My Black Friday purchase.

[Henry Krinkle]

First off let me say that I have never ever before but any Black Friday thing.

When Rado first announced the 50th anniversary model I was quite critical of it, to say the least. Rado celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Diastar with two wonderful LEs, including possibly the nicest Diastar ever, and a boxed set of six LEs representing each decade the Diastar was available plus the Accustar , with 100 day power reserve Accuquartz movement.

A member on the Rado forum had a 50th and a few of his pictures got me wondering whether I had been hasty. That member has been prodding me from time to time and when he pointed me at Ashford's Black Friday price, I finally bit. The price I paid was less than one can pay for a Seiko 5 here in my town.

This is the third time I have dealt with Ashford and their service has been phenomenal. The watch arrived this morning complete with shipping carton and a new sturdier outer box. Glad to see the anchor back on both of Rados packaging. Here are some quick pics and first impressions.
Inside the outer box was a treat.



1962 style inner packaging for both the watch and the



Cufflinks. And yes, the anchors on the cufflinks rotate.



Love the flat crystal, 10mm thickness and the broad ring and flatter profile of the 50th. Though the date window is not trapezoidal the black date and the Diastar0/ 1 style black second hand are nice touches. The Diastar 40 and the 40 Years LEs were both new entries in the Diastar catalogue. The 50th Anniversary LE is clearly an acknowledgement of their past.





Close up:



The lume is surpisingly...OK and super crisp.