Some people are really into watches. It seems to be a big thing with guys. I’ve never been much of a fan but after seeing the RADO watches the Swatch Group Canada Media Preview in the spring. I had seen pictures of the watches before the preview. I liked the look of them and that turned to love when I was able to touch and try one the pieces. They are very sleek and remind me of a bracelet more than a watch. What really gets me is that they are made out of ceramic.

In the mid-1980s, Rado engineers discovered a substance that fulfilled all these requirements, but had not been used in the watch industry before: high-tech ceramics. Extremely resistant, it had been applied in medicine, Formula-1 motor racing, and on the heat shield that enabled the Space Shuttle’s re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. Our pioneering application of this material led to the iconic Rado Ceramica watch….The raw material is ultra-fine zirconium-oxide or titaniumcarbide powder with a grain size of about 1/1000th mm, approximately one fiftieth of the diameter of a human hair. The pre-shaped forms are heated in a special furnace at a temperature of 1,450ºC. This process is known as “sintering” and results in the full density and absolute hardness of all high-tech ceramic elements. Depending on the surface desired, the individual elements are polished, given a satin finish or further decorated. The powder is homogenized and granulated. A process known as Ceramics Injection Molding (CIM) enables us to produce well-defined and highly complex shapes, such as case or bracelet elements.(source)

Pictured is the standard black version and the platinum version that was released this summer. RADO isn’t cheap (surprise, surprise) and these watched range from $3500 – $5500. I’m amazed that people wear watches this expensive but that’s only because I tend to lose them. RADO is available all across Canada at various retailers, please check the Rado site for locations.

images: courtesy of RADO