The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan Special Edition

Rado watches stand out with their use of modern materials and the originality of their design. The brand collaborates on a regular basis with international designers. Among the countless initiatives in this field, in 2021, British industrial designer Tej Chauhan applied his creative vision to the True Square with a bold yellow take on the collection inspired by futuristic visions of pop culture. This first collaboration led to another opportunity as the designer was entrusted with reimagining another icon of Rado, the Diastar Original. While reinterpreting such a radical design is no simple task, the result is well worth a closer look.

Presented in 1962, the intriguing Rado Diastar was marketed as “the first scratchproof watch in the world’s history”. Its retro-futuristic oval, oblong case was designed with the idea of crafting a robust, un-scratchable watch. Fitted with a sapphire crystal (the use of sapphire crystals only started to spread in the late 1970s and early 1980s), it was crafted from ultra-resistant hard metal with an alloy formed from carbide tungsten powder using a sintering process. The success of the model set the vision for what Rado would be going forward, promoting the idea that the brand would, one day, be regarded as the ‘Master of Materials’ (in particular, ceramic). Over the years, the Diastar has gone through several evolutions. The Diastar Original we know today was presented on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the model in 2022. Retaining the unmistakable helmet-shaped case of its ancestor, it came in new dimensions and a bezel made of Ceramos – a Rado composite material with around 90 % titanium carbide, combining the hardness of ceramic with the toughness and lustre of a metal alloy.

The first thing to catch your eye with the Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is its distinctive bezel. Styled like a flying saucer with a large porthole over the dial, it is rendered for the occasion in Ceramos coated in yellow gold-coloured PVD. The steel case middle and crown are also coated in a matching colour. Turning the case over, the polished dark grey PVD-coated steel caseback is fitted with a sapphire crystal and is engraved with the caption “SPECIAL EDITION TEJ CHAUHAN”. With dimensions of 38.0mm x 45.0mm x11.7mm, it is fairly compact on the wrist and also is water resistant to 100m.

Underneath the faceted sapphire crystal, the matte black dial features a printed silver and blue minutes track with applied indexes at each five-minute interval. The Rado logo is a black gold-coloured applique, while the automatic caption is transferred in silver. The brand’s moving anchor symbol comes in silver on black. The skeletonized hour and minute hands are treated with white Super-LumiNova, and the seconds hand is picked out in neon-yellow paint. Last, the day-date indication at 3 o’clock uses Tej Chauhan’s proprietary font in bold colours. The date appears in “neon-like” red, while each day of the week comes in a different colour.

The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan uses the automatic calibre Rado R764. It is based on the C07.111, also known as the Powermatic 80,  Swatch Group’s take on the modernized version of the tried-and-tested ETA 2824. The balance wheel features a Nivachron hairspring offering enhanced resistance to magnetic fields, and it beats at 3Hz. It delivers a robust 80-hour power reserve. 

The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is worn on a highly original and unconventional grey pillow-shaped rubber strap. Its reverse side reveals the captions: “The time is now” and “TC Souvenirs of The Near Future”. It is secured to the wrist by a PVD-coated steel extendable folding clasp that can be opened by a pair of pushers. The price is set at CHF 2,150 – more details at Rado.com.