| Author | Message | ||
     Graybear4539 New member Username: Graybear4539 Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2007 Rating: N/A |
this surprises me a bit, but I'm, of course, not an expert (on ebay number 180161719057). do you kindly have any remarks about ? redgards | ||
| Martyw New member Username: Martyw Post Number: 54 Registered: 07-2007 Rating: N/A |
I am not an expert too, but that Atmos looks legit to me. Yes, someone could have completely stripped down an old beat-up gold-plated Atmos and replated it in Rhodium, but from the pictures, you can see even down to the last details (like very small silver colored screws, all springs, all the Cotes de Geneve and parlage decorated pieces) were in Rhodium. Not a least bit of gold colored trace. That makes me think this is indeed a very rare model came directly from the factory, or else someone had spent days if not months and did a very fine job. Also, the dial matches the rest of the clock. Yes, it is very easy to swap out the dial, but where can you find this particular dial? It is indeed very rare. The extremely low serial number also seems to be reasonable, and you can see the movement F/S adjust on top was the old style of a knob, rather than lever in the later models. My guess is the final price on this will be north of $2K. Actually, with the low serial number and the rarity of the Rhodium model, I will even second guess it will go over $4K. | ||
| Graybear4539 New member Username: Graybear4539 Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2007 Rating: N/A |
I take your opinion and thank you for your kindness. You know, what suprised me was, first of all, the dial  I was expecting a "SWISS" below '6', not absolutely the "ATMOS" and the "pendule perpetuelle" and the movement itself looked to me a bit too raw  moreover without even a "LeCoutre" on it and with the very low serial in a strange position. Thanks again & kindest regards | ||
| Gatorcpa New member Username: Gatorcpa Post Number: 54 Registered: 11-2006 Rating: N/A |
I'm not expert either, but I agree with MartyW. JLC/LeCoultre did not mark all dials with their name. On occasion, special editions of the Atmos (their trademark, I believe) were made for other retailers, like Cartier and Turler. This looks like one of them. Also, I've seen early models where "Jaeger-LeCoultre" is engraved near the bubble level on the base. Take care, gatorcpa | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2807 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
JLC (or LC) bought the rights to the Atmos at some point. There is a period of time where it was sold as just "Atmos" by it's inventor J.L. Reutter. This must be a fairly early LC example or a very leate J.L. Reutter example. Which, I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment. | ||
| Thropr New member Username: Thropr Post Number: 9 Registered: 06-2007 Rating: N/A |
I've also seen on of these clocks signed "Smiths" on the dial. Smiths being a now defunct British watchmaker, still making scientific and aeronautical instuments. JLC enthusiats might have noticed that some ebay sellers sometimes market the better Smiths watches as having JLC or JLC inspired movements. Does anyone know anything about the Smiths -JLC link, if there was one? | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2808 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
There was a link between Smiths & JLC, something along the order of the head of Smiths movement design knew the head of the JLC movement design and they sued to chat over the phone. Though they do look similar in some aspects, the Smiths movements are pretty crude. |