Rado Captain Cook Marina Hoermanseder
June 9, 2021French-Austrian fashion designer Marina Hoermanseder and Swiss watchmaker Rado collaborated on special Captain Cook timepiece.
The Rado Captain Cook x Marina Hoermanseder comes in a 37 mm x 11.1 mm stainless steel case that features a polished rose gold-colored PVD coating. Marina’s trademark buckle and the pink leather strap are included in a regular length version, an extra-long version made to go twice around the wrist, and a regular length black leather strap. All three straps have a toolless quick-release lever on each end of the strap, making switching between them a breeze. Additionally, each watch comes with a matching pink leather watch case, emblazoned with the Marina Hoermanseder logo, and with the signature buckle securing the closure.
A slightly curved glossy white dial is contrasted by rose-gold colored hands, indices, and encircled by the flange which is engraved with a minute/second chapter ring. Eight jubilé diamonds (125/130, Top Wesselton, VS-SI , full cut, weighing 0.064 carats) have been fitted to the hour markers, except at the poles, giving the watch some extra sparkle.
A boxed sapphire crystal protects the dial. Fitted on the top of the watch is a unidirectional bezel made of rose gold steel with a white scratch-resistant ceramic insert, with a graduated rose-gold dive scale. The screw-in polished stainless steel caseback is laser engraved with motifs of Hoermanseder’s buckles as well as her signature in the middle. The water resistance is rated down to 100 meters. Interestingly, the lume hue is a vintage style that blends in with all the gold elements. A moving anchor symbol with a rose gold-colored backplate spins around as the watch beats. Rado is printed in black just underneath the spinning emblem.
Melding edgy femininity and eccentric beauty in her fashion designs, Marina Hoermanseder is turning her attention to watches, summoning her well-honed fearlessness to create a new Captain Cook.
The 37mm Marina Hoermanseder Captain Cook is clearly Rado, with its white high-tech ceramic bezel insert, box-shaped sapphire crystal and automatic caliber R763 beating inside. But the spirit of Hoermanseder shines brightly in the details, and details, the award-winning French-Austrian designer says, are what it’s all about.
Hoermanseder is no stranger to color and here she has chosen a hue she calls “light rose with a touch of peach,” for two of the three leather straps that come with the timepiece (the third is black). The perfect shade is neither too pink to pander to the likes of “ladies watches,” nor too coral—a color that can often skid right past nuance. One of the straps is a double tour style whose smart looks and signature buckle point to her fashion aesthetic, as do the decorative rivets, which are often seen in her clothing designs.
The watchcase is polished rose gold-colored PVD stainless steel, and the polished stainless steel screw-down caseback features Hoermanseder’s name and signature.The watch’s three-hand dial is white, and rose gold-colored applied indexes with Super-LumiNova accents mark the hours, as do eight bezel-set Top Wessleton diamonds. The Rado and Captain Cook logos are printed in black, above and below center, while the date is at 3 o’clock. The hands, too, are rose gold-colored, as is the flange.
Hoermanseder founded her Berlin-based label in 2013, following an internship with Alexander McQueen and recognition for her work at various fashion weeks around the world. She debuted her first collection in 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin and the Fashion Scout in London. Her work has since gained the attention of a multitude of celebrities, including Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga and Kylie Jenner, who appreciate her ability to imaginatively spotlight the unconventional.
She is inspired by many things, most interestingly 18th century orthopedic corsets, finding beauty in the unusual. Details come into important play, such as the leather straps, buckles and rivets seen throughout her collections. But the corsets are also a metaphor, she says, for the strength and “spine” of women, thus empowering them through her creations and, no doubt, her hard-won position in the world of fashion.
Since both Rado and Hoermanseder share similar values of quality and craftsmanship, attention to detail and a willingness to step out of the norm, the timepiece collaboration was an easygoing one. The result, Hoermanseder says, is a watch that is “very bold, yet feminine. It is a timeless piece.” The choice of the Captain Cook as the structure of the project was daring, too, since the collection has heretofore not been offered in such clearly feminine attire. It wears it well.
Given Hoermanseder’s love of leather, it’s not surprising that the watch comes in a unique—and quite lovely—cylindrical leather case that may be repurposed for a multitude of uses. Yet another important detail that did not escape the attention of the accomplished young designer.