Jaeger LeCoultre Showcases the Marc Newson Designed Atmos 561 Clock

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
May 8th 2009 at 12:01PM

The Marc Newson designed Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos 561 clock is over a year past its initial announcement, but these items take a while from announcement to release. The Atmos clock has been an iconic piece of technology for Jaeger LeCoultre. I don't even fully understand how they work, but the principle is that changes in a room's atmosphere causes a portion of the clock to expand and retract. The changes in the atmosphere are deviations in the temperature. This ongoing movement of the expanding element helps to power the movement, almost perpetually. The Atmos clock has been around for over 80 years (since 1928).

While the standard designs of the Atmos clocks have always been pleasing, famous designer Marc Newson was brought aboard to help create what is essentially a retro themed piece. Typical of Newson's organic minimalist curves, the clock movement is housed in a large Baccarat crystal. New functions to the clock appear to be a month indicator as well as a moon phase indicator.

From a design perspective the Atmos 561 clock looks totally different than other models - if only because they traditionally used gold (maybe brass) tones as opposed to steel tones with lots of crystal. The look of the watch is attractive, with the face being legible. You might argue that the counter weights on the hands are too long, but they are there for purely visual reasons to help maintain a degree of symmetry in the design. Big news for the Atmos 561 clock was that it was recently showcased by Jaeger LeCoultre at the Salon del Mobile in Milan, with an exhibition dedicated to the Atmos clock, along with a presentation of the clock's development and history.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Jaeger LeCoultre Marc Newson Atmos Clock