Inspired by a historic Rado watch from the 1950’s and 60’s, the new Rado Captain Cook Over Pole is the latest instalment to the Swiss watch brand’s flagship Captain Cook collection. Offering a worldtimer function, an 80-hour power reserve and an undeniably retro aesthetic, the limited edition of 1,962 pieces is a vintage watch collector’s dream.
It’s been exactly five years since Rado rebirthed their Captain Cook collection, a series that originally debuted in 1962 in response to the increasing need for high-performance dive watches. While the inaugural collection found little popularity, the last half-decade has seen the Rado Captain Cook watch become one of their best and most popular releases. The initial set of revival watches included two 37mm designs that were almost exact replicas of the original Captain Cook models as well as a larger, 45mm version for the modern wrist. More recently, the design has evolved to include a range of colourful dials, a selection of bronze cases and the highly-praised Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection which introduced the first Rado Captain Cook with full ceramic cases and skeletonised dials. For 2022, the brand return their focus back to old-school references, in particular a vintage Rado Over-Pole Worldtimer watch from the 1960’s.
The main architecture of the new Rado Captain Cook Over Pole Limited Edition watch is exactly what you’d expect from a Captain Cook, offering a 37mm diameter stainless steel case with a 43mm lug-to-lug distance. Despite the box-shaped sapphire crystal glass, we’re also treated to a relatively thin height of only 10.3mm. On top, the notable bi-directional rotating bezel is equipped with a high-tech ceramic insert, a material made famous by Rado, which now comes decorated with a list of cities around the circumference. The city names are laser engraved and lacquered in silver for a nice but subtle contrast to the black ceramic backdrop. The case also boasts a screwed exhibition case back and a water resistance of 100 metres.
The dial of the Rado Captain Cook Over Pole Limited Edition watch also follows suit to previous vintage-inspired editions with a gorgeous gradient effect dial. The elected colour is a silver grey which starts out light and crisp at the centre before darkening and turning black as it reaches the edges. The dial itself is lightly curved, supporting the change in colour, and just like the original 1960’s Rado Over Pole watch, features a large red date window at 3 o’clock. There’s also rhodium coated indexes and dauphine-styled hands for the hours and minutes finished in green Superluminova. At 12 o’clock, the iconic red anchor logo continues to spin with every flick of the wrist. Also around the circumference of the dial is a 24 hour scale which works in line with the Worldtimer bezel. Together, you can easily glance at multiple time zones without the added complexity of a GMT complication.
Powering the Rado Captain Cook Over Pole Limited Edition is the manual winding Calibre R862 movement. So far, we’ve not seen many hand-wound Rado Captain Cook watches in the modern-day collection, so this is a nice surprise. The movement itself is a rare version manual winding version of the Swatch Group’s Powermatic 80 calibre, also known as the ETA C07.111, and features a frequency of 21,600vph, a power reserve of 80 hours and a Nivacrhon balance spring to assist in high levels of anti-magnetism. You can enjoy the workings of the movement through the exhibition case back including the Cotes de Geneva stripes on the rotor and some of the 17 jewels.
Completing the Rado Captain Cook Over Pole Limited Edition watch is a vintage-inspired brown leather strap detailed with off-white almost cream stitching and a stainless steel pin buckle. Arriving with each 1,962 limited edition piece is also an additional beads-of-rice style stainless steel bracelet, this time closed by a triple-folding clasp. The straps are engineered with the brand’s EasyClip system so changing between the strap and bracelet is incredibly easily. You’ll also receive a leather pouch with each order.
If you’d like to learn more about the new Rado Captain Cook Over Pole watch and order one of the 1,962 limited edition pieces for yourself, head over to the Jura Watches website here. Alternatively, get in touch with the team on 01335 453453 or send us a message at help@jurawatches.co.uk.
Specifications:
- Case Size: 37mm
- Case Material: Stainless steel
- Bezel: Bi-directional, high-tech ceramic insert with laser engraved, silver lacquered cities around circumference
- Glass: Box sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
- Crown: Screw in
- Case Back: Screw down, exhibition
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Movement: Rado Calibre R862, manual winding
- Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, worldtimer
- Power Reserve: 80 hours,
- Jewels: 17
- Frequency: 21,600vph
- Dial: Silver to black gradient with 24 hour scale, luminous hands and markers
- Strap: Brown leather and beads of rice bracelet
- RRP: £2,230
- Limited Edition: 1,962 pieces
