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.

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