VIDEO: The Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection delivers a skeletonised update

Nick Kenyon

How do you update a classic? It’s a problem that many designers face, whether they work in the watch industry, automotives or product design. How do you retain the original idea behind a design and still bring it forward into the here and now?

This is a question that the Rado Captain Cook designers must have faced, after reissuing a dive watch design from the 1960s and launching it in Baselworld in 2017. Understandably, this has been a very successful collection for the brand, with a number of different expressions released over the years. So how have they modernised the design? They’ve done what only Rado could do to a historically inspired dive watch and blended it with their contemporary expertise in ceramics. Say hello to the new Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection.

We focused on three references from the collection that all feature 43mm high-tech ceramic cases, one of which has a full black ceramic and steel bezel, another with rose-gold tone steel highlights and the third that has a matte plasma finishing and blue highlights.

The entire collection features tinted sapphire crystal dials that allow a full view of the movement through a smoky toned lens, which is another first for the Rado Captain Cook collection. The visible caliber is the Rado 734, which features Nivachron components, 80 hours of power reserve and doesn’t include a date to maintain the symmetry of the dial.

It’s a big step forward for the Rado Captain Cook collection and is one that makes total sense when you consider the early dive watch history of Rado and their expertise in producing ceramics. The new High-Tech Ceramic collection cleverly combines a futuristic aesthetic with a design whose origins remain firmly in the 1960s, while being an interesting new offering from the brand in what will very likely be a popular collection.

Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection price and availability:

The Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection is $5,750AUD in black, $5,925AUD with rose gold highlights and $6,075AUD in blue with matte plasma finishing. For more details, visit Rado right here.

Made in partnership with Rado. However, the opinions expressed in this article are our own in accordance with our Editorial Policy.