Rado’s Centrix design is getting a refresh – enhancing the brand’s signature DNA with new elements, innovative production techniques and harmonious aesthetics.
Importantly, the Rado brand’s story begins in 1917 with the founders’ motto stating, “if we can imagine it, we can make it. And if we can make it, we will do it!” The slogan holds true in Rado’s practice today and has inspired many exciting, unique designs and material developments, including its pioneering of the use of ceramic in the watchmaking category, which have earned the brand a reputation as “Masters of Materials.”
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It is this pioneering spirit for design and material innovation, Adrian Bosshard, Chief Executive Officer at Rado, told Fairchild Studio, that has continued to set Rado apart in the industry. And while there are many key moments in Rado’s history, Bosshard said to understand the company’s DNA, he looks at three specific launches that highlight true innovation.
“The year 1962 marked the launch of two very important product families,” said Bosshard. “The DiaStar Original, which was the first scratchproof watch, combining hard metal and sapphire crystal, and the Captain Cook, which was one of the first waterproof diving watches. Shape and material innovation made both products true icons. The third milestone was in 1986 when we produced the first watch (the Integral) with high-tech ceramic bracelet links.”
As the company has continued to grow and innovate, however, another model comes to mind – a true testament to Rado’s detailed approach to evolution: the Centrix.
Originally introduced in 2010, the Rado Centrix is inspired by the sensuous contours of the windswept beauty of the desert with shades of gold, ochre and brown. The design’s edge-to-edge sapphire is elegant and recognizable and has become an important pillar in the Rado portfolio, representing timeless and classical beauty.
“The Centrix transmits grace and beauty and speaks to confident women that are looking for a sophisticated design in the watch adorning their wrists,” said Bosshard. “The Rado customer is searching for an exclusive and unique product that stands out and appreciates the enormous watchmaking competence and material innovation that is infused in every one of our timepieces.”
The new Centrix is full of luxurious gusto. In every aspect, the design embodies the essence and meaning of the adage, “simplicity is the soul of elegance.”
While still representing these same attributes, today’s Centrix model has much evolved and has been given important upgrades in all aspects such as movement, crystal, case shape and dial. Visual harmony has been finely revisited at every stage of the redesign process, with lugs and bracelet elements have been gracefully adapted to case contours throughout.
The logo is slightly larger in the new design than previously and reintroduces the “Jubilé” inscription on models that carry precious stones on their indices. Moreover, the vertical sides of the case are no longer plainly cylindrical but beautifully rounded, to flow and match the gentler overall design and smoothly merge into a redesigned case back, with new geometry and fewer markings, as well as a laser-engraved serial number.
Continuing to examine the beauty of the desert, the latest design brings a softer, more sensuous approach that whispers of dunes and desert memories. Immediately identifiable is the new, slightly spherical and rounded-edge sapphire crystal and a softer, rounded crystal that is bonded flush with the case and replaces the former sharp edge.
With more gently rounded contours, Rado describes the new Centrix as the most elegant yet, also highlighting its unmatched precision and reliability thanks to state-of-the-art movements in both the automatic and quartz versions of the product line.