Rado Welcomes New Diastar Original Automatic Watches

The new Rado Diastar Original Automatic watches celebrate nearly 60 years of this ground-breaking design – the world’s first scratchproof watch. Each 27mm or 35mm model is crafted from tungsten carbide and features a glistening diamond-set hour track.

There are many ways in which a Rado watch makes a perfect companion to wear on the wrist every day, year after year. The luxury watch brand offers its huge audience many qualities and reasons to invest in one of its contemporary-looking designs. Known for its innovative approach to material development, Rado has over a century’s worth of experience in developing these innovative and extraordinarily hardy watches. This is thanks to tungsten or hardmetal cases, which we can see many examples of in the company’s Diastar watch collection. If you value durability, a Rado watch is certainly for you. As a leading brand in high-tech ceramics, its watches are lightweight and incredibly scratch resistant. The new Rado Diastar Original Automatic watches come in await of the company’s 60th anniversary of the popular model and can now be purchased here at Jura Watches. Within our online collection, you will see two 27mm models and two larger 35mm models – all four of which we’re going to look at in this article. 

The history of Rado’s scratch-resistant technology

Rado, although making watches before this point, properly emerged on the watch scene back in the 1950s and began specialising in scratch-resistant watches just a decade later with the development of the Diastar watch. Rado took the world by storm in 1962 when it released the world’s first scratch-proof watch. The Diastar made a distinct step away from scratch-resistant watches since these were generally limited to steel alloy watches. Compared to Rado’s super-hard case materials, steel, although harder than gold and silver, was no match for its toughness. Models from the Diastar watch collection are still made from gold or silver-coloured tungsten carbide – a material also referred to as hardmetal. Leveraging the overall strength of the Rado Diastar, the manufacturer equips the top of each watch with a pane of scratch-resistant and anti-reflective sapphire crystal glass. This material also helps protect an ETA movement equipped to the heart of the case. Although not unusual today, sapphire crystal glass was a vast improvement from other standard glass watch fronts at the time. This advancement was highlighted all the more by Rado’s Dia 67 Glissière watch release in 1967, which featured an almost edge-to-edge sapphire crystal glass front over its face.

But what is tungsten carbide? Well, it’s an alloy that is usually used for drill bits thanks to its ability to endure seriously high temperatures and pressures without deforming. In terms of hardness, it rates the same as sapphire crystal on the Mohs hardness scale, coming second to a diamond. To give you a clearer picture of its resilience, stainless steel will melt at around 1000 degrees Celsius, whereas tungsten carbide can withstand these temperatures nearly three times over! Rado shapes the case of its Diastar watch into a shield-like profile, a fitting attribute to the ally’s strength and resistance.

The new Rado Diastar Original Automatic 27mm and 35mm watches for 2022

Paying homage to the original 1962 Diastar’s bold and ageless appeal, the shape and features of this model have barely changed over the years, conveying the recognisable shield shape in its case and delivering all the features that Rado fans love about this special range. The new original celebrates the first watch hailed as “the world’s first scratch-proof watch”, bringing hard metal and sapphire crystal glass into one innovative and trailblazing design. The subtle oval-shaped structure of each of these four new models covers the fastening of the strap and each timepiece boasts the recognisable red-coloured band logo at the 12 o’clock location. These watches also come adorned in glistening diamonds and gems around their hour tracks.

The two 27mm models come in an option of original hardmetal or gold-coloured hardmetal. The latter features an all-gold coloured stainless steel bracelet, which secures around the wrist with a folding clasp graved with the Rado name. The more classic-looking hardmetal case features a bi-colour stainless steel and gold-plated stainless steel bracelet enclosing with the same style buckle. Both versions offer an indulgent gold-coloured dial adorned with diamonds positioned at each hour marker. These accompany a set of luminous-coated central hour and minute hands, as well as a date window at 6 o’clock. The appliques are finished in matching silver or golden tones to coordinate with their respective case finishes.

The two 35mm models are similar in design. One is crafted from hardmetal, the other features a gold-plated finish to enhance a more luxurious edge. Additionally, these feature a day and date window displayed vertically at the 6 o’clock location. The classic hardmetal model features a black vertically striped dial – a pattern that is also mirrored in the smaller 27mm models. The gold-coloured hardmetal version presents the time on a gold-toned diamond patterned dial. Blue gems identify the hour markers on this dial, adding a contrasting pop of colour to the watch. The Rado Diastar lettering is positioned across the centre of these dials to match the design of its smaller counterparts and both watches offer bracelets in a matching finish to their cases.

All four of these new Rado Diastar Original Automatic Hardmetal watches are powered by an automatic Swiss-made movement that provides a 38-hour power reserve and all come presented in a genuine Rado presentation box. If you’d like more information on any of these new Diastar watches from Rado you can call and speak to a member of our sales team here at Jura Watches on 01335 453453