diff --git a/components/mission-control.tsx b/components/mission-control.tsx
index d45cfba..03e874e 100644
--- a/components/mission-control.tsx
+++ b/components/mission-control.tsx
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ export function MissionControl() {
   const [activeTab, setActiveTab] = useState<string | null>(null)
   // #38 — admin DB CRUD overlay, opened from the header.
   const [adminOpen, setAdminOpen] = useState(false)
+  // #44 (v0.10.1) — true only after hydration: the banner clock must render '' in both SSR and the
+  // first client render, otherwise the prerendered (build-time) string desyncs at hydration.
+  const [hydrated, setHydrated] = useState(false)
 
   // #44 — the four mount fetches, extracted into a callback so the NEXT TURN button (5b) can
   // re-run them after /api/turn: a tick can change all four snapshots (the turn always; inventory
@@ -120,6 +123,9 @@ export function MissionControl() {
     return () => clearInterval(id)
   }, [])
 
+  // #44 (v0.10.1) — flip after hydration so the banner clock can start (SSR/first render both '').
+  useEffect(() => setHydrated(true), [])
+
   // #27 — restore the persisted tab once on mount (validated against TAB_IDS).
   useEffect(() => {
     const stored = window.localStorage.getItem(ACTIVE_TAB_KEY)
@@ -139,7 +145,9 @@ export function MissionControl() {
       .catch(() => {})
   }, [])
 
-  const timeStr = new Date().toLocaleTimeString('en-GB', { hour12: false })
+  // #44 (v0.10.1) — hydration-safe: '' until hydrated (SSR and first client render agree), then the
+  // live time on the 1s tick — no more build-time clock baked into the prerendered HTML.
+  const timeStr = hydrated ? new Date().toLocaleTimeString('en-GB', { hour12: false }) : ''
 
   // Slugs of the researched techs — drives the effective caps + build gates in the SHIP SYSTEMS
   // tab via the same pure helpers the API enforces (lib/game/tech.ts).