utdoorsy and metropolitan? Sporty yet sophisticated? The new Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph attains the unattainable...

For one, that’s because it might just be the most dynamic example of the entire Captain Cook family of timepieces, already well known for its rugged good looks and utilitarian functionality, thanks to its chronograph. For anyone that needs precision timing on or under the water, on the slopes or at the racetrack, we got you.

But it’s also undeniably stylish, presented here in two contemporary colourways that help it flex from the great outdoors to life in the big city. For 2025, choose from black and rose gold, like the urban skyline at night, or plasma and dark green – a first for the Captain Cook series – that captures the look and feel of the concrete jungle.

And 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.

Its athletic credentials emerge through the choice of materials. Both watches represent the first time a high-tech ceramic monobloc case has been deployed for Captain Cook chronographs. And with high-tech ceramic across bezel insert and bracelet, it’s unbelievably lightweight – wearing it feels like second nature – as well as being incredibly scratch resistant. Its box-shaped sapphire crystal is similarly impervious to scratches and the case is water resistant to 30 bar, featuring a screw-down crown and two screw-down chronograph pushers to prevent water ingress. So it’s great in the field, capable in almost any scenario.

Beyond its sporting kudos, discover fashionable aesthetics. The black and rose gold-coloured Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph boasts ‘two-tone’ black ceramics: a polished high-tech ceramic bezel insert and polished middle bracelet links contrast with a matt high-tech ceramic case and matt outer bracelet links. Along with a black dial, it’s all beautifully shadowy. Rose gold-coloured embellishments across bezel, hands, indexes, pushers and crown, bring contemporary style.

Its plasma high-tech ceramic sibling also features dual finishes on the bracelet, with polished plasma middle links flanked by matt components. Add in the stainless steel bezel, crown and pushers and the rhodium-coloured hands and indices, and it offers up an intriguing mix of metallic finishes. But it’s the bezel’s ceramic insert, in a dark, sumptuous green, with a polished finish, and a dial in a matching shade, that signals pure opulence.

In outdoor pursuits, at-a-glance accuracy is essential, and that comes easy with substantial hour and minute hands that point to equally purposeful indexes, all of which are finished with white Super-LumiNova. The second, minute and hour chronograph hands all sport a painted red tip for easy identification.

Overall, the dial feels supremely well balanced, with its three subdials lending an unmistakeable sense of energy – a chrono hour counter is a new addition to Captain Cook chronographs. Rado’s moving anchor symbol is at 12 o’clock, rotating on a synthetic ruby backplate, and there’s a trapezoidal date window at 6 o’clock shaped to match the indexes. Around the edge runs a subtle minute track, surrounded by a turning bezel with deliberately spartan engraved markings. Collectively, it’s all a brilliant demonstration of ‘less is more’ – which helps explain why the piece never feels too energetic. This approach also applies to the Rado calibre R801 automatic movement, featuring a 59-hour power reserve, whose svelte dimensions mean the height of the case, including the crystal, measures just 16.2mm, making it easy to accessorise an outfit. Balancing sporty with stylish is a claim made frequently in watchmaking, but the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Chronograph irrefutably owns both characteristics, without compromising on either.

This is exactly what Rado high-tech ceramic is all about. The ancient origins of its base material render its durability almost inevitable, but it is indeed a great testimonial to the know-how and experience of the ’Master of Materials’ that it has proven to be true. High-tech ceramic is a beautifully light substance, and one that is also magnificently scratch-resistant.

In itself, all that might be enough qualities to love, in one exceptional material, but surprisingly, it doesn’t stop there. Not only is ceramic durable and impervious to almost everything, it has a rare silkiness to the touch that makes for exquisite comfort against the skin. Place it over a human wrist, fine, large, gentle or rugged, and it feels like it was made to be there, since forever. This is of course particularly true for timepieces making use of ceramic elements also in their bracelet, where the sensory experience becomes total and absolutely unforgettable.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Movement

• Rado calibre R801, automatic chronograph, 37 jewels, 5 hands, date at 6 o’clock, 59-hour power reserve, antimagnetic Nivachron™ hairspring, exceeds standard test requirements from 3 to 5 positions for higher accuracy

Case

• Dimensions: 43.0 x 49.8 x 16.2 (W x L x H in mm)
  R32190153
• Matt black high-tech ceramic case, monobloc construction
• Rose gold-coloured PVD-coated stainless steel turning bezel with a polished black high-tech ceramic insert with engraved numbers, markers and triangle in white Super-LumiNova
• Polished rose gold-coloured PVD-coated stainless steel screw-down crown with embossed and laser-enhanced anchor logo
• Polished rose gold-coloured PVD-coated stainless steel screw-down pushers
• Circular-brushed, black PVD-coated titanium case back with sapphire crystal
• Box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both faces
• Water-resistant to 30 bar (300 metres)
  R32189313
• Matt plasma high-tech ceramic case, monobloc construction
• Stainless steel turning bezel with a polished green high-tech ceramic insert with engraved numbers, markers and triangle in white Super-LumiNova
• Polished stainless steel screw-down crown with embossed and laser-enhanced anchor logo
• Polished stainless steel screw-down pushers
• Circular brushed, titanium case back with sapphire crystal
• Box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both faces
• Water-resistant to 30 bar (300 metres)

Dial

• White printed Rado and Captain Cook logos, 300m/1000ft
  R32190153
• Black
• Polished rose gold-coloured applied indexes with white Super-LumiNova
• Polished rose gold-coloured PVD-coated moving anchor symbol on synthetic ruby backplate
  R32189313
• Green
• Rhodium-coloured applied indexes with white Super-LumiNova
• Rhodium-coloured moving anchor symbol on synthetic ruby backplate

Hands

• R32190153 rose gold colour or R32189313 rhodium colour
• Polished minute and hour hands with white Super-LumiNova
• Polished small second hand counter
• Polished second, hour and minute chronograph hands with red tip

Bracelet

• Titanium 3-fold clasp
  R32190153
• Matt black high-tech ceramic
• Polished black high-tech ceramic middle links
  R32189313
• Matt plasma high-tech ceramic
• Polished plasma high-tech ceramic middle links