Rado Watches

[HughiusMaximus]

Morning all,

Whats the general thinking around Rado watches?

I have an Omega speedmaster moon watch which I wear on a strap, but have always found my eye being drawn to Rado ceramic watches as something a bit different.

I would see it as a tougher daily wearer potentially to compliment the Omega.


I like the true range, some examples below.

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-diamonds...

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-diamonds...

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-r2705710...

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-r2705616...

Thoughts / observations appreciated please.

[deebs]

HughiusMaximus said:

Morning all,

Whats the general thinking around Rado watches?

I have an Omega speedmaster moon watch which I wear on a strap, but have always found my eye being drawn to Rado ceramic watches as something a bit different.

I would see it as a tougher daily wearer potentially to compliment the Omega.


I like the true range, some examples below.

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-diamonds...

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-diamonds...

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-r2705710...

https://www.rado.com/en_gb/true-automatic-r2705616...

Thoughts / observations appreciated please.

I have a true automatic (your third link), it was bought for me as a birthday gift from my partner 8 years ago. Prices have risen in that time as I think she paid around £1,200 back then.

Things I like
The design, personal thing but I like it. Nice clean watch face.
The size, I've not got big arms or wrists and the size of it really suits me.
Ive a few watches but it's had a lot of wrist time in the 8 years and it still looks good as new, seems to be robust.
I'm no expert but seems to me to keep good time

Things I don't
It's a butterfly clasp and the fit now isn't quite how I'd prefer it to be as I had to have half link added recently (no micro adjustment).
The crown is quite small/fiddly for my hands which only feels like an issue if you allow it to stop and then want to manually wind it to restart.

Overall very happy with it

[Trevor555]

The older ones are far better quality than the recent.

My daily is almost 20 years old now, and still looks great.

I bought a more modern Centrix a few years back and the strap soon showed scratches.

In disgust they that they're not as good as they used to be, I sold it.

If looking at the older ones, ensure it says "bracelet with high tech ceramics" on the back plate.

I recently picked up another off the bay, £360 for a mint diastar in black/gold.



The daily in silver

Edited by Trevor555 on Friday 7th July 09:28

[Geertsen]

My wife designed some promotional material for Rado and around the launch of the watches they invited us to Switzerland to visit the headquarters / factory and see the watches being made and see the prototypes. I know they were probably being extra nice because my wife was a guest but I did get an extremely good impression of the business, at every stage.

I personally prefer the watches with a matte finish rather than the high gloss examples but that is obviously just personal taste rather than anything else. I do quite like the watches with the skeleton dials too. I can’t think of many occasions where I have seen someone wearing a Rado watch in the UK. In fact the only example I can think of is that James May used to wear one on Top Gear.

[HughiusMaximus]

Thanks for the input all.

I'll see if I can try a few on at the weekend.

Is there any consensus on when the quality dropped off?
I'll probably look to buy second hand so it would be interesting to compare the options across the years.

[Trevor555]

HughiusMaximus said:

Thanks for the input all.

I'll see if I can try a few on at the weekend.

Is there any consensus on when the quality dropped off?
I'll probably look to buy second hand so it would be interesting to compare the options across the years.

Mrs has a Rado True bought in 2015 showing slight signs of wear, my Centrix, same time, quickly showed scratches on the clasp.

My wife's diastar from early 2000 still looking great, and she wears it quite a bit.

My silver diastar from 2005 still looks great, and worn that daily for many years, even valeting cars.

[deebs]

HughiusMaximus said:

Thanks for the input all.

I'll see if I can try a few on at the weekend.

Is there any consensus on when the quality dropped off?
I'll probably look to buy second hand so it would be interesting to compare the options across the years.

Probably not what you're looking for but I like the look of the captain Cook range

https://www.goldsmiths.co.uk/Rado-Captain-Cook-Bla...

[HughiusMaximus]

I saw it and its a good discount.

I’m after the ceramic look though.

Thanks though.

[RATATTAK]

I love my Rados ... I was given one in Saudi Arabia in 1983 and it's still as good as it was new; I bought one in Lanzarote late '90s and another from Watchfinder a few years ago. My wife's got a couple too. Great watches all of them.

[jdw100]

Looks huge in this photo, due to angle, but not as large in reality.

‘Rado original diver’ maybe 15 years old, could be a bit more.

Not a single scratch.

Quite unusual in terms of case shape, materials etc.

They have had some fantastic re-issue over the past few years.

The black ceramic ones put me in mind of Indian businessmen- they always seem to have one.

[RATATTAK]

One of mine

[Al Gorithum]

A wide choice if I may say so young man!

I have a couple of black ceramic Rado's which I really like. Functional, stylish and very hard-wearing.

[HughiusMaximus]

jdw100 said:

The black ceramic ones put me in mind of Indian businessmen- they always seem to have one.

Funnily enough I swung by goldsmith's today and had a look - the black one caught my eye much more than I thought it would.

It was just a bit more different than the standard ceramic.

Edited by HughiusMaximus on Saturday 8th July 17:22

[RATATTAK]

This is my favourite I think

[jdw100]

HughiusMaximus said:

jdw100 said:

The black ceramic ones put me in mind of Indian businessmen- they always seem to have one.

Funnily enough I swung by goldsmith's today and had a look - the black one caught my eye much more than I thought it would.

It was just a bit more different than the standard ceramic.

Edited by HughiusMaximus on Saturday 8th July 17:22

I hope your venture in Mumbai is going well.

[NDA]

I've always rather fancied the non diamond Ceramica - a very distinctive look and maybe a bit of a classic.

A bit more jewellery than watch maybe, but there's something appealing about them. A bit like the J12 in some respects.

[RATATTAK]

40 years old and still as good as new (well nearly)

[Trevor555]

RATATTAK said:

40 years old and still as good as new (well nearly)

I wish I'd taken some close up pictures of my Centrix I bought around 2015

After wearing it just a few times, it wasn't as good as new!!!

[Aston Traveller]

Geertsen said:

I can’t think of many occasions where I have seen someone wearing a Rado watch in the UK. In fact the only example I can think of is that James May used to wear one on Top Gear.

Andy Murray the tennis player used to wear and promote Rado. Not sure if he still does though.

[x5tuu]

RATATTAK said:

This is my favourite I think

I used to have that model. The first ex-wife smashed it up whej we split though. Shame as it was lovely.

I have a vintage Rado automatic day/date that I rarely wear but absolutely love (but it is small). I only paid about £25 for it of eBay IIRC too!