Did Ji Chang-wook go from watch model ambassador to look at designer…fully by chance? A Rado international model ambassador since 2023, the display star well-known for his lead roles in Healer, Empress Ki and different South Korean hit tv collection was on a go to to the Rado headquarters in Switzerland in March 2024 when he took a tour by way of Comadur, the manufacturing facility for Rado’s high-tech ceramic elements. What was anticipated to be a normal stroll by way of the analysis facility and lab, a presentation of its manufacturing processes and possibly a brief Q&A ended up changing into an in-depth dialogue of high-tech ceramic and its properties, involving questions on ceramic powder, casting particular person components, infusing colors and even the manufacturing means of sapphire crystal, in response to 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 undoubtedly occur. Primarily based on Rado’s True Sq., which the actor named because the watch he enjoys essentially the most and often 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 beginning 12 months of 1987; hour markers made up of a dozen rubies, his birthstone and likewise a nod to purple’s function in Korean tradition as an emblem of fortune, vitality and safety; an openworked dial to replicate his character; and a black exterior to keep up an air of secrecy.
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, purple Tremendous-Luminova accentuates the rhodium-coloured hour and minute palms, whereas nickel-coloured bevels add depth to the vertical-brushed dial. Round graining on the bridges and Geneva stripes on the motion holder could be admired by way of the openwork dial, and all these inside 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 Computerized 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
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