The Silver White Rado Golden Gazelle

Rado Golden Gazelle

"Hello I am Gazelle...... "

A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus Gazella. Gazelles are rather small antelopes. They are known as swift animals – some are able to run at bursts as high as 60 mph (97 km/h), or run at a sustained speed of 30 mph (48 km/h). Gazelles are mostly found in the deserts, grasslands, and savannas of Africa, but they are also found in southwest and central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. They tend to live in herds and will eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves.

Back in the 1960's and 70's Rado came up with the Golden Gazelle range with different variants of casings, dials and bracelets. I bragged about another black Golden Gazelle back in Christmas last year HERE. This is a totally different design in term of outer appearance. The movement is somewhat similar. 

I am really cracking my head on how to best describe this case.... The shape is just too odd an oval shaped. This is a good solid stainless steel case that would last. This watch is equipped with a thick mineral crystal. You probably can guess how old this watch is with the fading red colour of the rotating anchor logo. The silver dial also show its time. Time is unforgiving.......

The crown is signed with the anchor logo and sat just nicely into the case. The stainless steel bracelet is composed of single piece solid links. This type of design are highly durable.

The day date function of this watch is at 6 o'clock position. The white and black disks are very striking. 

If the new Rado Diastar Original Automatic has the folding clasp like this, I am more than happy. The raised Anchor logo and RADO wordings just as heavy weighted, a statement can be in proclaiming its quality. 

The back case of a vintage Rado is as good as any other brand if not among the best...... 3 seahorses and 3 stars..... Actually, I know the Seahorses represent water resistant; what about the stars then.... Why there are some with 2 seahorses and some without even a star??????? Something for me to research into......

Rado Golden Gazelle

The Reindeer Gang - Gazelle

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 

Had a very shiny nose 

And if you ever saw it 

You would even say it glows..."

In this Christmas festive mood.... Joy to the World!!! Eeerrrrerrrr we are talking about a type of deer here, but not Rudolph.... Rudolph would be dead tiring after the Silent Night rush. Although, I have been a good boy for the last 365 days, I think he missed my house...... 

This is a 1960's and 70's Rado Golden Gazelle. It is measuring 35mm excluding crown. The chunky stainless steel case is finely brushed. 

The watch has a fluted bezel and with mineral glass. 

This watch has a very gorgeous-looking grey silver gradient dial. It has the famous rotating Rado Anchor logo. There is also a Golden Gazelle emblem at 9 o'clock position. 

The hour and minute hand have a very bold black highlight insert. The second hand is black in colour. 

The bracelet is still the original single solid link with the Anchor logo and Rado embossing at its clasp.

The crown is with the anchor logo signed. It is semi concealed into the case. 

This Golden Gazelle has screw in stainless steel back case. Apart from the word Rado, it has an anchor and double sea horses engraving at the center. 

This watch comes with a 25 Jewels automatic ETA 2789 movement. It is the first calibre with quickset day date function. It runs at 21,600 bph and has a power reserve of 45 hours. 

Rado Captain Cook MKII

Rado Captain Cook

(Taken from Wikipedia)

Captain James Cook (1728 – 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. 

In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.  

Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.

Below is a picture of HM Bark Endeavour, the ship that he navigated across the Pacific Ocean.

The RADO Captain Cook is named after this great British explorer. 

This is the revised Rado Captain Cook from the late 1960's era. This model comes in both men's and ladies'. This tonneau-shaped watch has a diameter measuring 36mm without the crowns. Its case thickness is 12.8mm.  It is equipped with acrylic crystal. 

This watch has a matte black dial with a rotating anchor Rado logo. There is a red and white themed inner rotating ring which may function as tachymeter. This internal rotating bezel can be adjustable by a smaller second crown at 4:00 o'clock position.

The larger crown can be used to handwind the watch and also set the time and date too.  Both crowns are signed with Rado anchor logo. 

The stainless steel caseback is screw down type and is embossed with the Rado two seahorses logo. At the heart of this watch is ETA 2784-1. This is highly reliable 25 jewels automatic movement with hacking feature and has a frequency of 28,800bph. 

A gentleman from 1960's: Rado purple horse 202

The 1960's  was a colourful decade..... Full of social, political, cultural events and disasters.....  This is a midsize Rado measuring 31mm from that era.

The dial is black in colour and this is simple watch that only tells time. On the dial is the older Rado non-rotating anchor logo and two purple coloured Seahorses emblem above the 6 o'clock position. I don't know what the 202 is actually standing for.....

This watch uses tha handwinding 17 jewels AS 1900/01 movement. The movement is gold plated. 

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....