True Face by Rado x Oskar Zieta

The True Face is the fifth in a series of six watches where Rado collaborates with today’s up and coming modern designers across multiple genres. Today, we consider at the work of Polish architect Oskar Zieta.

Oskar Zieta is an architect and the founder and CEO of Zieta Prozessdesign. The graduate of Swiss Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule has received numerous design accolades, including the German Design Council Prize and the Red Dot Award: Accolades and kudos accrued by one fundamental discovery during his PHD studies – a unique method known as FiDU, a metal-inflating process conceived by Zieta during his time at ETH Zurich. In the latest design collaboration with Rado, the innovative Zieta creates the Rado True Face using his signature reflective metal technique, reinforcing the Swiss watchmaker’s modern philosophy for high-tech materials and construction techniques.

Housed in matt grey high-tech ceramic case, the Rado True Face takes its name from the high gloss, highly reflective dial, courtesy of the FiDU technique pioneered by Zieta – satin finished neutral grey case and bracelet plays up the reflective metallic concave dial, each in harmonious synergy with the other – the matted surface appears more matt while the sheen of the glossy dial appears just that little more shiny.

The concave “Face” of the Rado True Face is made with a a disc of stainless steel that has been mirror polished, just as you would the bridge of a tourbillon, to achieve a mesmerizing reflective finish. The result is utterly mesmerising but the final coup de grace isn’t the face, it’s hidden in the most unexpected of places: the hands. Owners of the Rado True Face will be surprised to notice the underside of the matt grey hands with rose gold-coloured finish, allowing the dance of the minutes and hours to be reflected in an entirely different hue, glints of gold reflected back towards you as you gaze at the True Face.

Made to be noticed, the True Face is emblematic of Zieta’s other work with polished stainless steel: from the large sculptural pavilion designed for Wroclaw’s Dailowa Island in his native homeland to his polished Plopp furnishings and fittings, Zieta’s unique vision is distinctive in any shape, size and form.

Zieta’s passion and understanding for material science make him a natural partner for Rado, the Swiss watchmaker which has made a name for itself in modern watchmaking as the pioneering adopter of advanced ceramics. Zieta’s experiments and executions of stainless steel elevate that artistic and visual values of such a base material into the level of a precious one is particularly admirable and especially synonymous with a brand that has done the same for ceramics and in their hyperchrome series.

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