True Square x Ash Barty Limited Edition

This December, former WTA #1 and 2022 Australian Open Women’s Singles Champion Ash Barty and her long-standing partner, Rado, launch their collaborative Limited-Edition III timepiece. Ash’s skill, patience, quiet confidence, and authentic nature have underpinned a history-making career for the Australian tennis superstar. In the watchmaking world, similar characteristics resonate with the Rado brand, whose timepieces are marked by their reliability, accuracy and ground-breaking use of scratch- resistant high-tech ceramic materials.

An adaptation of the classic True Square in Rado’s signature high-tech ceramic, the Ash Barty Limited Edition III design collaboration signifies new, exciting times for both Ash and the Rado Brand. With the intent to create a feminine, unique watch that will take the wearer from day to night, the timepiece is housed in a light rose high-tech ceramic square case. A white mother-of-pearl dial with rose gold coloured applied indexes gives the piece a luxurious feel, and a cut-out offers an intriguing view of the watch mechanics, a reminder of the hard work behind an illustrious exterior.

A flat sapphire crystal face with anti-reflective coating protects Rado’s premium calibre R734 automatic movement with 80-hour power reserve. The antimagnetic NivachronTM hairspring improves reliability by protecting the movement from magnetic fields. While industry standards require testing in 3 positions, Rado tests in 5 different positions, further enhancing its reliable accuracy.

A passionate watch lover, Ash worked collaboratively with the Rado design team through the creative process to bring the timepiece to life. Ash comments:

“Rado’s True Square watches have always been a favourite style for me and feature heavily in my collection, so we decided to use this shape as the basis for the limited edition piece.

We selected a feminine powder pink leather and matching high-tech ceramic case as the foundation for the piece. Adding a white mother of pearl dial with an open-heart keyhole made the unique square setting luxurious, but versatile enough to wear from day to night.

The dial also features a tiny rose gold coloured tennis ball with a jeu, set, match engraving. A beautiful touch and nod to the involvement of both myself and Rado in the world of tennis.

I have loved the experience of co-designing this piece with Rado. It’s allowed me to combine creativity with my love of watches and for me, particularly at this stage in my life, is a reminder to take the time to enjoy every moment of your journey. I hope that everyone will get as much enjoyment out of the piece as I do.” said Ash.

Square watches form an integral part of Rado’s design history. Launching the first timepiece in 1976, Rado’s experimentation with square ceramic watches saw the launch of Ceramica in 1990. Thirty years later, the scratch-resistant material was used to create a square monobloc case using pioneering injection moulding technology, which forms the foundation of this new True Square Limited Edition release in partnership with Ash Barty.