reativity is the lifeblood of Rado and has long been a part of its brand identity. Design you can feel is an integral part of its DNA. Over the years, the brand has been involved in more than thirty collaborations, including those with some of the world’s most visionary artists and designers, as well as such luminaries as Le Corbusier. Each of these opens up to new horizons.

Design remains an integral part of everything the brand does. From its very beginnings, Rado has committed itself to creating watches whose eye-catching aesthetics distinguished them from all others. But that was never enough. The timelessness of the designs had to be complemented by materials that would outlive their owners. Accordingly, Rado’s passion for design has always shared pride of place in the brand’s mission with a relentless search for innovative materials. And it is these enthusiasms that have resulted one of the brand’s core identities: ’Design You Can Feel’.

By the way, that passion for design has been recognised. Over the years, Rado has amassed an impressive number of international design prizes for its visionary watches and it proudly look far beyond the watch industry for inspiration, turning to designers in different fields, including fashion, architecture and graphic design. Along with successful collaborations with some of the world’s most celebrated designers – including, of course, Tej Chauhan – Rado also finds inspiration for its materials in some far-flung arenas like, for example, the medical and aerospace industries, which had experimented with high-tech ceramic even before the Master of Materials brought it to the watch industry.

Why is design so important to Rado? The answer to that question is revealed in five points of Rado’s design philosophy.

Firstly, design is a problem solver for the end user. In other words, a good watch design should resolve a problem for the wearer. For example, consider the problem of scratched cases and watch crystals. The Rado DiaStar was the first truly scratch-proof case and was perfect for a watch worn during work-time. Later, there would be further developments in this area, like when sapphire crystal replaced plexiglass.

Secondly, design is form, and form follows function. An example: when Rado was square, it was because of technical limitations at the time but the ’scratch-proof’ function made it worth it to go with the shape. Of course, function isn’t a purely pragmatic value. The striking Rado DiaStar Original cases signal nostalgia, thus serving an important function.

Thirdly, design helps new inventions and ideas reach greater audiences. Think of some familiar examples like Post-It notes, the iPhone, the ballpoint pen, or, of course, the DiaStar scratch-proof watch. All of these are useful and highly functional but their design appeal helped to make them iconic products.

Fourthly, design is also an amplifier of existing ideas and inventions. Designers don’t necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. The Oreo cookie, the iWatch, and Tesla were far from the first in their product group, but thanks in large part to design, they own it.

Fifthly (and finally!), design is a driver of development. This brings us back to Rado’s dual focus on design and materials. As designers imagined new products, researchers created new materials that helped realise them. Remember its motto (they won’t let you forget): If they can imagine it, they can make it. And if they can make it, they will.

Tej Chauhan is an award-winning British industrial designer known for his ’Emotive Industrial Design’: shape, colour and material are used strategically to create objects that elicit joy. In his offices in London and Helsinki, a team of creative specialists works on a wide range of media and disciplines in the areas of industrial design, product development, creative brand strategy and future studies. The Emotive Industrial Design approach combines Tej’s visual language with an optimised functional experience. He says, “This approach that defines the work we do in our practice is specifically designed to engage people and to invite interaction.”

Before establishing his own company in 2005, Tej worked at Nokia, where he was responsible for the design of some of the tech giant’s most memorable models. He is known for designing products that bring together his own core values – emotion, function, connection, and accessibility – in a single piece. “My path in design,” he says, “is to create objects which make a connection with as many people as possible and to make them feel good.”

Tej Chauhan’s works comprise a wide range of products of extraordinary creativity and among his numerous awards and recognitions are Red Dot, IDSA Gold & Silver, iF, Good Design, Grand Prix du Design Gold, D&AD, Cannes Lions, and the International Design Award.

Talking about his collaborations with Rado, he talked about his own relation to time, which he describes as complicated. “I do wear a watch every day and I hate being late, so I give myself plenty of time... but then I relax because I think I have so much time and end up cutting it a bit fine sometimes!”

Collaborating with Rado has given Tej Chauhan the opportunity to learn about the luxury Swiss watchmaking traditions and to explore how Rado combines the concept of traditional craftsmanship with modern high-tech innovation. He points out that working on watch design presented some unique challenges. “I am used to working at different scales, including very small ones, calculating to within fractional increments of a millimetre. But with Rado, we were working with microns. For example, with the first project, we had to change our original design of the watch hands because of the thicknesses of different paint pigments!”

Was it worth the stress? Tej says, “I have always said that it’s the people who make a great project. I have worked on many collaborations in my career and I can say that this counts as one of my favourites.”

In the autumn of 2020, the world was first introduced to the kind of magic that happens when Rado collaborates with Tej Chauhan. The result was the Rado True Square x Tej Chauhan, described at the time as ‘a pure expression of Emotive Industrial Design, created to celebrate the Master of Materials.’ Time has not diminished the power of the partnership and it’s worth taking another look at the watch that started it all.

Tej Chauhan had long been celebrated for his personal but practical interpretation of a ‘near future’ and when he started working with Rado on the first watch design, he knew that he had found an ideal partner. He described the partnership enthusiastically, “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.”

With his Rado True Square special edition, Tej Chauhan had a specific goal in mind, saying, “My main objective in these projects is to get people talking about the Rado brand through compelling, meaningful designs.” That mission was certainly accomplished. Building in the successes of True Square x Tej Chauhan, I want DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan to inspire dialogue and provide a natural way to tell the story of Rado’s material mastery, and the element I find most inspirational; the combination of high-tech material innovation and traditional Swiss watchmaking craftsmanship.

The basis of that first collaboration was the radical True Square, which had first been introduced in 2020. It was the first square watch made from solid high-tech ceramic and its flowing shapes were created using injection moulding. The True Square x Tej Chauhan model featured a matt yellow high-tech ceramic monobloc case that highlighted the unique texture of the high-performance material, and it immediately proved to be a resounding success. It was combined with a case back in polished dark grey PVD-coated stainless steel, whose faceted sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inside is a design element in its own right, and rounded out with the words ‘SPECIAL EDITION’ and ‘TEJ CHAUHAN’. It was complemented by a bracelet made from yellow cushion-shaped leather elements linked by high-tech ceramic connectors and secured by a stainless steel folding clasp with dark grey PVD coating.

And what a memorable face! Against the backdrop of a matt black dial with silver-coloured concentric circles, the central hands provide bold contrasts: the minute and hour hands are painted in white while the seconds hand is distinguished in vivid red. In an aperture at 3 o’clock, the date is displayed in neon orange in Tej Chauhan’s own typography. The whole presentation is rounded out with blue indexes between 9 and 12 o’clock.

The True Square x Tej Chauhan is powered by an automatic movement that offers an 80 hour power reserve. The watch is water resistant to 5 bar (50 metres).

Rado is proud of its first collaboration with Tej Chauhan. The cutting-edge brand and visionary designer share a passion for reimagining the future and with the Rado True Square x Tej Chauhan, they demonstrated just how evocative their partnership could be. And while it was wildly impressive, it was just the first step.

The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is the second collaboration between a watch brand that always defies expectations and one of the 21st century’s most influential industrial designers. The first, the Rado True Square x Tej Chauhan, the partnership delivered a futuristic vision of popular culture. With the new watch, Tej Chauhan was tasked with integrating his ‘Emotive Industrial Design’ approach into the DiaStar, one of Rado’s most iconic timepieces. The brand’s two Tej Chauhan watches make different statements but they share some unmistakable DNA. No one is better qualified to discuss them than the visionary British designer.

“DiaStar Original is a Rado icon,” says Tej Chauhan, “so my challenge was to create design distinction without compromising its integrity.” He wanted to generate a buzz about the new interpretation of a beloved watch without being overly polarising, which had also been a consideration with the True Square model. “I wanted this design to be its own special character, but also related to True Square. The two most obvious DNA elements are what we like to refer to – for obvious reasons – the party-time index, and the use of my typeface.”

Once again, colour, material tactility and graphical composition played integral roles. “For this DiaStar Original,” says Tej Chauhan, “the key material was Ceramos™ and as a result, my initial focus was on colour.” Early in the design process, he had considered shades of green but ultimately settled on a horological favourite: gold. “I wanted to see if I could put a fresh, contemporary spin on this otherwise classic colour.”

In Rado’s brief for the DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan was a special request. The strap should be crafted in rubber. “For me,” says the designer, “rubber straps always feel sporty, an attribute I wanted to avoid for this design.” That meant that he was faced with two clear challenges: to see if he could change the perceptions of a gold watch and to figure out how to bring a totally new feeling to rubber straps.

Was he able to meet the challenges? Tej Chauhan is clear, saying, “I think the result is very exciting, full of contemporary contrasts, which, to my eyes, make the final composition pop.” His collaborators at Rado agree completely, as CEO Adrian Bosshard confirms: “When we have the opportunity to work with Tej, our expectations are incredibly high and for this second collaboration, he exceeded them once again in every way. He is the undisputed master of the ‘wow factor’.”

The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is exactly what you would anticipate from the second collaboration between the Master of Materials and the British superstar of industrial design. With its reimagined DiaStar Original case in yellow-gold-coloured PVD presented on a radical rubber strap, it is guaranteed to capture every eye in the room. As you would expect from a design from the ever-active vision of Tej Chauhan, it looks as if it could have been delivered to 2025 via a time machine (which is appropriate as the watch itself is a rather splendid time machine!).

From the beginning of the project, Tej Chauhan understood his mission: he was charged with reinterpreting the DiaStar Original, a Rado legend that created a sensation when it was first launched in April of 1962. That watch, with its unmistakable design, has lived up to Rado’s original goal: the creation of an accurate watch with enduring beauty. Tej respected the legacy of that timepiece but delivered an update of the icon that extends the legacy beautifully. Mission clearly accomplished! Let’s check out the details.

The Ceramos™ bezel, as mentioned, is coated in yellow-gold coloured PVD. The stainless steel case middle and the crown, which are also coated in yellow gold-coloured PVD, extend the effect brilliantly. The polished dark grey PVD coated stainless steel case back is fitted with a sapphire crystal featuring the engraving ’SPECIAL EDITION TEJ CHAUHAN’.

An alluring matt black dial is on proud display through the radial faceted sapphire crystal. A pleasing contrast to the complex watch face is offered by the printed minute track in silver and blue, the colours that are also used for the applied indexes at each five-minute interval. There is a sandblasted black gold-coloured applied Rado logo and the word ’Automatic’ is printed in a silver colour. The brand’s much-loved moving anchor symbol – always a Rado fan favourite – is set against a black background.

The polished black gold-coloured central hour and minute hands are treated with white Super-LumiNova, and the seconds hand, in neon yellow paint, is another riveting highlight as it sweeps around the dial. A day-date window at the 3 o’clock position features Tej Chauhan’s proprietary font.

At the heart of the Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is Rado’s celebrated calibre R764, an automatic movement that delivers a power reserve of 80 hours. Exceeding standard testing requirements, the watch is adjusted in five positions and its antimagnetic Nivachron™ hairspring helps to ensure outstanding timekeeping performance. The timepiece is water resistant to 10 bar (100 metres).

And about that strap: it could only have been designed by Tej Chauhan. Crafted from grey pillow-shaped rubber, it is secured by a polished dark grey PVD coated stainless steel extendable folding clasp. The polished yellow gold-coloured cover and pushers, also designed by Tej Chauhan, are engraved ’DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan’.

The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is an update of a Rado classic that will appeal not only to long-time brand aficionados but to design enthusiasts. While it is distinguished by its radical design codes and, of course, the brand’s proprietary materials, it also offers extraordinary wearer comfort and durability thanks to the light weight of the yellow gold-coloured PVD-coated Ceramos™ bezel and facetted sapphire crystal glass.

The Rado DiaStar Original x Tej Chauhan is the product of a great watch brand working in close cooperation with the father of Emotive Industrial Design and the result is a time machine unlike any other.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Ref R12165155

MOVEMENT

• Rado calibre R764 automatic, 25 jewels, 3 hands, neon colour day and date printed at 3 o’clock (with Tej Chauhan’s proprietary font)
• 80-hour power reserve, antimagnetic Nivachron™ hairspring, exceeds standard test requirements from 3 to 5 positions for higher accuracy

CASE

• polished yellow gold coloured PVD coating Ceramos™ bezel
• polished yellow gold coloured PVD coated stainless steel middle part
• radial faceted sapphire crystal with anti-reflflective coating inside
• yellow gold coloured PVD coated stainless steel crown
• polished dark grey PVD coated stainless steel case back with sapphire crystal with special engraving: SPECIAL EDITION TEJ CHAUHAN
• water-resistant to 10 bar (100m)

DIAL

• matt black, concave with silver or blue printed minute track
• every 5-minute silver or blue applied indexes
• sandblasted black gold coloured applied Rado logo and moving anchor on black background silver coloured printed Automatic logo

HANDS

• polished black gold coloured with white Super-LumiNova® hour and minute hands polished black gold coloured with neon yellow paint second hand

STRAP

• grey pillow shaped rubber strap
• polished dark grey PVD coated stainless steel extendable folding clasp polished yellow gold coloured cover and pushers designed by Tej Chauhan engraved RADO x TC

DIMENSIONS

• 38.0 x 45.0 x 11.7