Anatom High-Tech Ceramic Bracelet
17 December 2024
Rado Anatom with High-Tech Ceramic Bracelet
PURE ERGONOMIC HARMONY
The march of progress never rests: continual refinements, tweaks and modifications represent the journey of Rado’s visionary watch designers. For the Rado Anatom, five new editions symbolize their attainment of pure, ergonomic harmony – a progressive symbiosis where design and materials come together to perfectly complement the natural contours of the wrist.
The new releases follow the hugely successful relaunch of the Rado Anatom in 2023, which saw the watch reborn with a black matt high-tech ceramic bezel and paired with a textured rubber strap. Coming 40 years after the original watch was introduced, the update captured the imagination of watch lovers everywhere as a definitive new chapter in styling history. And the latest editions push the concept even further: they each feature a bracelet formed from links of polished high-tech ceramic to match the bezel.
Light, smooth and sensuous
This mindful enhancement lends an already sensuous design additional sensoriality. The lightness and smoothness of high-tech ceramic, coupled with its ability to rapidly adapt to the wearer’s body temperature, maximizes comfort and makes the Rado Anatom feel like a natural extension of their body. That was always the ultimate goal of this watch, as the name suggests.
A symbol of free-thinking futurism when it originally launched in 1983, the Rado Anatom was undoubtedly a revolutionary watch back then. Today’s editions are recognizably heirs to the original – they follow a similar overall form and minimalist aesthetic, and share design details like the horizontal line motif on the dial and bracelet. Don’t forget Rado developed the technique to shape sapphire crystal for the original Anatom – an approach still in widespread use throughout the watchmaking industry.
But, like the timepiece’s 2023 relaunch, these new editions are larger than the original, with a case width of 32.5 mm. A more sculpted form features bevelled edges to the cylindrical sapphire crystal, bezel and bracelet links. The case also tapers in to meet the bracelet, which then continues to taper to a width of 20 mm. These considered touches bring a wonderfully sinuous feel – a major part of what makes the Rado Anatom such a pleasure to wear.
Inside, it has an automatic mechanical movement – the Rado R766 calibre, with a 72-hour power reserve, an antimagnetic Nivachron™ hairspring and a date window at 6 o’clock – in place of the original’s quartz.
Delightful contradictions
Collectively, the new editions represent a series of delightful contradictions: unbelievable comfort that moulds to the body, yet packaged in a bold, stylish aesthetic that stands out from the crowd. Organically curvaceous, no harsh inflections, yet somehow square. The supreme lightness of high-tech ceramic components, juxtaposed against the material’s astonishing durability. Mechanical precision in a digital age.
All elements that seal the Rado Anatom’s status as a 21st century icon of modernity, an expression of the elegance that can be achieved through relentless refinement – perhaps a metaphor for a wearer’s path through life or their quest for self-improvement.
Let’s take a closer look at the five watches. The first two feature polished black high-tech ceramic across the bezel and bracelet, a black ceramic crown and black lacquered dial decorated with an irregularly spaced horizontal line motif. Then it’s your choice between steel- or yellow gold-coloured finishes, across hands, indexes, Rado’s signature rotating anchor symbol and the bracelet’s connecting links. Next, a sleek sibling with a bezel, bracelet and crown in polished plasma high-tech ceramic, paired with a grey lacquered dial and complemented by stunning rose gold-coloured finishes. All three watches exude a sense of confident, contemporary style.
An unmistakeable shimmer
Diamonds bring extra design panache to two Rado Jubilé variants – both feature a polished black hightech ceramic bezel and bracelet, a black ceramic crown, plus a black lacquered dial. The first features arguably the new range’s most minimalistic dial with three diamond indexes, at the 12, 3 and 9 positions. They are complemented by rhodium-coloured hands, on an otherwise all-black timepiece – a design that brings to mind glittering stars on the clearest of nights.
With the second, the dial similarly features three diamond indexes – though in this case they are accompanied by black matt printed indexes around the rest of the clock face. Then on the case, polished stainless-steel end pieces sparkle with a further 38 diamonds, and the bracelet’s first four connecting links are embellished with an additional 124 diamonds. These gemstones lend the piece an intriguing, unmistakeable shimmer.
A clear design evolution
All five new editions are singular examples of Rado’s mastery of materials and ergonomic expertise. Yet they also showcase a clear design evolution as a set. The progression between models means there’s a Rado Anatom for a wide range of watch lovers, whatever their taste preferences – a sure sign of a modern design icon. And with decades of heritage under its belt already, the Rado Anatom no doubt has a tantalising future ahead of it too.
Why High-Tech Ceramic? – Because it feels like nothing else…
This is exactly what Rado high-tech ceramic is all about. It's why we say, "Feel it." The ancient origins of its base material render its durability almost inevitable, but it is indeed a great testimonial to the knowhow 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.
About High-Tech Ceramic
Chronologically-speaking, high-tech ceramic was first introduced by Rado in 1986. Its sensuous feel, durability, scratch resistance and surprising light weight quickly conquered the hearts of watch enthusiasts the world over. Though related in some respects to more common forms of ceramics we all know, hightech ceramic is truly a product of advanced science. Under highly exacting conditions, extremely pure and finely calibrated powders of zirconium oxide with perfectly uniform grain sizes, are shaped into a particular form then baked at high temperature to create an object or a watch case of the desired dimensions and properties. New methods developed by Rado involve the use of a plastic carrier medium mixed with the mineral powders, to allow injection into precision moulds at pressures around 1000 bar. Once cooled, the pieces are removed from their parent mould and the carrier agent dissolved in a standard chemical solvent process, prior to a final sintering phase at 1450°C. This precisely controlled sintering is what makes possible the extraordinary level of full density and hardness of High-Tech Ceramic, over regular ceramic. The procedure is true rocket-science territory, as the dimensions of the first moulded elements shrink during sintering; the particles tighten up as porosity disappears and precise calculations must take into account this important change of around 25% in the dimensions. The reward is a case that now stands at 1,250 on the Vickers scale and is ready for final diamond-tool machining and finishing, into an impressive Rado timepiece.