(Bloomberg) -- Jaeger-LeCoultre's Atmos clock, created by Swiss inventor Jean-Léon Reutter in 1928, has always felt like a piece of alien technology. A brilliant feat of engineering, it uses nothing more than atmospheric pressure to keep itself running.
“You don't have to wind it. You don't have to shake it. It just is,” says James Landin, founder of the vintage watch vendor Analog/Shift.
Small fluctuations in temperature charge the clock; a shift of only one degree hotter or colder can keep it going for 48 hours. This fall, Jaeger-LeCoultre released the Atmos 568, the third version by renowned industrial designer Marc Newson. For this iteration, Newson stripped away the retro Art Deco trappings and housed the stunning openworked movement in a bubble of Baccarat crystal. The high-end transparency shows the ingenious workings of all of the clock's 211 pieces, and the time will remain accurate to the day for almost 4,000 years—long enough to qualify as science fiction. $28,000
To contact the author of this story: Chris Rovzar in New York at crovzar@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gaddy at jgaddy@bloomberg.net.
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