To convert this small amount of energy into motion, everything inside the Atmos naturally has to work as smoothly and quietly as possible. This motion constantly winds the mainspring, a variation in temperature of only one degree in the range between 15 and 30 degrees centigrade being sufficient for two days' operation. The technical principle is a beguiling one: inside a hermetically sealed capsule is a mixture of gas and liquid (ethyl chloride) which expands as the temperature rises and contracts as it falls, making the capsule move like a concertina. And to perfect it to such a degree that the Atmos practically achieved perpetual motion. But it took the Jaeger-LeCoultre workshop a few more years to convert this idea into a technical form that could be patented. In 1928 a Neuchatel engineer called Jean-Leon Reutter built a clock driven quite literally by air.
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