As far as ceramic Swiss watches goes, Rado was a pioneer and still does admirable work with the material. Notably Rado offers some of the most affordable ceramic timepieces in ceramic. Its latest ceramic timepiece is the HyperChrome Automatic Small Second, a 42 mm men’s automatic in a ceramic case.

Four versions of the HyperChrome Automatic Small Second are available, but all have a single-piece ceramic case with steel inserts on the side. The bracelet versions have a ceramic bracelet.

The black version is in matte black ceramic with rose gold plated accents, while the other models have a glossy finish. Notably, the three models in grey ceramic use a patented material Rado calls “plasma high-tech ceramic”, which has to be sintered at 20,000 °C.

The watch is conventionally styled, with a hint of TAG Heuer in the design, with the robust ETA 2895 inside. 

The base model HyperChrome Automatic Small Second on a leather strap retails for S$4500 (~US$3550), and its rises to S$5000 (~US$3940)for the top of the line version with a matching ceramic bracelet.