Renato Cappuccitti used to see it all the time, and it would drive him nuts.
As Bajío’s vice president of operations and Rx, he’d be at a boat show, and people would come over to say they owned and loved the company’s sunglasses. “But they have a pair of readers around their neck on the cord, and they hold them up over the glasses they’re wearing,” he says.
Hence, the line of readers from Bajío that launched in March. By the time this issue of Yachting is on newsstands, reader lenses are expected to be available in every frame style the company makes.
The reader sunglasses are a modern take on traditional bifocals, available in powers of +1.5, +2.0 and +2.5. The magnifier is embedded in the back of the lens, so there is no prominent line (like in the old days) telling the world that the glasses are bifocals. And because the magnifier is on the inside of the lens, it is also a lot less likely to get scratched.
“What’s really nice about a reader like this is that it’s a very quick learning curve versus progressives,” he says. “That takes your brain a week or two to adjust. Anybody who has had that experience with progressives, you don’t have that same experience with these.”
Cappuccitti says boaters find the readers helpful for maintaining protection from the sun while tying flies for fishing, looking at helm displays and using apps on a mobile device. Just like readers from the drugstore, these sunglasses can be worn while doing anything on board that requires a close-up view. “In sunglasses, bifocal makes the most sense for a reader,” he says. “We don’t want someone to be blinded by the bright light when they take off their sunglasses to read something. Now you get the protection from the sun, and you can still read or see something small.”
The lenses are made of polycarbonate, which is the same material most people have in reading glasses at home. Like the bio-based frames that Bajío uses, the reader lenses are lightweight too.
Orders ship from the Florida factory within 48 hours with a choice of frames and lens colors.
