On the occasion of the next Online Only Jewels and Watches auction, starting this Thursday November 12th, PIASA has the privilege of offering for sale an exceptional model of the iconic Atmos clock, invented in 1928 by Jaeger Lecoultre.
For the 80th anniversary of the model in 2008, the Australian designer Marc Newson has reinterpreted the house classic, making this high-precision object a designer collector's item. Inspired by the pure lines of the historic model, the designer has broken with the lines and created an unprecedented Baccarat crystal clock: the Atmos 561, of which only 888 pieces have been produced. Each piece is signed, numbered and packaged in a custom-made and represents a true technical feat.
JAEGER-LECOULTRE
ATMOS 561 Edition Marc Newson
Estimate : 15 000 / 20 000 €
The principle of the mechanism of this high-precision watchmaking clock developed by Jaeger Lecoultre is unique: in a hermetically sealed capsule is a gaseous mixture that expands when the temperature rises and contracts when it falls. A temperature fluctuation of just one degree in a temperate climate of between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius is enough to ensure that the clock will run for approximately 2 days. The special characteristic of the Atmos is that after 3,822 years of operation it shows only one day's difference.
Marc Newson inspecting a prototype of the Atmos 561 and 566. (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
Marc Newson is one of the best known designers of his generation. He has worked on numerous projects always mixing technicality and purity of form, and is particularly well known to the general public for his numerous collaborations, notably with Apple, and for his furniture and objects with immediately recognisable shapes that set record prices at auctions. Naturally, the mechanism of the Atmos clock has always fascinated the Australian designer, who wished to highlight it here with lightness, simplicity and transparency.
Marc Newson and the Jaeger Lecoultre team inspecting a prototype of the Atmos 561. (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
After months of research, the designer studied many previous Atmos mechanisms in order to achieve this result. He modified most of the visible elements including: the hands, the dial, the incrementation, the cabinet, the counterweight spring, the base, the general structure and the structure of the movement. The entire design is simplified thanks to his research but also to the genuine technical feat developed by the teams at Jaeger Lecoultre and the Baccarat crystal factory. Indeed, the case in blown Baccarat crystal with a rounded cube shape was extremely difficult to make: "When you blow crystal into a square-shaped mould, you get an awkward thickness in the corners. I had always expected a certain degree of refraction of this kind, but I didn't want too much: everything had to remain perfectly discernible. We did a lot of trial and error, a lot of parts were blown - and recycled each time - to achieve perfection".
Sketch by Marc Newson for Atmos models 561 and 566. (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
Resulting from an unprecedented collaboration, the movement of the Atmos 561 looks as if it were captured in a capsule, as if it were out of time and in the air. After 80 years of existence, this Jaeger Lecoultre classic has once again become the object of all covetousness.
“I was thrilled to have been asked to design an Atmos because it is a timepiece that I have loved since I first saw one when I was in my early teens. An Atmos for me is a complex and magical object, it seemingly runs on perpetual motion or the closest thing to it and it needs a constant environment to function in. It is as if it is a living thing – you have the feeling that it can sense your presence – which I find strangely comforting.” 1
1Citation by Marc Newson
Bibliography :
Alison Castle, Marc Newson : Works, Taschen, 2012, pages 358 à 364.
