Rado Unveils Its Great Gardens of the World Watch Collaboration
With dials inspired by the look and textures of endangered plants.
Rado just revealed a special watch collection in partnership with the Great Gardens of the World organization. The collaboration sees three timepieces, each inspired by a different endangered plant species, where both parties unite their mutual appreciation for beauty and design into watchmaking.
Separated into three different chapters and numbered 8, 9, and 10, the watches all sport a 40mm case made of high-tech ceramic, complete with a matching crown in a monobloc construction. Beating inside the timepieces is Rado’s own R766 automatic movement, geared with anti-magnetic Nivachron™ hairspring, 64-hour power reserve, and 3 bars of water resistance.
Chapter 8 draws its design inspiration from the Loulu lelo palm trees in Hawaii. The endemic plant’s unique leaf textures are recreated onto the black dial in a pleated and stamped structure. The brand’s logo, along with hour and minute hands are painted in a yellow-gold hue for enhanced contrast and legibility.
Meanwhile, Chapter 9 arrives in an all-white look with silver-tone embellishments. Crafted in mother-of-pearl, the dial boasts an opalescent color effect with a design that emulates the structure of Chilean Araucaria.
As for Chapter 10, its two-layer dial translates an upward view of a Yemeni Dragon Blood Tree via a rose gold-hued back plate, and a sun-brushed rhodium-colored skeletonized top layer. The rest of the timepiece comes in a polished plasma high-tech ceramic build, paired with a rose-gold colored logo and matching hands.
All three references are priced at $2,700 USD and will soon be available via the brand’s online store. The trio of watches will also be offered in a 99-piece limited-edition collector’s box, with price and availability upon request via Rado.
In case you missed it, a Patek Philippe wristwatch owned by the Last Emperor of China sets three records at Phillips’s auction yesterday.
