2024 Czapek Quai des Bergues Double Soleil Aqua Blue | N°17 | Full Set

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. Catchy name, too.

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 N°17 Double Soleil is the 40.5mm intermediate case size, sitting between the original 42.5mm and the smaller 38.5mm options. The case design draws on H.R. Giger's biomechanical aesthetic according to CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel (seen again in the Antarctique's SXH5 movement), with curved lugs and the signature Czapek crown shield.

The Aqua Blue dial uses a guilloché pattern called "Double Soleil," developed in collaboration with Czapek's dial maker Metalem and named for the parhelion atmospheric phenomenon (the double sun effect). The pattern radiates outward from the sub-dials with a vertical symmetry and deeper cuts than Czapek's earlier guilloché work. The trick is that the rays read as either radiating outward or being drawn inward depending on the light. Applied elongated indices and rhodium-plated fleur-de-lis steel hands.

The caliber SXH1 is a hand-wound movement developed for Czapek by Chronode in Le Locle (Jean-François Mojon's atelier). Two mainspring barrels deliver a 168-hour (7-day) power reserve, with a variable-inertia balance, Breguet terminal curve, and 31 jewels. The dial includes one of Czapek's signature features: a sub-dial between 4 and 5 o'clock that combines a power reserve indicator and a day-of-the-week display through a single double-ended hand. The system references François Czapek's 19th century pocket watches, designed for owners who would wind their watches every Sunday after Mass: fully wound on Sunday, the hand reads seven days remaining and points to Sunday simultaneously. The movement finishing includes partially openworked bridges, double open ratchets, sandblasted plates, heat-blued screws, hand-chamfered angles, and circular graining.

This 2024 example is in excellent condition with the full set.

Condition: Excellent.

Includes: Full set.