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| Rado Watches |
Featuring watch cases made of hard metal and ceramic in distinct designs, Rado has been able to capture a special position for itself on the watch scene. Rado has discovered the trick of utilizing unusual case materials and remarkable model designs to create unmistakable wristwatches.
The history of the brand began in the year 1957 when the first watches bearing the name Rado were produced. The cornerstone for its international success story was, however, laid by Rado in 1962. At that time, the Swiss watch company surprised the world with a revolutionary invention: The Rado DiaStar, the first truly scratch-resistant watch ever, sporting a case made of sintered tungsten carbide.
In 1985 the parent company, Swatch Group, decided to utilize Rado's know-how and its extensive experience in developing materials. From then on the brand at home in Lengnau, Switzerland, intensified its research activities and continued to produce only watches with extremely hard cases.
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Although the DiaStar case was manufactured by mixing tungsten or titanium carbide powder with a binding agent, subjecting it to pressure equal to 1000 bar, and sintering it at 1,4500 C, modern Rado models are made of ceramic. This is the same type of material that serves the space shuttle as heat protection, that keeps modern water faucets functioning perfectly, and without which bone surgery would be unthinkable.
When they began producing ceramic cases, the watch brand's engineers, who have already presented the brand with more than thirty patents for material development, had to break new ground, once again filling the role of industry pioneer.
Various powders, already mixed together with binding agents and additives to later create the desired color, are pressed into molds to make the cases, then they are fired and finally polished with diamond powder.
The v1 Ok model, presented in 2002, represents the first serial watch to ever be presented with a diamond surface. The enigmatic name v10k reminds one of a formula and is simultaneously the identification for the hardness of its surface, 10 KiloVickers, or 10,000 Vickers. It doesn't get any harder than this.
Within the Swatch Group, Rado is the most successful individual brand in the upper price segment. The watches, whose ultra-hard, high¬gloss cases in characteristic design have become their own trademark, are distributed worldwide at more than 8,000 points of sale.
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Rado Watch Co. Ltd.
Bielstrasse 45
2543 Lengnau
Switzerland
Phone +41 32 655 61 11
Fax +41 32 655 61 12
www.rado.ch
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