It’s time to rethink your perception of timepieces, because the MB&F Octopod tableclock is both quirky and amazing. Just take a look at this masterpiece:
MB&F clearly conceived the Octopod with octopuses and cephalopods in mind, as the name suggests. It stands on eight articulated legs, with a completely transparent spherical head. The clock itself seems inspired by the retro aesthetics of deep diving bathyspheres, with a touch of naval components.
How is the Clock Floating?
The first thing you’ll notice about the Octopod is that the clockwork mechanisms seem to be floating in water without any suspension or support. This illusion is created by using transparent glass to make the baseplate. This plate is further treated with a film of anti-reflective coating on both sides so that it’s virtually invisible. It’s much like the octopus, which uses camouflage as a way to evade predators.
Planed for Perfect Legibility
One other interesting feature of the Octopod is the fact that its transparent sphere is gimballed (technical term describing the pivoted support) like traditional ship chronometers. Such a tool has to maintain its plane despite the swaying of the ship, hence it’s gimballed only on one axis instead of two.
This means that no matter the height or elevation of the Octopod, it’s easy to rotate the bubble so that the you can display the time at the ideal plane for maximum legibility
