5 photos
One of the best-selling watch brands in Europe, RADO has never quite taken hold in America; perhaps it’s the New World preference for chunkier sports watches or maybe it’s the brand’s dealer network here that favors department stores. When many people think of RADO, the image is of a sleek rectangular watch with an integrated bracelet, perhaps something one of the bad guys in Miami Vice would have worn. But like any stereotype, this narrow image overlooks a lot.
MORE TIME ON OUR HANDS: Chronograph Shootout | Bell & Ross BR 126 Sport | Maurice Lacroix Pontos S
RADO’s expertise is primarily in case materials and avant garde designs, and in fact RADO was one of the first watch companies to make use of ceramic for a virtually scratchproof case, decades before the ceramic boom we’re seeing nowadays. Beyond the shiny dress watches familiar to most, RADO’s DiaStar line was a watch design milestone, albeit one established in the 1970s, with its lug-less design and Darth Vader helmet aesthetics.
RADO’s history considered, it was a surprise when the brand unveiled its D-Star collection of dive watches, a departure from the brand’s typical design language that captures the retro appeal so popular in sports watches these days. If the best dive watches tell a story or transport us to a different place, then the D-Star 200 Chronograph ($4,300), with its cool steel case and shimmering blue dial, conjures images of perhaps a teak-decked yacht, the Mediterranean, a cocktail in hand and boat shoes on the feet. This is a watch that does retro right.
Tick List
