Press release
The exhibition retraced the various stages in the long history of this extraordinary mechanical masterpiece.
Atmos, the clock that famously “lives on air,” celebrated its 80th anniversary last year. In 1928, the engineer Jean-Léon Reutter fine-tuned a mechanism that does not require any kind of energy source in order to function. In fact, the clock's movement draws continuous energy from variations in temperature and thus comes miraculously close to the myth of perpetual motion. The exhibition, was set up within the Triennale during the Salone del Mobile and retraced some of the phases that have marked the history of the Atmos: 80 years of design devoted to a timeless watchmaking movement.
The Atmos 561, designed by Marc Newson for Jaeger-LeCoultre, took centre stage in the exhibition. Encased in magnificent Baccarat crystal, its rounded cubic design recalls the characteristic shapes of the 1950s.
