Rado’s latest limited edition Captain Cook is a grand slam tennis tribute
Tom Austin- Rado celebrates 40 years supporting tennis and its close relationships with top tennis athletes with a special edition Captain Cook, the latest in a long line of tennis-inspired releases dating back to 1998.
- Comfortably sized at 39mm, the new Rado x Tennis Limited Edition is suitable for all wrist sizes and features subtle details such as tennis-ball yellow lume plots on a smoky ruthenium dial.
- Limited to 1,985 pieces, the special edition arrives with a bespoke embossed caseback and three additional NATO-style straps, in colours to match the three different Grand Slam court surfaces: clay, grass and hard.
Wimbledon just kicked off, and while the British championship is synonymous with another rather large watch brand, Rado is having a timely tennis-related celebration of its own. Rado’s branding has been a familiar sight at tennis tournaments worldwide, beginning in 1985 with the Swiss Open in Gstaad. Over the subsequent years, Rado’s support expanded to events such as those in Toronto, Tokyo, Johannesburg, and Melbourne. By the mid-90s, Rado had cemented itself as the Official Watch of the APT Tour and the timekeeping partner for all Davis Cup matches. This brand presence was alongside some of the world’s biggest brands and helped solidify Rado as a serious player over the years.
It wasn’t just tournaments that Rado got involved with, because as we know, the tennis world attracts high-end athlete sponsorships, and so Rado had built relationships with top players of the time, such as Spain’s Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja, Americans Todd Martin and MaliVai Washington, Germany’s Tommy Haas and the UK’s Greg Rusedski. These players all formed the Rado Player Team on the ATP Tour, with all of them entering the top 10 in the world men’s singles ranking. This success through the 90s helped cultivate the relationships between watch brands and athletes, a bond that is now stronger than ever across several brands. Star players such as Australia’s very own Ash Barty, Barbora Krejčíková, Cameron Norrie and JJ Wolf fill Rado’s roster today, along with several up-and-coming young stars in the making.
With such a strong connection to the game, it makes perfect sense to release something special for the 40th anniversary of Rado’s partnership with tennis. It comes in the form of a limited-edition Captain Cook, a Rado fan favourite that blends vintage style with contemporary technical features. Thankfully, Rado has opted to run with the delightfully sized 39mm case for this model rather than the hefty 42mm or 43mm models, making it a much more versatile piece to wear for everyone. The case’s traditional diver design is crafted from fully polished stainless steel, lending it a retro look, and is paired with a polished stainless steel bezel featuring a brushed insert made from Rado’s plasma high-tech ceramic.
The proportions of this model are spot on, with a 45.5mm lug-to-lug measurement and a thickness of just 12mm, even with its boxed sapphire crystal. The case is pleasantly finished off with a screw-down case back, which is embossed with a motif featuring the three tennis court surfaces encountered at Grand Slam tournaments: grass, clay and hard. This Captain Cook isn’t just a vintage-inspired showpiece; with 300-meter water resistance, it has the muscle to keep up with the best in the business when it comes to functionality. The CC is a dive watch, after all.
The deep-dish dial is clear and highly legible, featuring bold vintage-style hands and hour markers that deliver everything you need. The dial itself features a graduated texture, transitioning from white in the centre to a dark ruthenium outer edge. Ruthenium, a member of the platinum family, adds a touch of understated class to the dial, and the colour continues up through the rehaut, matching the ceramic bezel nicely for a consistent look.
The rehaut hides a cool tennis-related feature, too, with tennis ball-coloured lume plots at 15, 30 and 40 minutes, plus one for ‘game’ at 12 o’clock, representing the tennis scoring system. Other small details include the yellow lume-tipped seconds hand and, of course, the signature rotating anchor at 12 o’clock.
Powering the watch is the Rado calibre R763, a sturdy automatic movement that is essentially an ETA C07.611 with a rebranded rotor. While it’s a fine movement in terms of accuracy, only beating at 21,600vph may be a slight downside for some, as it won’t tick as smoothly as some of its competitors.
It does, however, feature a Nivachron antimagnetic hairspring as part of its laser-regulated escapement, and a substantial 80-hour power reserve, which is a welcome addition in a dive watch of this size. It’s the same movement found in Tissot’s Powermatic series, which cannot be faulted for its accuracy and robustness; however, it does somewhat lack the slight refinements you may expect at this price range.
The Captain Cook comes complete with a full stainless steel bracelet, featuring brushed and polished surfaces that provide a nice contrast. The bracelet is made up of solid links on the outside, with inner beads-of-rice links adding a vintage touch. Finishing the bracelet is a stainless steel 3-fold clasp, and Rado’s Easy-Clip system allows for quick strap changes.
This is important because the Tennis edition comes complete with a storage case containing three additional NATO-style textile straps, each coloured to represent the three court styles: green for grass, red for clay and blue for the hard courts. It’s a nice touch, and each strap, despite being very different, looks great on the watch, with the green one being a perfect accompaniment for the Wimbledon courts next week. Overall, that completes the details that make for a fitting tennis tribute watch, with subtle details that make the watch wearable for any occasion off the court as well.
Rado Captain Cook X Tennis Limited Edition price and availability
The Rado Captain Cook X Tennis Limited Edition is available from Rado retailers from July 1st, and is limited to 1,985 pieces. Price: A$4,700
| Brand | Rado |
| Model | Captain Cook Tennis Limited Edition |
| Reference | R32222108 |
| Case Dimensions | 39mm (D) x 12mm (T) x45.5mm (LTL) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | 300 meters, screw-down crown |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire box crystal with anti-reflective coating |
| Dial | Ruthenium to white gradient |
| Bracelet | Stainless steel beads-of-rice with 3 additional NATO style straps in tennis court colours |
| Movement | Rado calibre R763, ETA base, automatic |
| Power Reserve | 80 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, seconds, date, unidirectional diving bezel |
| Availability | Limited to 1,985 pieces |
| Price | A$4,700 |