The height of the tennis season brings challenges on the courts.
Since 1985, Rado has witnessed the evolution of the riveting game of tennis as the official timekeeper of ATP and WTA tournaments. The rules may have been first formalised in 1875 by the All England Croquet Club, but the game itself has evolved from the days of wooden-framed racquets to the high-tech materials for the frame and the string they are made of today.
Celebrating Rado’s 40 years of love affair with tennis, Rado has unveiled the latest commemorative timepiece, the Captain Cook x Tennis limited edition to kickstart the tennis season, especially their affiliated tournaments around Europe and US and the their ambassadors of the tennis world, Ash Barty, Barbora Krejcikova, Cameron Norrie and a slew of next generation of Rado youngstars.
The reinvention of the 1962 Captain Cook is the ideal choice for this celebration, which honours both the old and the new. The two elements, along with a few other details, make it not only contemporary but also spark curiosity. Moving away from its usual design and adopting a more retrospective approach, the case and bracelet of the Captain Cook x Tennis are milled from blocks and sheets of stainless steel, finished with mirror-polished and brush-polished surfaces to create an elegant yet sporty contrast. The vintage aesthetic is strongly complemented by current trends, with the monochromatic grey tone starting with the dark grey ceramic insert with circular brushed plasma, designed to prevent oxidation on a polished stainless steel base.
The dial is coated with a gradient of grey ruthenium from the flange to the contrasting white centre, suggesting a new level of sophistication. It is then adorned with appliqué rectangular and arrow indices in steel filled with SuperLumiNova. Centrally, the arrowhead hour and sword minute hands are rhodium-plated and filled with SuperLumiNova, alongside a green luminous-tip arrowhead seconds hand. Green luminous dots at the three, six, eight, and twelve o’clock positions serve two purposes: the fluorescent green for visibility, similar to tennis balls, and to indicate the tennis scoring. Both features pay homage to one of the world’s favourite elitist competitive sports.
The Rado Captain Cook x Tennis is powered by the automatic Calibre R763, which has an 80-hour power reserve. Another high-tech feature deployed in the escapement is the antimagnetic Nivachron hairspring, which makes it far more accurate than ever. The caseback is decorated with three different texture embossments, signifying the three types of courts - grass, clay and hard on which the tennis tournaments are played. To highlight the uniqueness of this limited edition. The watch also comes with a seven-link steel EasyClip bracelet when it means business and three additional textile NATO straps, in blue and white, green and white, and orange and white for the matches on the weekends.
A vintage classic with modern aesthetics and the use of high technology from inside out, Rado Captain Cook x Tennis is one powerful and persuasive wristwatch to have if you consider yourself a tennis fan. Even if you don’t, it’s one handsome wrist to adorn our wrist.
