Expertise carefully refined over the decades; a thirst for innovation; a philosophy based on high standards: all of the Houses united in crafting the Atmos Hermès clock share the same values, including, first and foremost, a vision of time inextricably bound up with hand workmanship often referred to by the French word “bienfacture” and best translated as fine craftsmanship.

The astonishing crystal sphere thus houses a unique, almost perpetually moving mechanism developed by the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre. Since 1928, the mechanism of the Atmos clock fascinates by its exceptional mode of operation with no battery, no electric current and no winding.

Atmos Clock by Hermès & Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre / Left: Front & Right: Back

It lives on air by means of an ingenious principle: a hermetically sealed capsule containing a mixture of gases that expands when the temperature rises and contracts when it drops. Connected to the mainspring of the clock, the capsule acts like a concertina or a pair of bellows, thereby constantly winding the mechanism. It is so sensitive that a one-degree temperature difference is enough to power it for 48 hours.

Its balance oscillates just twice a minute rather than the average 300 times of a classic wristwatch, which consumes 250 times more energy than an Atmos clock. The 190 parts that compose this clever construction are precision-assembled within the Manufacture.

Pursuing this demanding hand-crafted approach, Hermès entrusted Les Cristalleries de Saint-Louis glassmakers with creating the astonishing exterior of this clock: a crystal globe made using the so-called doublé or double overlay technique, which consists in coating layers of glass over each other, including a coloured one. Within the company, only six master glassmakers have the mastery and experience required to perform this task.

Source: Jaeger-LeCoultre