ETERNITY UNDER GLASS
ATMOS HYBRIS ARTISTICA TELLURIUM BY MARC NEWSON
Following the creation of the Atmos Tellurium Calibre 590 in 2022, Jaeger-LeCoultre and the celebrated industrial designer Marc Newson team up to create a second edition of the most complex Atmos ever created. Housed within a set glass globe and produced in a limited edition of just three pieces.
OVERVIEW
ATMOS HYBRIS ARTISTICA TELLURIUM BY MARC NEWSON
DESIGN
CELESTIAL MECHANICS REIMAGINED BY MARC NEWSON
A true work of art, the Atmos Tellurium Calibre 590 by Marc Newson is a visual and technical tour de force that replicates the majesty of our corner of the galaxy with exceptional precision, in strikingly beautiful style.
539 BLUE SAPPHIRES STARS FOR 32 CARATS
Inspired by the beauty and mystery of the cosmos beyond Earth’s solar system, Marc Newson has designed a new cabinet for the Atmos Tellurium: a perfect globe of glass engraved with a map of the 64 constellations visible mainly in the Northern Hemisphere that is inset with 539 cabochon-cut sapphires representing the principal stars. A great deal of research and many iterations were required to achieve the illusion of “invisible setting”, with the gemstones inset directly into the external surface of the glass, with their rounded forms creating a subtle three-dimensional effect.
MARC NEWSON’S SIGNATURE
In his vision for the Atmos Tellurium, Marc Newson also wanted to make some design changes to the mechanism. Because the structure of an Atmos mechanism must be delicately and extremely precisely balanced to function correctly, this presented a great technical challenge that required long and close collaboration between the designer and the engineers of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s specialist Atmos team. Solutions were found that enabled a change in the design of the sun while maintaining the same centre of gravity and weight distribution, as well as a modification to the shape of the main calibre plate.
ETHEREAL DECORATIONS
Commensurate with the extraordinary complexity and technical sophistication of Calibre 590, the mechanism’s key components are highlighted with a variety of decorative finishes. The three-dimensional Earth is miniature-painted by hand in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Métiers Rares™ atelier to add depth and detail; laser engraving recreates the surface of the Moon and meteorite – a material that has literally fallen from space – is inlaid on the earth-moon ring. The heavenly objet d’art rests on a plate that is laser-engraved to reproduce the surface of the moon.
FUNCTIONS
THE CLOCK OF THE COSMOS
Calibre 590 is the most complicated Atmos movement ever created, reproducing the cycles of Earth, the Sun and Moon with great precision, in three-dimensional form. Jaeger-LeCoultre named this clock the Tellurium in homage to the three-dimensional mobiles of the same name invented during the Renaissance after Copernicus introduced his heliocentric model of the solar system.
A 390-YEAR TELLURIUM DISPLAY ACCURACY
The enamelled earth rotates on its axis in 24 hours, the length of one civil day, providing the day-night indication as it revolves. At the same time, the moon orbits this earth in one synodic month, revolving on its own axis to display its phases. Defined by one complete cycle of moon phases, an average synodic month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2 seconds in length. The earth-and-moon subdial orbits around the central sun, making a complete rotation in one year and indicating the seasons as it turns. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers have succeeded in establishing a cycle of 365.2466 days, which is so close to the 365.2425 days of the Gregorian calendar that it varies by only one day in 390 years, meaning that so long as the clock remains wound, the calendar will not need adjusting until the year 2416.
A 5,770-YEAR PRECISE MOON PHASE
As well as incorporating the functions of a tellurium, Calibre 590 adds displays for the corresponding months and seasons as well as a zodiacal calendar. As the Moon rotates, it reproduces its phases with exceptional precision, with a discrepancy of only one day every 5,770 years.
CALIBRE
THE CLOCK LIVING ON AIR
The Atmos mechanism is powered by tiny variations in ambient temperature, using no winding and no external energy source. A hermetically sealed gas capsule expands and contracts, transmitting this motion to wind the mainspring with extreme efficiency. A change of just 1°C can provide about 48 hours of running time. Its consumption is so low that 60 million Atmos clocks would use the same energy as a single 15-watt light bulb.
MOVEMENT
Heritage
A revolution in timekeeping
Thanks to a revolutionary mechanism invented by Jean-Léon Reutter in 1928 and brought to market by Jaeger-LeCoultre in the 1930s, the Atmos luxury clock lives on air. Its superb design has been reinvented and recrafted since its creation, elevating it to the rank of icon. Nicknamed the “President’s Clock”, the Atmos was the official gift of the Swiss Confederation.
