The New Rado True Square Automatic Open Heart Sparkling

Rado has become a byword for design-led, high-tech ceramic watches spearheaded by the Ceramica watch of 1990. Although the fully integrated case and bracelet of the Cermica were more rectangular in shape, the sleek, minimalist style passed down through the family tree and was inherited by the True Square Automatic collection, released thirty years later, in 2020. Adopting a square case with an integrated bracelet, the True Square Automatic comes with closed, skeletonised and open heart models. With the holiday season just around the corner, Rado decks its True Square Automatic Open Heart out in a festive spirit, sparkling with a snow-like texture and diamonds to mark the passing hours.

A perfect unisex watch candidate, the compact 38mm case has a slim height of 9.7mm and is available in lustrous white high-tech ceramic and a more metallic version in plasma high-tech ceramic. Thanks to the highly polished surfaces, the rounded contours of the square case, crown and integrated bracelet take on an almost liquid-like effect. In addition to the inviting tactile sensations of ceramic, high-tech ceramic is extremely scratch-resistant, hypoallergenic and featherlight: the white ceramic weighs 116.5g and the plasma 118.5g.

As a pioneer in the development of innovative, ultra-resilient, scratch-resistant materials, starting with the DiaStar of 1962, Rado knows a thing or two about developing novel materials. The dials of the new watches are treated to a unique electroplating process producing a uniform diamond-powder effect. Applied to the openworked bridges and flange placed over the movement, the surfaces glisten and sparkle like freshly fallen snow. It’s worth mentioning, though, that the scintillating textured surface is not a bright white colour but a more discreet soft grey tone. The flange also sparkles with the light of 12 diamond hour markers.

Protected by a sapphire crystal, the square cut-away dial is divided into four areas intersected by lines and two circles framing the balance wheel at noon and parts of the gear train at 7 o’clock. The white ceramic version is combined with rose gold-coloured elements, including the hands, the Rado moving anchor logo at 3 o’clock and the internal frame of the openworked dial. Matching its darker, metallic personality, the plasma model plays with yellow gold-coloured elements. The silvery bridges over the movement are decorated with perlage, and the four corners of the dial feature vertical Côtes de Genève finishing. To assist legibility, the slim hour and minute hands have a strip of white Super-LumiNova at their tips.

The Rado calibre R734 skeletonised automatic movement (ETA C07.611 / Powermatic 80 base) has a Rado-branded rotor, a frequency of 21,600vph, a magnetic-resistant Nivachron hairspring and a robust 80-hour power reserve.

The new True Square Automatic Open Heart Sparkling models retail for CHF 3,050. More information at rado.com.