Introducing – Rado Tradition Captain Cook MKIII Automatic
Rado, for the large majority of us, is known for the ceramic watches – and obviously, the brand is good at it. However, Rado also trie to remind us that there were some watches before ceramic cases exist and that the company has a (much richer) past. For that, the brand introduced several vintage-inspired dive watches last year, named “Captain Cook”. Today, there’s a new chapter in this story, with the presentation of the Rado Tradition Captain Cook MKIII Automatic – another cool, historical dive watch, this time with a slightly more modern touch.
Every now and then, among the hundreds of new watches I get to see and handle each year, one will stop me in my tracks. That happened with Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Automatic when I first encountered it in early 2017 – and it’s what happens again and again every time I see it, handle it, put it on my wrist. To know it better is to love it more. This goes beyond its record-breaking thinness (truly impressive intellectually, but not emotionally) and beyond the design – although I can feast my eyes for hours on those pure, strong lines. I’d go as far as saying that it’s one of those rare items that fundamentally changes the “order of things” – that flips preconceptions on their head. How? Well, there’s the idea of what defines “luxury” in a watch: a beautiful, big chunk of precious metal, perfectly polished, heavy enough that you feel the luxury – right? The Finissimo is none of those things: matt-finished titanium, no shiny surfaces, so light that it’s almost surreal. Wrapped around the wrist, it feels more like a piece of grosgrain ribbon than a watch. It’s so absurdly (weirdly) second-skin comfortable that you could forget…
The release of Girard-Perregaux’s Laureato collection has been anything but a slow burn. Beginning in 2016 with a limited-edition tribute to the 1975 original, the La Chaux-de-Fonds based manufacturer wasted no time in expanding their offerings. And in 2017 they released a fully-fledged collection of three-handed sports watches. This year, we not only see sporty chronographs and a selection of wonderfully open-worked dials added to the mix but also a tourbillon in an all-titanium body. For students of watch history, the tourbillon forms an integral part of Girard-Perregaux’s identity. Ever since the centuries-old watchmaker won gold for the legendary La Esmeralda pocket watch – a tourbillon with three gold bridges – at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. Playing a starring role in GP’s latest Laureato is a tourbillon comprised of 81 parts and weighing just 0.44 grams, held in place at 6 o’clock by a titanium arrow-shaped bridge – a motif that has straddled GP’s dials for more than 150 years, while its recognisable octagonal bezel and integrated 43mm case and bracelet are also crafted in lightweight titanium. And the proprietary GP 09510-0003 automatic movement inside brings the hands of the blue “Clous de Paris” dial to life, with…
Editor’s note: If we’re guilty of one thing here at T+T it’s of being magpies. We’re constantly drawn to the latest shiny thing. But, as Andrew found out, that can occasionally be to our detriment. Take, for example, the Longines Master Collection … When it comes to Longines’ yearly new releases we are like heat-seeking missiles for the vintage fire the brand has at its disposal – few archives are as deep or as versatile as Longines, and it means they can pick and choose between adventurers watches, avant-garde designs, classic dress … the options are almost endless and they impress with regularity. But we rarely look at the everyday collections that, to put this bluntly, are the watches that the brand sell in staggering quantities. The Master Collection, for example. That is, until I noticed it for the first time at a launch in Sydney last year. That discovery led to more discoveries. All of which are captured in this video, in which we look at the watch that won me over, and then explore the two bestselling models in Longines’ stunning Sydney boutique, in the Queen Victoria Building.