Rado

Rado is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer that was founded in 1917 under the name Schlup & Co. by brothers Fritz, Ernst, and Werner Schlup. Although the company originally specialized in the production of watch movements, it became its own timepiece brand called “Rado” in 1957, with the name of the company meaning “wheel” in Esperanto. Today, some of the brand’s most famous watches include its Captain Cook, HyperChrome, and True, DiaMaster, True Thinline, Integral, Florence Classic, and Centrix Collections. In addition to creating watches crafted from metals such as stainless steel and bronze, Rado also produces a significant portion of its lineup in ceramic and has been a pioneer in advanced materials for many years. Since 1998, Rado has been a proud member of the Swatch Group, alongside many of the other most prestigious Swiss luxury watch bands within the industry.

Rado has been an industry leader in ceramic watch cases since the 1980s with the Rado Ceramica, which was the first watch in the world to have a case, bracelet, and crown all made entirely from high-tech ceramic. Today, the material continues to play a major role throughout the brand's contemporary lineup, with a number of different vibrant colors of ceramic now available within its True Thinline collection of watches. The brand was originally attracted to this ultra-hard and high-tech material due to its lightweight nature, highly scratch-resistant finish, and hypoallergenic properties, and today Rado has become a pioneer in the advanced case material, able to produce watches and solid link bracelets in vivid colors to suit a wide variety of different tastes and preferences. Additionally, the company offers models with both quartz and automatic mechanical movements, and many of the brand’s designs are celebrated for their ultra-thin and highly comfortable designs that are intended to blend effortlessly into your wrist and slip under the sleeve of a shirt.

In addition to being a pioneer in watchmaking materials, Rado is also a longstanding presence within the world of tennis and has supported the sport for more than three decades. The brand sponsors a number of top players and events each year, in addition to having its own roster of other brand ambassadors, including actors, athletes, and artists. While many of Rado’s watches are thoroughly modern timepieces, the brand also embraces its heritage with certain vintage-inspired models like the Captain Cook and DiaStar lines of watches that reimagine historic designs from the company’s archives. While the Captain Cook range offers what could best be described as a dive watch platform with a rotating bezel and large luminous hands and hour markers, the DiaStar offers a funky retro cushion-shaped case that looks unlike anything else in the brand’s modern lineup.

For watch enthusiasts, many of the most popular Rado models will be within its Captain Cook and True Thinline collections, with each one appealing to a significantly different type of buyer, depending on whether they are looking for a modern or retro-themed timepiece.