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Blackdog
·I wanted to add a good quality/brand backed bronze piece to the collection. Bronze is a bit niche and hardly as versatile as steel or Titanium so I didn’t want to spend a fortune, so turned to the “lesser” children of the Swatch group. Namely the Longines Legend Diver and the Rado Captain Cook, both in bronze.
The LLD is the more iconic, but I’m not sold on the green dial (the only option in bronze), and the very long lugs make it look too big on my 7.2” wrist (I have tried the steel one before).
Rado as a brand has never been in my radar before, their styling is quite far from what I normally like, but the reissue of the Captain Cook in 2017 was a big departure from their usual design language that surprised a lot of people. Me included. And the Bronze CC looked sweet…
After reading and watching all YT reviews, the Captain finally won me over. It is different, in a funky kind of way. Keeps a lot of elements from its vintage ancestor (closely recreated in the 37mm reissue), in a more modern, but still manageable size (42mm). I like they have 4 colorways for the bronze: Brown, Blue, Green and recently Burgundy. And your choice of leather or nato straps.
I went for brown on leather. Finish quality is excellent, the sunray brushed dial curved like the crystal, with golden applied markers and golden brushed hands, that play nicely with the light. I like the attention to details: the caseback is titanium, the bronze is CuAl (like the Tudor), which renders a more contained patina, and they apply a 3microns 23k gold coat to the case at the factory, to delay the onset of patina until the watch is with its final user.
They use one of the next generation ETA movements, the C07.611, an evolution of the 2824 with a different barrel (and lower 3Hz beat rate) for an 80 hours PR and a free sprung balance. This 611 version is the equivalent of the elaboré 2824 (the 111 being entry level with a synthetic escapement, and the 811 the COSC with a silicon hairspring).
So, not your typical Sub homage. Very happy with this one ! This is the Captain in all its funky glory !
Any more fans of the Captain Cook out there ?
The LLD is the more iconic, but I’m not sold on the green dial (the only option in bronze), and the very long lugs make it look too big on my 7.2” wrist (I have tried the steel one before).
Rado as a brand has never been in my radar before, their styling is quite far from what I normally like, but the reissue of the Captain Cook in 2017 was a big departure from their usual design language that surprised a lot of people. Me included. And the Bronze CC looked sweet…
After reading and watching all YT reviews, the Captain finally won me over. It is different, in a funky kind of way. Keeps a lot of elements from its vintage ancestor (closely recreated in the 37mm reissue), in a more modern, but still manageable size (42mm). I like they have 4 colorways for the bronze: Brown, Blue, Green and recently Burgundy. And your choice of leather or nato straps.
I went for brown on leather. Finish quality is excellent, the sunray brushed dial curved like the crystal, with golden applied markers and golden brushed hands, that play nicely with the light. I like the attention to details: the caseback is titanium, the bronze is CuAl (like the Tudor), which renders a more contained patina, and they apply a 3microns 23k gold coat to the case at the factory, to delay the onset of patina until the watch is with its final user.
They use one of the next generation ETA movements, the C07.611, an evolution of the 2824 with a different barrel (and lower 3Hz beat rate) for an 80 hours PR and a free sprung balance. This 611 version is the equivalent of the elaboré 2824 (the 111 being entry level with a synthetic escapement, and the 811 the COSC with a silicon hairspring).
So, not your typical Sub homage. Very happy with this one ! This is the Captain in all its funky glory !
Any more fans of the Captain Cook out there ?
