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Rado has recently released the new Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph in black ceramic, and we wanted to test the latest iteration from the brand.

As a watch enthusiast, there’s plenty of pieces out there to choose from. From low-end entry-level models to super high-end grand complications, the range is vast. But if you’re looking for a mid-level piece as a daily wearer, then the Captain Cook has always been the go-to model from Rado. As their tagline suggests, they are the Master of Materials when it comes to High-Tech ceramic, and as a material, ceramic is both versatile and robust. So much so that I bought my wife an all-white High-Tech Ceramic Rado True Thinline about 10 years ago, and it looks the same as the day I walked out of Wallace Bishop in Brisbane.

The last Rado I personally reviewed was over 2 years ago now – the Bronze Captain Cook Chronograph which you can read about here, and I was quietly impressed with the watch and the value for money at the price point. And thinking back, the bronze didn’t patina much in the time I wore it either, whereas others have a lot at the same time. A selling point for me and my own tastes with Bronze watches. So, I was happy to get the latest Captain Cook for review, the new black High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph.

Initial Thoughts

My first thoughts are varied when it comes to this watch. It’s a good-looking watch with a black and gold aesthetic. The combination of the matte and polished ceramic surfaces elevates it more than a straight matte surface. The gold accents on the dial, bezel, crown, and chronograph pushers provide much-needed contrast, and the jet black dial is easily readable thanks to the large hands and indices filled with Super-LumiNova.

It’s on the larger side for a modern piece with today’s trends; however, with a short lug-to-lug and being ceramic, it’s not as cumbersome as I originally thought and feels decent on the wrist. It is thick, though, something I’ll delve into later. So, if you do like a larger watch, then read on with enthusiasm. If not, then maybe just wait until the end to pass judgment on whether this is a watch for you.

The Design

The Captain Cook collection does have a distinct design style. They’re a larger watch, designed to be worn outdoors and doing “stuff”. They’re easy to read, have a decent-sized bezel for gripping and are very much a modern-day sports watch with several vintage design cues. As Rado plainly states on their site: “The Rado Captain Cook is a natural choice for modern explorers.” I would tend to agree with this. A ceramic watch on a ceramic bracelet or rubber strap that’s easy to read and can handle a few knocks seems like a legitimate choice to me.

Whilst a Captain Cook in Ceramic isn’t new (Rado currently has 13 different High-Tech Ceramic Captain Cook models to choose from, more if you include the rubber strap and dial colour variants), this is the first time they have used the material on the Captain Cook Chronograph.

The one small gripe I do have is the gold PVD accents on the crown, pushers and bezel. It isn’t as refined as I’d personally like, as it doesn’t have the same texture and feel as the ceramic, and the colour isn’t quite rose gold; it’s more of a bronze colour. Could Rado have used an 18k Rose Gold plating? Maybe, but then the price of this piece would be more, so it’s a trade-off. But this is a small issue, and comes down to your own personal taste.

RELATED READING: RADO UNVEILS NEW HIGH-TECH CERAMIC CHRONOGRAPHS

The dial is highly legible, with a jet black dial offset by the large indices and hands, not to mention the three sub-dials. Each is filled with a blue Super-Luminova to ease with low light legibility, as are the markers on the polished black ceramic bezel.

The case and bracelet have a smooth satin finish to them, with the bracelet having polished centre links, so again, this makes the Rado Captain Cook Chronograph easy to wear with almost anything for any occasion (Black Tie, maybe not), but the one thing I did notice is that it does show up fingerprints perhaps a little more than it should. But this is now being a little picky, as any highly polished surface on a watch will do the same.

Rado has equipped this piece with a full ceramic bracelet with a double folding push button clasp. The one area I felt that Rado could improve is the design of this clasp itself. Rather than a standard double-fold clasp or single fold, the Captain Cook Ceramic has a large single folding piece where the actual push buttons and clasp are, then a smaller clip-in piece so you can fit the watch over your hand.

This does make putting the watch on somewhat fiddly, as when doing it up, you need to remember that extra folding piece. It’s something more unique to Rado ceramic bracelets, but like any watch brand with its unique way of doing things, you get used to it. I’m sure if you owned it, it would become second nature, just like remembering which side of the clasp to fold first on certain higher-end steel watch bracelets with double fold-over clasps.

How It Wears

As I mentioned in the opening, the Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph isn’t a small watch. Measuring 43mm in diameter and 16.2mm thick, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s bulky on the wrist. However, with a lug-to-lug measurement of less than 50mm and a bracelet that follows the contours of the tapered lugs, it sits nicely on the wrist, and thanks to its full ceramic construction, it is lighter than it would be in steel. This adds to the overall effect of the watch being much more wearable than the specs suggest.

As we always say, the best way to see how a watch wears is to wear it. I’ve worn pieces that are smaller on paper that don’t seem to fit that well and seem larger than they are. Wrist size and shape are also important here, and as I have 17.5cm wrists, I can normally wear up to about 44mm before the watch starts to feel too big – again, the design, style, material and lug-to-lug make a huge difference here.

Being a full ceramic watch, the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic is smooth and feels good on the wrist. Due to the way the bracelet is designed, you rarely get any arm hairs caught in it, and over the few days I spent with the Captain Cook, this certainly was true from my experience. The downside of a full ceramic bracelet is the lack of micro-adjustment on it, so you need to get the sizing and fit right from the get-go. Thankfully, Rado has half links, so this is easier than other integrated style bracelets without the half link sizing.

Some of the Captain Cook range does come on a rubber strap, and if you’ve read our write-up on the blue Captain Cook Skeleton, you’ll see how this changes the look and feel of the watch. I would have loved the Captain Cook Chronograph to come on a rubber strap, as this does impact how it wears, and I do feel it wears a little better. But I’m sure this is something you can add later on by purchasing an OEM strap.

The Movement

Being a part of the Swatch Group, the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic comes with a fairly solid movement in the form of the Automatic Calibre R801. Based on an ETA (like many Swatch Group brands’ movements are) you know you’re in safe hands as these are robust movements that are tried and tested. Rado goes the extra step by incorporating the Nivachron^TM Hairspring to ensure the movement is highly resistant to shocks, thermal variations and magnetic fields, not to mention it is fully adjusted in 5 positions to ensure its accuracy.

You can view the Calibre R801 through the sapphire case back. Whilst not a beautiful movement in the classic sense, it gives you something to look at when off the wrist. I always appreciate a display caseback on automatic watches. There’s something fun about looking at the balance ticking away and playing the rotor. Plus, being a watch nerd, I’m always wanting to see the little machine with all its wheels and cogs working (Yes, these are highly technical terms). Rado has added to the look of the movement with the anchor-shaped rotor – a nice touch and something that wasn’t overly necessary but appreciated.

Over my time wearing the watch, it kept good time and was within about +3 seconds a day when I intermittently tested it once set to a reference time. This is well within any standard tolerances, and over a longer period of testing, this could yield different results. But for a non-COSC-rated movement, this is good either way you look at it.

One minor criticism I have is with the crown and its stiffness. It was a little hard to screw in and out due to the screw being quite tight, so changing the time was a little challenging to get the crown back in. However, if you’re a “glass half full” kind of person, then the flip side is there’s no fear of the crown coming undone and compromising the 300m water resistance. Sometimes it’s all about how you look at things.

Final Thoughts

If I think back to when I first held the watch, what I noted down and wrote at the start of this review, not much has changed on this one. Given I’m fairly familiar with Rado, especially the Captain Cook collection, my initial thoughts were probably somewhat well-informed, given that familiarity, however, it’s nice to know that the watch stayed pretty much true to what I thought it would be.

The Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph is a fun watch to wear – not fun in the sense it’s bright and colourful, but fun in the sense that it’s different and being fully ceramic, you can have fun and not worry about the watch getting scratched or marked. In addition, it isn’t a hype watch, so depending on your personality and if you consider this a good thing or not, it won’t attract too much attention. Sometimes, subtle (as subtle as a black and gold 43mm ceramic watch is) is good!

With regards to the price point, the Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph has a retail price of A$10,450. A fair value for money proposition, given this is a 300m water-resistant ceramic chronograph. Whilst you won’t have the same level of finish and detailing of other ceramic watches, you also don’t have the same price tag either – consider a Zenith Skyline Ceramic in black is over A$25,000 for time only, a Hublot Big Bang Chronograph Full Ceramic is just over A$39,000.

The closest watch that springs to mind from a more well-known brand would be the Bremont Supermarine full black ceramic, and this is a time-only for A$10,350 on rubber or NATO. No, it’s not apples with apples, but you get my gist. Yes, these are all pieces that are at a higher level of detail, finishing and movement quality, but my point is that all these are at least double, if not 4-5x the price of the Rado Captain Cook.

At the end of the day, the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph is a robust watch that is for people who want to wear a watch that isn’t the normal steel sports watch, and want to stand out a little, without breaking the bank.

Reference: R32190153

Specifications:

• Case: 43mm, 49.8mm lug-to-lug and thickness of 16.4mm
• Case: Matt black High-tech ceramic case with rose gold-coloured PVD coated stainless-steel bezel with a matt PVD High-Tech Ceramic insert and Super-luminova® details
• Dial: Deep black dial with rose gold-coloured hands and indices filled with Super-luminova®
• Crystal: Glass-box style sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
• Water resistance: 300m (30 Bar)
• Movement: Calibre R801 Automatic Chronograph movement with Nivachron Hairspring. Pivoting on 27 jewels and beating at 4Hz.
• Power reserve: 59 hours
• Bracelet: Black matt and polished High-Tech Ceramic bracelet with double folding clasp.

Australian Recommended Retail Price: A$10,450

Availability: Available now via Rado authorised dealers or online at rado.com

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