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 ?

 

Big fan of the Rado CC. Over the summer, I was at the outlets in Sevierville, TN. They had a few CC's that were retailed at $2,000 that were being offered at $1,300 OTD.

The Mrs. actual encouraged me to get one, but, I was short sighted and passed. I am regretting that to this day.

BTW, that is very striking with the leather strap.

 

Not unusual to get discounts on these. I got mine from a dealer in Chrono24 for a nice price too.
Which one did you miss ? The 37mm ?

The strap is amazingly comfortable. I ordered the official Nato too, so I can eventually get it wet in the summer, should have it next week. Not cheap, but wanted to have the official hardware in the right type of bronze.

 

It was the 42mm Automatic.

It was so well finished, but, it did not have the 'feel' i was looking for. I think that anything compared to my 44mm AT will feel too light.

 

Congratulations and what a nice looker!

 

Nice choice I like that bronze I picked up a 37mm CC came with three straps, steel, leather and a NATO in a nice little leather case with a strap changing tool and extra spring bars. Also has the 80hr power reserve which it holds quite well and is accurate as hec after a few days. Is the bronze one the 1,962 made per model? I would definitely consider RADO again after how this one has treated me