| The Atmos Clock called, erroneously, the perpetual | | | | power it. On 27th. July 1935, Jaeger Le Coultre |
| motion clock, first saw the light of day in the early | | | | stepped in and developed the second design, Atmos 2. |
| seventeenth century. | | | | A word about how Jaeger Le Coultre came into being. |
| It's close to perpetual motion, but no cigar! It violates the | | | | The firm was originally started in 1833 by Antoine Le |
| Second Law of Thermodynamics, as well as the law | | | | Coultre. It took until 1903, however, that the company |
| of conservation of energy, since it fails to produce | | | | as we know it today was born. Edmund Jaeger, of |
| energy from nothing. Not only that, but these clocks do | | | | Paris, threw down the gauntlet and challenged the |
| require servicing, usually every 10 to 20 years. | | | | French watchmakers to produce pocket watches that |
| Perpetual motion would mean the negation of friction | | | | were wafer thin. Jacques-David Le Coultre, the |
| and any other element that might stop the clock, | | | | grandson of Antoine, took him up and did indeed make |
| meaning that there would never be the need for | | | | a superb pocket watch of tiny cross section. So the |
| service of any kind. | | | | partnership came into being. Now, they are situated in |
| There is an energy source, ethyl chloride gas, stored in | | | | the Valee de Joux, in the Swiss Jura Mountains. |
| the shape of a very powerful hollow spring, set in a | | | | Reutter spent a long time examining the movement of |
| large drum at the back of the clock. Just one degree | | | | the 400 day clock, and utilized the torsion pendulum |
| of temperature change has the effect of keeping the | | | | and suspension spring for his Atmos. This spring holds |
| clock running for two days. A plate covering this spring | | | | the heavy brass pendulum, considerably heavier than a |
| acts on another, much weaker spring, which in turn is | | | | 400 day, but the operation is very much the same. |
| connected to a chain attached to the mainspring. In this | | | | The bellows filled with ethyl chloride occasionally need |
| way the clock is kept wound. So whether the | | | | to be replaced. When they come from the material |
| temperature rises or falls, the difference will always | | | | house, they're bound tight with a thin steel strap. To |
| wind the clock. | | | | simply cut this strap and then expect to drop the |
| Cornelius Drebbel made such a timepiece for James | | | | bellows in place is an exercise fraught with despair. |
| the First of England, and also one for Rudolf the | | | | The best way of fitting them is to place them in the |
| Second of Bohemia. These clocks relied on | | | | freezing compartment of your refrigerator so that the |
| atmospheric pressure and temperature changes to | | | | bellows contract. The strap will simply fall off, and you |
| keep them wound. | | | | are then able to place the bellows in the drum and |
| The Enlightenment saw an experimental clock made in | | | | replace the back, which is a bayonet fitting. |
| 1760 by James Cox and Joseph Martin. This clock | | | | The movement itself is small, delicate and fully jewelled. |
| relied simply on atmospheric pressure. | | | | I do not recommend placing the little plates in an |
| It wasn't until 1928 that the first Atmos appeared as | | | | ultra-sonic cleaner. It's possible to shatter the jewels in |
| we know it today. Invented by a gentleman named | | | | this way. Wash the plates by hand in a good cleaning |
| Jean-Louis Reutter, it carries the unofficial name of | | | | solution and 'peg them out'- run pith wood through the |
| Atmos 0. This was followed by the Compagnie | | | | holes until they're clean. The pallet jewels should be |
| Generale de Radio, a French company, bringing out | | | | examined and scraped clean, again with wooden slips. |
| Atmos 1, using mercury and ammonia bellows to | | | | Never apply oil. |