Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Newest Atmos Clock Is Practically Transparent
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From its base in Le Sentier, in the Jura region of Switzerland, Jaeger-LeCoultre is among a handful of watchmakers actively pursuing the clock business. But it’s hardly a stretch for the brand, whose Atmos pendulum clock, based on a mechanism invented by the Swiss engineer Jean-Léon Reutter in 1928, has been in production since the 1930s.
The intervening years have done nothing to diminish the Atmos’ appeal. On the contrary, the timepiece is a mainstay of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s production; the brand steadily turns out new versions at least once every few years.
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Case in point: the Atmos Transparente clock, a minimalist work of art introduced in mid-December.
The pared-down design of the clock features 12 black, Art Deco-style hour markers scattered around a dial made of next generation glass that lends the piece a see-through quality, set atop a satin-brushed and rhodium-plated base. The mechanical, virtually perpetual in-house movement, visible from every angle, is the Calibre 563. Manufactured and assembled by hand, its 217 parts work in concert to display the hours and minutes.
The Atmos hasn’t always looked so modern. In 2012, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced a 10-piece limited edition of the Atmos dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Klimt, the Austrian painter. The $245,000 clock featured a marquetry reproduction of one of Klimt’s paintings, “The Kiss,” using 1,200 pieces of exotic wood meticulously cut and assembled to cover the external surface of the cabinet.
In 2017, the firm released the Atmos 568, the third edition of the clock created with the celebrated industrial designer Marc Newson, with whom it had partnered since 2008. Housed in a rounded cube of clear Baccarat crystal and with a transparent dial, the clock, which is still available for $26,600, was an ode to simplicity.
The Atmos Transparente, which retails for $9,450, strikes much the same note.
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