I Need My Head Examining

That is very interesting, Peter..... I didn't know changes in temperature could provide power to run devices!

Pretty brilliant!
 
It is very unique. I can only quote Wikipedia for the explanation of the works:
Atmos is the brand name of a mechanical clock manufactured by Jaeger LeCoultre in Switzerland which doesn't need to be wound up. It gets the energy it needs to run from small temperature changes in the environment, and can run for years without human intervention.

Its power source is a hermetically sealed capsule containing a mixture of gas and liquid ethyl chloride, which expands into an expansion chamber as the temperature rises, compressing a spiral spring; with a fall in temperature the gas condenses and the spring slackens. This motion constantly winds the mainspring. A variation in temperature of only one degree in the range between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius is sufficient for two days' operation.

In order to run the clock on this small amount of energy, everything inside the Atmos has to work in as friction-free a manner as possible. For timekeeping it uses a torsion pendulum, which consumes less energy than an ordinary pendulum. The torsion pendulum executes only two torsional oscillations per minute, which is 60 times slower that the pendulum in a conventional clock.

History
Experimental clocks powered by atmospheric pressure and temperature changes were invented during the Enlightenment. An early example is Cox's timepiece, a clock developed in the 1760s by James Cox and John Joseph Merlin. The oldest predecessor still running today is the 1864 Beverly Clock.
The first Atmos clock was designed by Jean-Léon Reutter, an engineer in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 1928. This noncommercial prototype, which predated the Atmos name but is now known unofficially as Atmos 0, was driven by a mercury-in-glass expansion device. The mechanism operated on temperature changes alone.
On June 1, 1929, Compagnie Générale de Radio (CGR) in France began manufacturing the first commercial model, Atmos 1, which used a mercury and ammonia bellows power source. On July 27, 1935 Jaeger LeCoultre took over production of Atmos 1 while it developed a second design which used the present ethyl chloride power source. This model, later named the Atmos 2, was announced January 15, 1936, but problems delayed full production until mid 1939.
Also see THIS article for diagrams showing how it works.
 
If you think that's ingenious, look what they've done in their latest watch the "Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2".... The watchcrafters art is fascinating.
http://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/reverso-gyrotourbillon-2/en/

I'm not even going to research the price.

Movement:
  • mechanical manually-wound Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 174, crafted, assembled and decorated by hand
  • 50-hour power reserve
  • 371 parts
  • 58 jewels
  • 11.25 mm thick
Spherical tourbillon:
  • outer carriage: aluminium, 60 seconds for a complete rotation
  • inner carriage: 18.75 seconds for a complete rotation
  • balance: inertia = 12,5 mg.cm2, 28,800 vibrations per hour
  • 100 parts
Functions:
  • Front: hour, minute, seconds indication on the carriage of the spherical tourbillon, 24 hours
  • Back: power reserve
Dial:
  • transparent mineral glass with Reverso numerals
Hands:
  • baton-shaped in blued steel
Crowns:
  • 1 white gold crown for winding and time-setting
Case:
  • 950 platinum
  • reversible, comprising over 50 parts
  • 36 x 55 mm x 15.8 mm
  • security bolt preventing accidental case opening
  • transparent glareproofed sapphire crystals front and back
  • water-resistant to 30 metres
Strap:
  • alligator leather with white gold folding clasp
Reference:
  • 233 64 20, limited series of 75
 
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It's still getting serviced Peter???, ok! let's hope he didn't clutter the torsion pendulum or break the glass of the mercury expansion device...but i suspect it's a very fragile piece mechanically and would take hours and hours to calibrate perfectly. Send us a nice pic when you get it Peter, i'm interested...
 
Well I know for a fact that servicing one of those clocks takes 6-8 weeks, but they haven't even called with an estimate yet...that's what's bugging me. It's around the 3-week mark already. I never used that shop before so maybe it's normal for them and they are 1 of only 2 possible places that service that clock in Toronto.
I was always taught to communicate, even if it was bad news, communicate anyway. Obviously that's not their forte.
 
Holy Shirpin'...thx for posting that Peter...made my Monday so freakin sexy!!! Amazing and one of the best looking piece i've seen.

Calibre 174 ??? 58 Jewels....Must be way more than 5k??? (my guess) That's just mind-blowing...and Reverso Gyrotourbillon...what a tag for a watch. Even the name is sassy...ok! as of today my official goal in life is to own a Reverso Gyrotourbillon period...other goals are just retarted time wasters...
 
Strap:
  • alligator leather with white gold folding clasp
isn't killing alligators illegal????
but seriously once you pass a specific marker for watches not clocks it becomes ridiculous were are you going to wear a $10,000 watch in the end its going to sit under a 12 in. thick sheet of bullet proof glass and just sit there
the most expensive watch i ever purchased was worth 450 s.r. (around $115)

but if your rich why not indulge yourself and if you're going to indulge yourself indulge in one of thew previous items it says something

but the most expensive clock is probably big ben heheee
 
In Florida it's illegal I believe, but not everywhere. They aren't exactly an endangered species. My mother used to have a crocodile handbag, shoes and matching luggage if I recall, would be worth a fortune these days.
Big Ben...? God knows how much the clock cost...don't forget that Big Ben is actually the bell that strikes on the hour, so who knows...???!!!

Yes, I know...two different reptiles.
 
whats two different reptiles
besides big ben is the name of the tower the clock is called something else
and the largest clock is either in Turkey or Russia most likely Turkey
 
whats two different reptiles
alligators and crocodiles
besides big ben is the name of the tower the clock is called something else
Big Ben's the bell that tolls the hour I think
and the largest clock is either in Turkey or Russia most likely Turkey
I have no idea.

Addendum:

Excerpts from Wikipedia's Big Ben reference:
The Clock Tower is the world's biggest four-faced, chiming clock. The structure is situated at the north-eastern end of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. It is often colloquially referred to as Big Ben, which is actually the nickname of the main bell housed within the tower (formally known as the Great Bell)
and
The clock faces are large enough to have once allowed the Clock Tower to be the largest four-faced clock in the world, but have since been outdone by the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The builders of the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower did not add chimes to the clock, so the Great Clock of Westminster still holds the title of the "world's largest four-faced chiming clock". The clock mechanism itself was completed by 1854, but the tower was not fully constructed until four years later, in 1858.
 
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Obviously Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock, but it's not a certified swiss chronometer and therefore is not worth much on the market and is unsellable...must be appointed by her majesty to, and as a unestimable value as a historical landmark.
 
Not sure anyone would want to buy such a monstrosity. Wouldn't fit on a mantelshelf let alone my wrist....LOL
 
The Houses of Parliament are actually correctly called The Palace of Westminster (previously a London Royal Palace, long before Buckingham House (the residence of the Duke of Buckingham), became a Palace). The pointy tower on the northern end is correctly called the Clock Tower, and the one on the other end is Victoria Tower.
Big Ben is the nickname of the "The Great Bell" in the the Houses of Parliament. The bell was cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1858, and is said to have been given the name after Benjamin Hall, who was the Commissioner of Works at the time. The bell strikes the note E.

Nevertheless, just about everybody on the planet calls the tower, the clock and the bell Big Ben, and that includes the English too.

The chimes of the bell are famous around the world, and it is the bell of Big Ben that is broadcast on New Year's Eve, marking the start of the new year in Universal Time or GMT.

Sorry Milwaukee, but it's still the largest 4 faced clock in the world, because a "clock" (after the french cloche) is technically a chiming device, derived from the habit of marking time in religious institutions with bells. The earliest mechanical clocks had no face, they just struck the hours and quarters.

Anything that tells the time with a face, and has no chiming mechanism, is not a clock, it's a timepiece.
 
Hey Terry.

Why don't you edit that entry in Wikipedia then? I did some editing of my own there, on a different subject, a while back.

Wouldn't be the first time someone from the US has re-written history which needs correction.
 
I did once edit a Wiki entry which incorrectly said my ATi AIW card had an analogue tuner (it's hybrid analogue/digital), but I don't want to upset Milwaukee by starting a p*ss*ng match about who's got the biggest.
It's only semantics anyway.
btw I enjoyed the Video link about the watch. I love precision engineering like that, and admire the attitude that tries to attain perfection in any sphere of effort, but I don't think I'd wear it even if I had Bill Gates's money to afford it. I think I'd prefer a plain looking watch with that movement discretely hidden anonymously inside.
It smacks a bit of wearing designer labels on the outside of your clothes, or putting "go faster" stripes on your car.
 
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