rose petal – were cut to shape with micron-precision to fit seamlessly into the prepared spaces, then hand-tinted in shades of blue ranging from light grey-blue through sky blue to deep ocean blue. Once the wood was inlaid to complete the pattern, the surface was varnished and polished, transforming the clock into a modern work of art with strong echoes of the Art Deco period when Atmos was born.

The blue tones of the marqueterie are complemented by the dial displays: the large minutes register is lacquered in blue, with applied, rhodium-plated indexes at five-minute intervals. The palette is reversed on the hours register, with blue-lacquered indexes and shiny rhodium-plated elements contrasting with a silvery opaline background. The moon phase display continues the theme, with a blue lacquered sky providing the background for a polished moon, which emerges from behind ‘clouds’ decorated with azurage to create a finely textured finish. Atmos Régulateur Wood Marqueterie will be produced in a limited edition of five pieces.

More than just a remarkable timepiece that runs on air, Atmos is an objet d’art that has fascinated admirers of both technical and artistic creativity for more than nine decades and the splendour of these two new interpretations ensure the continuity of Atmos legend for many generations to come.