Mapsets
Standard vs. Premium, Topographical vs. Geopolitical. What's the deal?
Geochron has stopped processing new mechanical repair or upgrade orders as of January 2023. For more details, click here.
There are three maps in every Geochron
The Geochron’s mapset has three maps spliced together in a six feet loops that winds through the clock.
Until 2015, the Geochron had only been built around a Geopolitical map spliced together. Now, every restoration and new clock has a combination mapset as shown above. Every third day, the clock will display a topographical mapset.
The Topographical mapset shows the earth like “view from the sky”. Indeed, the satellite imagery composited into an entire map of the world is stunning. Compared to the human view, this is the Earth of the last 10,000 years, with several dozen large cities shown for reference. The muted contours of the ocean bottom are visible too in this map.
Our premium mapsets combine the contours of the ocean with the topography or geopolitical details of the land, and are several orders of magnitude deeper in color and depth.
All maps show:
- The precise time zone lines
- Major longitudes: the Prime Meridian (Greenwich)
- Major latitudes: Equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn
- Topographical reliefs of the land.
- A Mercator Projection
Standard mapsets were the norm
for 50 years, and were run on huge multi-color offset printers. Geochron began experimenting with newer printing technology in Limited Edition clocks. The results were fantastic and more expensive, but worth it.
Photographic mapsets are a dramatic upgrade
Geochron now only uses the premium mapset for all clocks. It comes with an updated world map that combines the ocean topography with the land. Deep blue ocean trenches contrast with the deserts and mountains of our geopolitical map, with greater depth and color than ever before. They are printed on dye sublimated Lexan, cured by laser lightwave, and developed in a dark room with a six foot bath. It is the best print available for projects that are backlit by LED lights, like ours.
Premium Mapsets are installed in all restorations, and new clocks with wood, steel, or stainless panels.
Standard Geographical mapsets are no longer available, but are displayed above for reference.