Starfleet Explorer: Deep Space 9 on your clock
The Starfleet Explorer combines Star Trek with an exclusive clock design. The table clock, limited to 297 pieces, is inspired by the Deep Space 9 space station and proves that merchandising doesn't have to be kitsch.
The three vertical arcs on the outer end of the Deep Space 9 circle characterise the space station that gave the series its name. The Starfleet Explorer with the same three arcs, meanwhile, customises your desk.
Designed by Geneva-based design studio Maximilian Büsser and Friends, usually abbreviated MB&F, the Starfleet Explorer is made by L'Épée 1839 in Delémont.
Trekkies will enrich their homes with this object.
The last manufacturer of table clocks
L'Épée considers itself the last manufacturer of high-end table clocks in Switzerland. And the Starfleet Explorer should reflect that. The Explorer not only indicates the hours and minutes, it also features mechanical animation. Every five minutes, a fleet of three spaceships makes a revolution around the station.
According to its manufacturer, the Starfleet Explorer has a battery life of eight days and must be reassembled manually with a double key. But there the similarities with traditional clocks end. The Explorer does not have a minute hand, but rather a mobile saucer that pivots around the core of the station and displays the minutes. The number passing through the centre of a coloured element corresponds to the current minute.
The reading of the hours, on the other hand, remains more traditional. Indeed, a hand indicates the hours by pivoting in its place on a fixed disc in the middle of the station.
The resurrection of a mysterious object
The Starfleet Explorer marks the second collaboration between the Star Trek franchise and the duo MB&F-L'Épée. Back in 2014, they launched the Starfleet Machine, a clock inspired by Deep Space 9, available as an unlimited edition and costing 30,000 francs.
The Explorer, on the other hand, is being launched in three limited editions available in blue, green and red, of 99 pieces each. A Starfleet Explorer costs 10,700 francs.
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