IT'S HIP TO BE SQUARE
RADO BRINGS ON BOARD RENOWNED INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS YOY, STUDIO FORMAFANTASMA AND TEJ CHAUHAN TO REINTERPRET A CLASSIC LINE
In 2019, Rado invited five female designers to fashion its round True Thinline. The series of designer timepieces continues with interpretations of the sleek True Square, unveiled during the first Virtual Rado Design Week held by the Swiss watchmaker in collaboration with Dezeen architecture and design magazine.
The True Square is the first square watch made from solid high-tech ceramic, which makes it smooth, light and comfortable to wear.
The regular quadrilateral with a beating heart has been reimagined by designers YOY, Studio Formafantasma and Tej Chauhan, with their distinctive versions making a statement on the wrist.
Tokyo-based YOY was founded in 2011 by Naoki Ono and Yuki Yamamoto, who normally design furniture, lighting and interior spaces.
“We were challenged by the size. It was our first time designing something this small and precise. The idea is very simple, but we finalised the design looking at dimensions of 0.1mm or less,” said the Japanese design duo.
Their design philosophy is based on “Fictionality”, which brings fiction into the real world. Their interpretation, True Square Undigital, plays with the distinctive shapes of the seven-segment display — the classic face of a digital watch — and transfers them to the analogue time display with hands.
The black hour hand with white and black Super-LumiNova blocks and the black minute hand with the luminous white substance clearly stand out, both during the day and in the dark, from the matte black dial with a puristic appearance.
“A variety of things in our modern world have become digital, including watches, and we thought we could find a new form of expression in this context by bringing digital items into the analogue world,” they said.
YOY’s black model contrasts with the lightgrey True Square Formafantasma designed by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin.
Based in Amsterdam, the Italian designers founded Studio Formafantasma in 2009. Deeming themselves a bridge between craft, industry, object and user, they like to forge links between their research-based practice and a wider design industry.
Whether designing or investigating alternative applications of materials, they apply the same rigorous attention to context, process and detail to every project.
For this collaboration with Rado, Trimarchi and Farresin drew inspiration from a closed timepiece that evokes historical pocket watches.
The design also reflects the name of the design duo themselves. The ghostly appearance comes from both the monochromatic light grey construction and the “floating” presence of the dial through the little aperture, which gives a glimpse of the time.
With a monobloc construction, the hightech ceramic case protects the delicate dial and movement.
An extra layer of high-tech ceramic serves as a scratch-resistant protective layer in which the small window is further protected by sapphire crystal. The bracelet is in high-tech ceramic titanium and the case back is made from hypoallergenic titanium.
Since the 1950s, the company has been creating watches under the Rado brand name. Its roots actually trace back to 1917 when the Werner brothers founded Schlup & Co in Lengnau, Switzerland.
Hailing itself as the Master of Materials, Rado has revolutionised the watch industry by introducing durable innovative materials, such as the high-tech ceramic, ultra-light as well as colourful high-tech ceramic, not to mention Ceramos — a marriage of high-tech ceramic and metal.
The Rado True Square X Tej Chauhan model is housed in a matte yellow high-tech ceramic case. The bold colour expresses Chauhan’s emotive industrial design and his futuristic timepiece is influenced by typography, old sci-fi movies, popular culture.
“We strategically use shape, colour and material to bring joy to people. This common foundation of materials, colour and contrast made the collaboration with Rado an absolutely natural process,” said the award-winning British industrial designer.
The joyful colour of the high-tech ceramic case highlights the material’s unique texture. The matching bracelet is made from yellow cushion-shaped leather elements held by hightech ceramic connectors.
On the matte black dial with silver-coloured concentric circles, the hands provide strong contrasts from the centre: the minute and hour hands are painted in white, the second hand in neon red.
In an opening at 3 o’clock, the date is displayed in a typography specially designed by Chauhan.
Blue indexes between 9 and 12 o’clock refer to the time of day when things start moving — in the morning at the office or in the evening on a night out.
Faceted sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inside provides a clear view and impresses as an independent design element.
The case back is in polished dark grey PVDcoated stainless steel with sapphire crystal and engraving: Special Edition and Tej Chauhan.
“I wanted something that is completely distinct, visually engaging, feels great when you pick it up, and even better when you put it on,” he said of his vibrant version.
I WANTED SOMETHING THAT IS COMPLETELY DISTINCT, VISUALLY ENGAGING, FEELS GREAT WHEN YOU PICK IT UP, AND EVEN BETTER WHEN YOU PUT IT ON