Written in the stars a limited edition pen inspired by space travel

The rocket-shaped Caran d’Ache Astrograph is ready for liftoff

“I was only two years old when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, but it’s something that has stayed with all of us who were born in the 1960s,” says Maximilian Büsser of his childhood dreams of space travel. The Swiss-Indian founder of boutique watch brand MB&F has since returned to those dreams in a limited edition collaboration with Geneva-based Caran d’Ache, whose pens have already been 400km above earth, on board the International Space Station.

The pen is available in three finishes, including sandblasted matt rhodium

Having taken four years to design, the Caran d’Ache Astrograph (£19,950, limited to 297) is now primed and ready to land on a small number of desks on planet earth. It features 99 components, takes more than 500 manual operations to produce and comes in three finishes (99 available in each finish) – high-gloss rhodium, sandblasted matt rhodium or ruthenium anthracite – each numbered in an elegant script.

A miniature astronaut can be attached to the body

Rocket-shaped, it also has its own launch pad and a silver and rhodium-plated magnetised astronaut figure that attaches to any part of the body of the set.