5 powerful timepieces for adventure seekers

From Casio to Zenith to Rado, you will want to include these strong and sturdy watches in your collection. […]

By John Ng

July 26, 2021

From Casio to Zenith to Rado, you will want to include these strong and sturdy watches in your collection.

Mido

Taking aesthetic inspiration from diving watches of the Sixties, the latest Mido Ocean Star Tribute showcases an extraordinarily resistant “glassbox” sapphire crystal matched with a sporty khaki-coloured fabric strap, which exudes an air of adventure. Encased within the 40.5mm polished steel case is a dial surrounded a unidirectional rotating bezel with a khaki aluminium ring. The bezel, indexes and hands are coated with white Super-LumiNova to ensure readability under water. The watch is possibly one of the strongest and most reliable instruments out there, thanks to the Calibre 80 – which offers unfailing power reserve of up to 80 hours and water-resistance up to a pressure of 200 metres. Style is anything but neglected – the hour and minute hands are presented in attention-grabbing flat diamond-cut while the white seconds hand is varnished with Mido’s iconic orange hue.

Rado

In the quest to take the Captain Cook collection to the next level, Rado introduces the Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection. It doesn’t merely feature an innovative ceramic monobloc case construction, scratch-resistant and hypoallergenic high-tech ceramic, but also calibre R734 with Nivachron hairspring – a material that shields the watch from damaging magnetic fields. A major highlight is the classy yet mysterious black tinted sapphire crystal dial and case-back, which allows wearer to appreciate the inner workings of the skeletonised movement while retaining utmost legibility. Additionally, the dial is accentuated by the Rado rotating anchor at 12 o’clock and is protected by a chevé box sapphire crystal.

Seiko

To celebrate its 140th anniversary, Seiko uses white and blue in four watches from four collections – namely Astron, Prospex, Presage and 5 Sports. The limited edition Prospex Diver’s watch (SPB213) presents a white dial with touches of blue in reference to a cloudless sky. The satin-brushed 40.5mm steel case shows a radical pattern on the front and a horizontal design on the case band. The watch features a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and is heavily coated to shield it from scratches – and thanks for the screw-down crown and screwed case, it’s water-resistance of up to 200 metres. The powerful in-house automatic movement 6R35 regulates within +25 to -15 seconds per day.

Casio

A new addition to the square full metal Casio 5000 series, the GMW-B5000TR is a shock-resistant watch made with a new titanium alloy developed specially for G-Shock. The external components employ a new titanium alloy from TranTixxii designing titanium brand. This special material delivers roughly twice the hardness of pure titanium, but still boasts the same lightweight, anticorrosive and hypoallergenic properties. The intense hardness makes it possible to produce a mirror finish comparable to stainless steel on titanium, which typically has been difficult to process in this way. Casio has also taken advantage of this advanced technology to create its first full-metal watch with multicolour ion plating, with the multicolour dial adding to the pop feel.

Zenith

Zenith continues to keep the tradition alive with the new generation of the El Primero calibre in the Chronomaster Sport in rose gold. For this modern yet timeless sporty-chic chronograph, the 41mm case is crafted in 18-carat rose gold with pump-style pushers. The polished black ceramic bezel is engraved with 1/10th of a second scale, filled with matte gold lacquer matching the case and dial for a bold contrast and exceptional legibility of the fractional elapsed time display on the bezel. The white lacquered dial features the iconic tri-colour chronograph counters in shades of rhodium, anthracite and blue, while the hands and applied markers carry on the gold and black palette. Equipped with the latest El Primero 3600 calibre, it’s able to offer a 1/10th of second display from the 5 Hz (36’000 VpH) escapement, as well as an extended power reserve of 60 hours.