Let’s be honest, how many of you would choose to take the Rado Captain Cook Automatic Chronograph on a sailing trip around the world? The watch is named after Captain James Cook, the famous British 18th-century explorer and cartographer, but I doubt the watch’s buyers follow in the famous navigator’s footsteps. Twenty-first-century life for most doesn’t include navigating thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. Instead, we explore metropolitan areas and the great outdoors that is, quite often, not so great any longer. Still, it’s nice to take a bit of adventurous nautical inspiration with you on the wrist. The Rado Captain Cook Automatic Chronograph in bronze is just that. So yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum, and away we go for a hands-on review!

You don’t have to set out to map lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in great detail anymore. Captain Cook already did that for you. What you could do instead is take a cruise in the Pacific Ocean and enjoy the bronze Rado Captain Cook Automatic Chronograph in its inspirational habitat. Or you could just wear it around the urban area you probably live in. The watch has a strong nautical influence, but in the end, this watch is more about looks than marine functionality. And there’s nothing wrong with that in my book.
Growing up, I was always aware of Rado as a watch brand. Before my obsession with watches began, I knew of the brand thanks to my mother’s love for tennis and Rado’s connection to the tennis world. My mother is a keen tennis player and expressed a fondness for the Rado tennis watch on more than one occasion. Since those times, I have come to foster my own fondness for the brand, but that’s down to its Captain Cook line. And this fondness is only enhanced further by the addition of three new watches. I am, of course, talking about the new Rado Captain Cook Chronograph.

Since Rado reintroduced the Captain Cook to its collection, we’ve seen the watch feature multiple guises. There have been different sizes, colors, and metals, and it’s even received Rado’s Hi-Tech Ceramic makeover. Earlier this month, Rado also reintroduced the Captain Cook Overpole from 1962, showing the wearer a second timezone thanks to the world-time bezel in conjunction with an internal 24-hour scale. The introduction of the new Rado Captain Cook Chronograph is just another string to the bow of the collection, and it’s a positive move indeed.
The Rado Captain Cook is, without a doubt, one of Rado’s most emblematic watches. Named after the famous British explorer, the model was released in 1962 as a 37mm diver with a water resistance of 200 metres. Since it was relaunched in 2017, several Captain Cook models have been presented, such as the Bronze collection or the High-Tech Ceramic. Today, Rado gives us a new take on the design with a chronograph version, just after a very cool Over-Pole Limited Edition. This useful, popular complication will be welcome by the Captain Cook’s fan, all the more that the case lends itself particularly well for this function. Let’s take a closer look at the Rado Captain Cook Chronograph.