Tracing Origins: Radium Kommando
The evolution of the Radium Kommando started in 2015. At this point, our range consisted of ORIGINAL, SABOTØR MK I & MK II, and we wanted to launch a “dressier” model with a less military tone.
Radium Number 56
The idea of a honeycomb-pattern dial was inspired by the 1953 Rolex Ref. 6350 Explorer. The first prototype (Radium number 56) had a two-layer brass dial. The bottom layer featured our now abandoned “Norge” logo and was silver plated. The reason it was abandoned is that we didn’t own the design. Traditionally used on old Norwegian glass jars, the logo was in the public domain at the time, however it was copyrighted again around 2015 for use on drinking glasses and other kitchenware. The top layer dial was electro-chemically blackened to a shiny finish. The watch featured our standard aluminum case (today called “historic” or LongLugs) and Swiss ETA 6497-1.
The Special Forces watch
Following social media content showing the watch being used on an expedition to the Himalayas, a guy from a Norwegian Special Forces unit reached out about creating their unit wristwatch based on the 56. The silver logo was then replaced with the unit’s emblem and “Radium” was replaced by a different word we promised we would never disclose, so we won’t. The cases were anodized black.
The first Kommando
The military unit was happy with their new watch, so we decided to create an identical version for the civilian market, using our normal aluminum case to differentiate it from the military version. The name “Kommando” came about as a nod to Norwegian freedom-fighters, who were also known as commandos. Like “Number 56”, the first Kommando dial featured our old Radium logo.
New logo model
The Kommando remained unchanged until our new logo came about in 2018, and was released as a stealth model using grey lume (Kommando Gråbein) and later as a desert-colored mono-version (Kommando ørken).
Air, Sea, Land.
2021 saw the release of three new versions. Still featuring the historic or LongLugs case, these models featured all-new dials and colored lume. Yellow for air, blue for sea and green for land. The air model has a perforated dial, sea has waves and land has the pattern from the tires of a classic military vehicle, the Volvo Felt aka Volvo Valp.
Kommando today.
Following the launch of our SL or ShortLugs case with Swiss self-winding Sellita 200B caliber, there have been frequent requests for a SL Auto Kommando. So, the Kommando is now available both as ShortLugs Auto and LongLongs handwind.
Originally an attempt at making a dressy Radium, the Kommando became a Special Forces favourite – and the rest is history.
