RADO Golden Horse 1957

[tribe125]

You can only hold out so long…





I wanted a bracelet and a gradient dial, so it was green or blue. I don’t usually do coloured dials - but in for a penny, in for a pound - and green was deep and rich, like an emerald. This is jewellery, after all, unabashed and shiny. On Planet RADO it’s a dress watch.

That’s how it is with RADO. You’re happy to follow a conservative path, and then you fall into RADO and all bets are off. Swatch brands can feel like graduated steps on a corporate ladder, but RADO seems to come from some other place, with its all of its flamboyant identity intact.

RADO has its roots in Schlup & Co, established in 1917, but RADO is a child of the mid-1950s. Schlup & Co. was primarily a component supplier, and the driving force behind the RADO brand was Dr. Paul Lüthi, who joined the company in 1947, and then married a Schlup. The history is short on detail because the company has little in the way of an archive. The Golden Horse may not have been the very first RADO, but it was the first to feature the swinging anchor, and it was the first to be an international success. Symbolically, it marks the birth of RADO, and the distinctiveness of the brand starts here.

The re-edition is limited to 1,957 pieces, in each of the four colours. The red one was released in 2019, on a strap. The black, blue and green were released in March 2020, on bracelets. Looking around, there are some signs of decreasing availability, especially of the green one (or maybe retailers didn’t fancy it and didn’t order it). I don’t usually go for limited editions, but dial colours aside, the re-edition is faithful to the original. I can tolerate the limited production of some watches - and the inducements were too many and various to resist. The RADO-friendly members of IWL didn’t help, but Strela167 was the enabler-in-chief, with his recent purchase of a red one.





The watch speaks for itself (although it’s not immediately obvious that it has a curved dial), but the bracelet is worth a mention. Photos had prepared me, but I was still struck by the galaxy of reflected light when I opened the box. This was new territory… but the bracelet stays for now. It’s right for the watch, and the 1957 original had a similar bracelet. It’s flexible, with an elegant taper, and visual impact aside, you’re hardly conscious of its presence. The clasp doesn’t have micro-adjustment, which it easily could have, but it’s slender and neat.

The movement is a Powermatic 80 (middle version, one up from the version with polymer parts, one down from the version with a silicon hairspring). This is my first Powermatic, and my only observation so far is that it’s easier to wind than any 2824 that I’ve had - which is good.





This watch is a different experience, that’s for sure, but that was very much the point of buying it. All in all, you get a lot of quality and character for the money - and you have the added value of RADO-luxuriance and relative rarity.

It’s a sparkler.

• RADO is Esperanto for ‘wheel’. They speak Esperanto on Planet RADO.
  
  
• The golden horses are seahorses. In traditional Chinese medicine, seahorses are the main ingredient in a kind of viagra soup. Seahorses are also lucky, but not the ones ground up for soup.

[tribe125]

You’d need a dozen photos to capture the shifting hues, and to get everything in focus.

I’ve given up for now.

[mlcor]

That is gorgeous. Beautiful dial, love the red on white date, looks slim and comfortable. Big congrats!


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[tribe125]

Thank you!

[tribe125]

The size is 36.5 x 10.8.

My wrist is 7.5”. It wears a little like a traditional/vintage Datejust, but slimmer.

[SyntaxTerror]

I swear there is some sort of cosmic conspiracy aimed at making me buy one. Good god they are beautiful.
"You can only hold out so long" is entirely correct, I fear.

[tribe125]

I swear there is some sort of cosmic conspiracy aimed at making me buy one.

Well, I had exactly the same feeling.

I have to be frank - it’s not looking good for you.

[rodia77]

On Planet RADO it’s a dress watch.

Yup, I remember the lack of minute markers was my showstopper, but it's a lovely watch. You and Dave chose the best colours, too!

[happyscrappyheropup]

Great write up, as usual. Love the watch and I'm always a beads of rice bracelet fan.

I have to be frank - it’s not looking good for you.

[wschofield3]

That is quite beautiful and I can see why you got a wee bit out of your comfort zone to acquire it - congratulations!

I have to be frank - it’s not looking good for you.

I see what you did there, oh, master enabler.