An Underrated Diver Watch Finds Its Stroke, but Not in the Water
At this summer’s muggy, rain-soaked Mubadala Citi DC Open, Rado staged its own rally with the debut of the Captain Cook × Tennis Limited Edition, a diver as at home on the baseline as it is courtside. And Highsnobiety got an exclusive look at the watch on-site and on-wrist.
The watch is Rado at full wrist strength, featuring a 39mm case with the Captain Cook’s vintage curves, a stainless steel beads-of-rice bracelet, plus three NATO straps in green, blue, and clay orange to match the surfaces of tennis courts.
Four neon-yellow lume pips mark 15, 30, 40, and match point, while a tennis-ball-tipped seconds hand sneaks across the dial. The run is capped at 1,985 pieces, nodding to the year Rado first sponsored the Swiss Open Gstaad.
That history is key. 2025 marks 40 years since Rado became “Official Timekeeper” in Gstaad and the DC Open, the only 500-level event where ATP and WTA pros share the clay courts. The latter feels like the perfect stage to unveil Rado’s newest design.
Founded by Arthur Ashe with the stipulation that it remain public and accessible, the DC Open reflects the same prestige-meets-approachability ethos Rado has been quietly cultivating for decades.
The Captain Cook × Tennis LE also shows why Rado deserves a louder reputation. This is the brand behind scratch-proof ceramic with the DiaStar, the anatomical curves of the Anatom, and a catalog of cult designs that look like no one else’s in the watch space at the moment.
The Captain Cook has become its vintage-infused crossover hit, and this edition layers in tennis-coded details that give it cultural gravity when tennis is so hot right now.
Right now, tennis is everywhere: Zendaya’s Challengers run, pleats and polos on Paris runways, courts doubling as runways. In that moment, Rado’s Captain Cook × Tennis isn’t just an anniversary piece. This is the most tennis-coded diver out, and maybe the best argument yet for Rado to step out from underdog status.
Call it a tennis-core diver, call it peak Rado, either way, it’s a winner.
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