Marcus Hanke[PuristSPro Moderator]
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PuristSPro report: Rado at Baselworld 2014
Apr 13, 2014,04:33 AM
ii
Rado novelties at Basel 2014
reported by Marcus Hanke
Rado
is traditionally concentrating more on high technology case materials
than on movement innovations. However, a combination of these two was
shown last year for the first time, with the Esenza Touch, a watch which
could be set to the correct time completely by touching and swiping the
ceramic material of its case.
This year, the series is expanded,
at first with the Fibonacci series for the ladies. Reader of the “Da
Vinci Code” will certainly Fibonacci, the medieval mathematician, or
better: the Fibonacci sequence. Following this unique series of numbers,
Rado set the 534 gemstones onto the dials of the Esenza Touch.
There are four different variants, with blue and orange sapphires, green emeralds and white diamonds. Depending on the direction of light hitting the dials, the colours change, causing a very pleasant impression.
Less spectacular at first sight, but more
valuable and finely detailed is the Esenza Touch Jubilé 132. Not the
diamonds on the dial are what makes these watches unique, but the fact
that the diamonds are spiralling from the dial, over the case and
bracelet.
The
difficulty behind this design is that diamonds cannot be set into
ceramic material directly, since this is too brittle. Consequently,
after laser drilling the appropriate holes into the ceramic, these are
filled with an alloy of 85% pure platinum, which is then used to give
hold to the diamonds.
A
consequential development of the ceramic touch technology is its
integration into a men’s watch, especially into a watch featuring a two
time zones display.
The
HyperChrome Ceramic Touch Dual Timer offers not only the independent
setting of both time zones, also for areas where the time differs by
less than a full hour from its neighbouring time zones, but also the
easy swap between the times indicated: Thus, it is easy to switch the
main display from home time to destination time and backwards again. A
short video demonstrates this better than a written description:
Several variants are
available, in both flat and glossy finish. The former might be
especially interesting, since it is not a magnet for fingerprints, like
it is the mirror-shining surface of the black version.
A
new chronograph is the HyperChrome automatic chronograph with the
plasma treated ceramic case. Unlike the black or white high-tech
ceramics case, this specially high-temperature gas-treated material
adopts the grey sheen of metal, or more even like haematite. The
chronograph is equipped with the ETA 2894 modular movement.
Finally,
the Rado Diamaster Skeleton is a very attractive representative of the
growing group of watches with pseudo-skeletonized movements. I say
pseudo, because traditional skeletonizing involves the removal of
substance from a movement by hand, and it is the skill and experience of
the master to determine where and how much of the material can be
removed without risking the movement’s stability.
Most
of the modern skeleton watches achieve similar effect by omitting a
conventional dial, opening the sight on a movement that is produced as
skeletonized movement already from the beginning, as programmed into the
CNC. This reflects the abilities of the engineers, but not traditional
craft. the result, however, can be similarly stunning when housed in a
ceramic case and when the bridges of the movement received a black metal
finish like it is the case in the Diamaster Skeleton.
This message has been edited by Marcus Hanke on 2014-04-13 04:34:40
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PuristSPro report: Rado at Baselworld 2014
By: Marcus Hanke : April 13th, 2014-04:33
ii Rado novelties at Basel 2014 reported by Marcus Hanke Rado is traditionally concentrating more on high technology case materials than on movement innovations. However, a combination of these two was shown last year for the first time, with the Esenza T...