10,000 CHF
EARLY ATMOS, J. L. REUTTER PATENT Atmos, J.L. Reutter patent, "Pendule Perpetuelle", No. 310. Made circa 1930. Very fine and very rare, early, gilt brass, perpetual clock wound by changes in barometric pressure with early mercury in glass expansion device. Accompanied by an extract from the archives. Dial and movement signed. Notes HEIGHT 33 cm., WIDTH 20.5 cm., DEPTH 17 cm. The present ATMOS clock is a very early example with its movement driven by a mercury in glass expansion device rotating a cylinder which winds the mainspring by ratchet. In the late 1920s the young engineer Jean-Leon Reutter experimented with a clock which would not need direct mechanical or electrical intervention to keep it wound, a clock powered only by Perpetual Motion. His idea of a Perpetual Motion timepiece led him to make a clock with a mechanism designed to consume the smallest possible amount of power to keep it running. His design included a device powering the movement independently, using mercury - a substance which would react to the most sensitive changes in temperature and atmospheric conditions. Reutter developed a specially designed glass tube similar to that of a thermometer for the mercury and encased it all inside a metal cylinder, known as the Bellows. The result was an ingenious new clock unlike any other, past or present, a timepiece that would run independently and continuously, so incredibly sensitive that it could be rewound by the slightest fluctuations in the atmospher Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2008-11-09
