MILANESE MOMENT: Time stops for no one, and especially not Jaeger-LeCoultre, which has decamped to Milan’s Salone del Mobile shortly after showing at Watches and Wonders in Geneva.
While the brand’s Geneva show was all about watches, this one is about clocks, and specifically the Atmos, which launched in 1928, and is designed to tick for at least 1,000 years due to an energy-efficient, self-winding mechanism that’s powered by small changes in air temperature and pressure.
“Living on Air,” Jaeger-LeCoultre’s first major show at the Salone, opened this week and runs until Sunday at Villa Mozart.
Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre.
The show features 19 Atmos clocks that span more than nine decades.
There are also archival materials and technical drawings, and a watchmaker on site demonstrating how the innovative air mechanism works. A new limited-edition Atmos called Infinite Halo is also part of the show.
Visitors will be able to see how thermal energy is transformed into mechanical energy to power the movement. The clock contains a hermetically sealed, gas-filled capsule, which is connected to the drive spring by a membrane.
According to the brand, the slightest temperature variation changes the volume of the gas, causing the membrane to expand and contract — and wind the spring.
In the 1970s, Jaeger-LeCoultre began collaborating with leading designers and craftspeople to reinterpret the Atmos. Some of those designs are on display, including the series Atmos models created by Marc Newson as part of a longstanding collaboration that began in 2008.
Newson’s models on display include Atmos 561, Atmos 566 and Atmos Designer 568.
The makings of the Atmos clock.
Jérôme Lambert, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s chief executive officer, said in an interview that it was important for the brand to be present at the Salone.
“We switched off Geneva, and we switched on Milano,” said Lambert, adding that Jaeger-LeCoultre traveled to Italy “to showcase the future of fine watchmaking through another angle.
“This clock was invented in 1928 and is still completely unique. We’ve had the most amazing creators in world reinvent it,” he added.
In the same interview, Lambert recalled giving Queen Elizabeth II the special Millennial Atmos for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
“She was the only person who ever asked me, ‘What will you do in 1,000 years’ time when the dial is [obsolete]?’” said Lambert, who admitted during the interview that he really didn’t have a comeback to the question, but he understood where she was coming from.
“I guess that if you’re part of a monarchy with a very long history, you are always projecting into the far future,” he added.
