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Rado’s latest Captain Cook timepieces is where adventure meets sophistication. The high-tech ceramic toughness and punchy chronograph complication combine with Captain Cook heritage to create a bold, go-anywhere timepiece that seamlessly blends performance with refined style.

Since its reintroduction in 2017, Rado’s Captain Cook collection has become one of the cornerstones of the brand’s identity, combining its vintage dive-watch heritage with cutting-edge ceramic materials and contemporary aesthetic design. The spirit of adventure inspires the Captain Cook collection, and as you may know, the legendary explorer. Over the years, however, the Captain Cook collection has evolved to be more than just an adventurer’s timepiece, becoming a versatile platform for experimentation, style, and durability.

This perfectly captures the latest Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronographs. The watches are built for the outdoors, yet remain versatile enough that they can be worn in the city thanks to their new aesthetic looks. The Captain Cook collection is already well known for its rugged looks and utilitarian functionality, however, these new timepieces might just be the most dynamic version of the whole collection yet!

With the added chronograph complication, the Captain Cook becomes a tool watch in its truest form: built for precision timing, whether you are diving beneath the waves, carving down a slope, or clocking laps at the track. This functionality is met with a new stylish design, offered in two modern colourways made for both outdoor and urban sophistication. Rado is offering these new Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronographs in either black and rose gold, mimicking the urban skyline at night, or in plasma and dark green. The latter is a first for the Captain Cook collection, capturing the look and feel of a concrete jungle.

Case Design

This is the first time that Rado has used a high-tech ceramic monobloc case for their Captain Cook chronograph models. With high-tech ceramic also being used for the bezel insert, it makes the 43mm x 16.2mm case very lightweight while also being incredibly scratch-resistant. Rado has mastered the art of using high-tech ceramic in their timepieces, offering great functionality and wearability, that makes it a great material choice for daily wear timepieces.

Both timepieces come with varying finishes that allow them to shine beautifully at different lighting angles. The black and rose gold-coloured Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph features ‘two-tone’ black ceramics, where a polished high-tech ceramic bezel insert and middle bracelet links contrast aesthetically against the matt high-tech ceramic case and outer link bracelets. The gold knurling, chronograph pushers, and crown give the timepiece its luxury appeal, making the watch feel right at home for office wear, events and even more formal functions.

The plasma high-tech ceramic model, on the other hand, looks the part for those outdoor adventures. The timepiece comes with the same dual finishing as the black and rose gold model, with polished finishing for the bezel, chronograph pushers and crown, and middle bracelet links, while the case and outer-bracelet links feature a more dull matte finish. This works well to allow the polished elements to shine beautifully, especially in sunlight! Unlike the black and rose-gold model, this variant has a green ceramic insert, which has a sunburst finish that matches the dial nicely.

Dial Design

The dial has a well-balanced aesthetic, made up of a tri-counter layout that features a 60-minute counter at 3 o’clock, a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, and a 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock. One element of the dial design that I really like is the integration of the date window. By removing the 6 o’clock hour marker and placing the date window with a white date wheel, the design flows seamlessly, providing a much more balanced dial aesthetic. The large hour indices and hands can make the dial feel a little cluttered, but what it also does is offer excellent readability, especially if you are taking the timepieces for outdoor adventures.

The two timepieces, while same design, offer very different looks. The green variant features a sunburst dial that allows the colour to go from a light green to a deep forest green, which, as mentioned earlier, is continued onto the bezel through two varying dark tones of green. The black and rose gold model features a sunburst dial too, however isn’t as prominent. The main attraction of this dial is the contrast between the black, white, and gold colours, giving it a bold, high-impact aesthetic which makes the timepiece lean more towards luxury than rugged utility. Each of these models offers a distinctive personality that complements the watch’s dual-purpose character.

Movement

Powering these new Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronographs is the Rado Calibre R801, an automatic movement that has been engineered for precision and reliability. The movement gives out a healthy 59-hour power reserve while operating at a high frequency of 4Hz (28,800), which ensures a high level of timekeeping accuracy. The R801 movement also comes with a Nivachron™ hairspring, a modern anti-magnetic alloy which enhances stability and performance in real-world conditions. Whether it’s dealing with sudden temperature shifts on those outdoor adventures, or everyday exposure to magnetic fields in the more urban environment (smartphones and laptops), the Calibre R801 is a movement built to handle it!

Initial Thoughts

Rado’s latest Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph models are the perfect example of how far the brand has come since the collections modern revivial. What started as a vintage diver has now become the platform for Rado to showcase their high-end material innovation, smart engineering and bold designs. These two new timepieces elevate the Captain Cook not only with the enhanced functionality of the chronograph complication, but also through striking new colours that are made for either the urban or outdoor watch enthusiast.

Whether you are someone that appreciates a stylish timepeice with real-world practicality or you are more of an adventurer at heart, these latest chronograph additions to the Captain Cook range is the natural evolution of the collection. As Rado perfectly puts it, “that’s the point of the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph – a performance watch that can be relied upon in the wildest of locations, yet which also looks great with workwear,in social situations and even during more fashion-oriented occasions, because it doesn’t look overly sporty. Almost impossibly, it effortlessly bridges different worlds”.

Specification: Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph (R32190153)

International Recommended Retail Price: $AU 9,900

Availability: Available late 2025. Head to Rado.com.au to reserve online.

Specification: Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph (R32189313)

International Recommended Retail Price: $AU 9,800

Availability: Availability TBA. Head to Rado.com.au to reserve online.