RADO r5.5 watch by jasper morrison

RADO ‘r 5.5’ watch by jasper morrison image © designboom

‘r5.5’, the new RADO watch collection is named after its radius. jasper morrison designed a new timepiece, the ‘r5.5’ chronograph for swiss watchmaker RADO. the soft overall form with ceramic body is not only expression of essential and timeless design but also of latest innovative high-tech experimentation. the material, HT ceramics, is extremely resistant, it had been applied before in medicine, formula-1 motor racing, and on the heat shield that enabled the space shuttle’s re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. jasper morrison‘s ‘r 5.5’ chronograph uses this exact high tech ceramic. the dial has a distinctive square silhouette with curved edges, on which the details are highlighted in white through a slightly iridescent surface. the ‘r5.5’ collection was first launched during the vienna design week in austria, and will be gradually introduced to the world market.

‘r5.5’, the new RADO watch collection is named after its radius image © designboom

a chronograph reduced to the essential and deliberately available only in one size image © designboom

black color ceramic bracelet, flat sapphire crystal, steel crown with black color ceramic cap image © designboom

case top black color ceramic polished or matt, black ceramic links polished or matt image © designboom

black color titanium case back, case middle part in steel, with titanium screws. scratchproof, watersealed, swissmade. image © designboom

titanium 3-fold buckle image © designboom titanium 3-fold buckle image © designboom

the under side of the ceramic links bracelet, close-up image © designboom

the under side of the ceramic links bracelet, close-up image © designboom

RADO is a pioneer in the watchmaking industry by being the first to work with ceramic. in the mid-1980s, RADO engineers discovered a substance that fulfilled requirements of extreme hardness, durability, brilliance and skin-friendliness, that had not been used in the watch industry before: high-tech ceramics. the raw material is ultra-fine zirconium-oxide or titanium carbide powder with a grain size of about 1/1000th mm, approximately one fiftieth of the diameter of a human hair. the powder is homogenized and granulated. a process known as ceramic injection molding (CIM) enables RADO to produce well-defined and highly complex shapes of bracelet elements. the pre-shaped forms are heated in a special furnace at a temperature of 1,450ºC. this process is known as ‘sintering’ and results in the full density and absolute hardness of all high-tech ceramic elements. depending on the surface desired, the individual elements are either polished or given a satin finish.

movement activated through the 2 gently curved rectangular ceramic pushers: ADD and Split functions, 10 ½’’’ ETA 251.471 quartz chronograph, 23 jewels, small second counters, 30 min. and 60 seconds center counter, date at 3 o’clock. image courtesy RADO

‘r5.5’ is available in the following versions – with steel colored hands and counters, with minute track and arabic numbers, and with second counters … image courtesy RADO

… with steel colored hands and red colored second counters, yellow colored hands and minute track with arabic numbers, with yellow colored hands and second counters. image courtesy RADO

jasper morrison at the rado 5.5 presentation in vienna image courtesy RADO

jasper morrison wears one!

RADO founded in 1917, RADO supplied precision movements to the watch industry before presenting the first collection of finished watches, in 1957, under the brand name RADO. in contrast to brands obsessed with the history, traditions and craft of watchmaking, RADO has always looked to the future. RADO’s visionary founders pioneered the use of severalmaterials and production methods in the watch industry, and RADO has continued to develop extraordinary high-tech materials ever since. known as the creator of such design icons as the ‘diastar’ (the world’s first scratchproof watch) and ‘RADO ceramica’, RADO watches have earned more than 20 international design awards, and the high-tech materials and contemporary designs remain a hallmark of the brand today.