In the late 1920s the young engineer Jean-Léon 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. For centuries, many scientists including Leonardo Da Vinci had experimented with the idea of Perpetual Motion - however, only Reutter eventually succeeded in transforming it into an actual working clock. His vision of a Perpetual Motion timepiece led him to produce a clock with a mechanism designed to consume the smallest possible amount of power to keep it running. His creation included a device powering the movement independently, using a substance which would react to the most sensitive changes in temperature and atmospheric conditions.

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 atmosphere or by the slightest changes in temperature, hence the name: "Atmos Clock". The first models, such as the present, were called Reutter Atmos I. Reutter's system was patented in 1928 and improved by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Since 1935, the company has been producing these highly popular timepieces in different styles.