Rado Diastar One: The very first of its kind!

The Great Ancestor of Rado Diastar Original

Bought this from Manila, Philippine. Never really know what I had before researching into the watch. I thought it is just another Rado Diastar Original. Initially I also suspected the case has something wrong because it was not shining or chrome. It was dulled in colour. How wrong was I?

After much research, this is actually a Rado Diastar1 from the mid 1960's era. This watch has a very distinctive design, with the faceted crystal and the oval case. This is the well known iconic , cult status Rado Diastar. Rado Diastar is first of its kind! Other manufacturers have since attempted to copy the Diastar, but none have came close in replicating the quality & reputation that Rado stands for!

With the Rado DiaStar 1 in 1962 Rado introduced the first scratch-resistant watch to the market. This is close to the original first launched model, which had the flat crystal. The most interesting part of the Diastar is the fact that the case is made of tungsten, a metal that is very hard to scratch.

The dial is intriguingly beautiful. Below is how the dial looks like (Courtesy of Watch Guy blog)... This is a silver dial with steel bar hour markers. The Rado rotating logo is so irresistible to look at. The date display window is framed in steel at 3 o'clock. The date is in red colour. It is non quickset. 

This watch has bold steel hour and minute hands. The black-coated steel second hand is very prominent sweeping on the silver dial. 

The Rado anchor signed crown.....

This watch comes with the fake Rado NSA bracelet. It is getting hard to differentiate now. They have done all the marking. Already asking my watchmaker friend to find me the genuine bracelet to replace it. Also this watch need some cleaning on the dial and hands......

The back case was over polished by the seller. The initial wording of Diastar 1 and its serial number have faded. 

By removing the screw in back case, you will see a beautiful gold plated 25 jewels AS 1858 automatic movement. The AS 1858 is slow beating 18,000 A/h and a power reserve of 44 hours. This super rare AS 1858 movement was used on the days Rado was still independent Rado Watch Co. before they join the Swatch Group.

 End this post with a vintage Rado advertisement from the late 1960's....