Did Ji Chang-wook go from watch model ambassador to look at designer…fully accidentally? A Rado world model ambassador since 2023, the display screen star well-known for his lead roles in Healer, Empress Ki and different South Korean hit tv sequence was on a go to to the Rado headquarters in Switzerland in March 2024 when he took a tour by means of Comadur, the manufacturing facility for Rado’s high-tech ceramic elements. What was anticipated to be a typical stroll by means of the analysis facility and lab, a presentation of its manufacturing processes and perhaps a brief Q&A ended up turning into an in-depth dialogue of high-tech ceramic and its properties, involving questions on ceramic powder, casting particular person elements, infusing colors and even the manufacturing means of sapphire crystal, in keeping with the model.
Given Ji Chang-wook’s sharp curiosity in ceramic watchmaking, the go to was not even over earlier than it was determined between him and Rado CEO Adrian Bosshard {that a} collaboration particular version would positively occur. Primarily based on Rado’s True Sq., which the actor named because the watch he enjoys probably the most and incessantly wears himself, the True Sq. Open Coronary heart x Ji Chang-wook Restricted Version was unveiled in late November 2025 on the opening of Rado’s first flagship boutique in Bangkok and is replete with references to him: a restricted run of 987 items, seemingly a tribute to his delivery yr of 1987; hour markers made up of a dozen rubies, his birthstone and in addition a nod to crimson’s function in Korean tradition as a logo of fortune, vitality and safety; an openworked dial to mirror his character; and a black exterior to keep up an aura.
On the technical entrance, the watch’s monobloc case, crown and bracelet are all crafted from matt black high-tech ceramic, with the case measuring 38 millimetres by 44.2 millimetres, at a thickness of 9.7 millimetres. Rado’s self-winding calibre R734, fitted with an antimagnetic Nivachron hairspring, retains correct time. Eighty hours of energy reserve and 50 metres of water-resistance lend the watch a good quantity of sensible benefit. To echo the rubies, crimson Tremendous-Luminova accentuates the rhodium-coloured hour and minute arms, whereas nickel-coloured bevels add depth to the vertical-brushed dial. Round graining on the bridges and Geneva stripes on the motion holder may be admired by means of the openwork dial, and all these inner elements are safely ensconced between a sand-blasted titanium caseback with a smoked sapphire crystal and a flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on each faces.
MOVEMENT Automated calibre R734; 80-hour energy reserve
CASE 38 millimetres by 44.2 millimetres high-tech ceramic; water resistant to 50 metres
STRAP Excessive-tech ceramic
PRICE $5,150
For extra on the newest in luxurious watch reads, click on right here.
