Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Rado has won the 2008 Design Distinction Award for the Jasper Morrison-designed packaging of its Ceramica Chronograph Limited Edition.

Jasper Morrison is one of today’s most influential industrial designers, famous for his minimalist and functional approach towards design. He redesigned Rado’s Ceramica Chronograph for its 50 year anniversary.

Crafted entirely of black leather, with no visible stitching, the watch case is oval to represent the human wrist. One of five chemical symbols representing the gold alloy of the model in the box is heat-stamped on the top surface.

“Jasper restyled Rado’s iconic Ceramica in a limited edition of 50 watches in five gold variants, from white to pink gold.” said Nadja Zerunian, creative director of Rado. “Each variant represents a decade and only 10 per color are available worldwide.”

Since 1954, the Annual Design Review has recognized the best in product, furniture, graphic and environment design, from the iconic to the obscure. For 2008, it had more than 2,000 separate entries from around the world, but only 131 pieces were selected. They will be seen in I.D’s July/August 2008 issue of International Design magazine, on its Web site, www.id-mag.com, and in a July exhibition at the Parson’s School of Design.

Rado’s prize-winning watch box.

JCK