The Watch: To hear the brand tell it, Czapek traces its name to Franciszek Czapek, who co-founded Patek, Czapek & Cie in Geneva in 1839 before the partnership dissolved and his name faded from horological memory. But that's just marketing. The revived brand, launched in 2015, has built its reputation on in-house movements and distinctive design.
The Quai des Bergues is the watch that returned the Czapek name to the industry in 2015, named for the Geneva address where François Czapek established his original workshop in 1845.
The dial is hand guilloché by Metalem, in the Ricochet pattern, which traces the capillary waves thrown off when droplets hit still water. The interference between the two wave fields falls between the subdials. Indices are applied and elongated, and the Fleur de Lys hands are rhodium-plated steel.
The subdial at 4:30 combines a power reserve indicator and a day of the week display through a single double-ended hand. That comes from Czapek's 19th century pocket watches, made for owners who wound once a week on Sunday, so the seven day reserve and the seven days of the week run on the same scale. Small seconds sit at 7:30.
The caliber SXH1 is hand wound, developed for Czapek by Jean-François Mojon's Chronode atelier in Le Locle. Two mainspring barrels deliver 168 hours of reserve at 21,600 vph, with 31 jewels, a variable-inertia balance, and a Breguet terminal curve. The finishing includes partially openworked bridges, double open ratchets, sandblasted plates, heat-blued screws, hand-chamfered angles, and circular graining, visible through the sapphire caseback.
This 2023 example is in excellent condition with the full set.
Condition: Excellent.
Includes: Full set.
