The Atmos clock
is 80 years old in 2008. Jean Leon Reutter invented this amazing piece of
watchmaking history in 1928! More than 750 000 Atmos clocks have been
produced so far!
Quite obviously
the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture is offering this year several new amazing
versions to please us.
I'm more
than pleased in fact.
The first and
the most beautiful piece of new Atmos is the Atmos Marqueterie. This second
Atmos Marqueterie after the Mucha in 2000 is now dedicated to Gustav Klimt's
portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, known as the Austria's Mona Lisa. This Art
Nouveau portrait is realized in a series of 10 Atmos clocks.
Displaying hours,
minutes, months and the moon phases, this clock is decorated with more than
1200 pieces of wood and gold leafs.
The 12 hours marker
is a cushion-cut yellow sapphire. The other markers are made of petrified wood
on mother of pearl.
The numerous essences of wood bring the various colours:
amboyna burr, tulipwood burr, myrtlewood burr.
This cabinet is
truly amazing of beauty if you are appealed by the Art Nouveau.
The wooden cabinet
opens by itself by touching an hidden button.
The spring
opening the cabinet rewinds when you close it back.
Unfortunately
this Atmos will remain out of the reach of many of us, but it is in the reach
of anybody ready to buy a platinum Master Repeater! I would choose quite easily
between the two!
The most
affordable new Atmos comes in the form of a Boutique Edition called Pavillon. It
is made of glass, carbon fibre and aluminium. The calibre gets a quite modern ruthenium
colour for an overall modern design.
The new Atmos Astronomique
is inspired by the Atmos CHI of 1934. On top of the hours and minutes it
displays a view of the Northern sky on a rotating disc. It also displays the
month and the equation of time.
The two lateral
glass wings reproduce fragments of sky maps inspired by the Harmonia Macrocosmica,
the cosmographic atlas published in 1660 by Andreas Cellarius.
I've kept
the dream Atmos for the end!
This new Atmos
was designed by the well known 44 year old Australian creator and designer Marc
Newson.
The designer
voluntarily proposed his collaboration to Jaeger-LeCoultre as he is himself a
fan of the Atmos clock.
This limited
series of 888 pieces is housed in a Baccarat crystal bubble that brings us back
to the industrial design of the 50s, the furniture piece as a work of art!
This transparent
and simple design is eminently modern while reinventing a classicism from the
past. This is what I would call an obviously appealing design.
The clock shows
the hours, minutes, the month and the moon phases.
The hands are made
in blued aluminium.
Believe me this
is the JLC piece in 2008!
The true spirit
of Jaeger-LeCoultre: return to the spirit of the invention, design, historical background and experience! This
new iteration of the Atmos clock is a landmark in the Atmos history!
I hope you
loved it but please let me one!
Dje