Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Czapek – ANTARCTIQUE Revrelation Edition


CzapekANTARCTIQUE Révélation Edition 2023

 THE ANTARCTIQUE RÉVÉLATION:
CZAPEK’S BEAUTIFUL HEART UNVEILED

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Geneva, March 2023 – Czapek & Cie has announced the release of a striking new model in its popular Antarctique collection. As its name suggests, the Antarctique Révélation has been skillfully skeletonized and the new bespoke, purpose-built movement exposes its pulsating heart on the dial side, to the thrill of the wearer.

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The high art of skeletonisation allows connoisseur and neophyte alike to discover and delight in the inner workings of a watch, the interplay of the hollowed-out bridges, wheels, and hands around a filigree mainplate.

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Czapek & Cie’s Antarctique Révélation takes this idea even further. The movement itself is placed on the dial side, where it acts as a fascinating animation to thrill the wearer. 

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It recalls the Antarctique Rattrapante launched in 2021, which featured the first split-seconds chronograph to appear on the dial. Inspiration came once more from the fans of the brand, says CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel: “People were in love with the remarkable design of our SXH5 movement, and we therefore asked ourselves how we could somehow make it visible on the dial.”

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What sounded simple at first became a three-year saga of deep exploration into aesthetics and engineering. The powerful SXH5 was an outstanding caliber on its own merit and with an exceptionally stark design, in particular the fine bridges angling over to grip the gearwheels, a hint of the nineteenth-century Czapek pocket watch movements.

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“One of the first requests had been to engrave a drawing of the movement onto the dial, as a ‘trompe l’oeil,’” says de Roquemaurel. “But soon a far more complex idea emerged, namely turning part of the movement upside down in the case and skeletonizing the main plate.” 

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The decision raised a number of significant challenges, the first one being to completely reverse the escapement. Then the oscillating mass had to be engraved on both sides, for example, and the crown mechanism, now visible to the naked eye, had to be reworked entirely. On a more technical note, the seconds hand could no longer be connected by a bridge to the center, so space was made at 4:30 for a small seconds dial.

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The solution was to use sapphire crystal ring for the seconds. It is discreetly attached to the larger sapphire ring carrying the hours and minutes and ensuring as much transparency as possible, so the wearer can take a deep dive into the mechanism.

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Gradually, what emerged was a new movement, the SXH7. As it evolved, elements from other Czapek models found their place, like the central tripod from the Antarctique Rattrapante holding together the finely cut out bridges. The position of the small seconds, too, is reminiscent of the famous day-date subdial of the Quai des Bergues.

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The Antarctique Révélation will be released at Watches and Wonders 2023 with a limited yearly production of 100 pieces. It will be available to order starting from April 1st at the brand’s official international retailers, the Czapek boutique in Geneva, rue de la Corraterie 18, and at czapek.com. Deliveries will start in January 2025.

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About Czapek & Cie
 

François Czapek was a Czech-born Polish watchmaker who fled to Geneva in 1832 after fighting in the Polish uprising. He immediately started his own atelier and in 1839 entered into a partnership with Antoine Norbert de Patek, introducing him to the world of watchmaking. In 1845, at the end of their partnership, he created Czapek & Cie and achieved considerable success. He became the official watchmaker of Napoleon III and opened, what was most likely the first watchmaking boutique on the Place Vendome in Paris. 

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He wrote a book about watchmaking, but unfortunately, he died before publishing a second one. Czapek & Cie has been revived in 2015 with an exceptional collection, whose leading model won the Public Prize in the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie in Geneva in November 2016. This collection takes its inspiration from an 1850’s Czapek time piece. It features a beautiful enamel dial and a 7-day proprietary movement perfectly combining craftsmanship with design and exclusivity with rarity. The Company second collection, a suspended Tourbillon with a second time-zone, was launched one year later in 2017, while the first Czapek chronograph Faubourg de Cracovie was unveiled at Baselworld 2018. The company is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

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TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Model:  GARRICK Antarctique Révélation Edition

  • Stainless Steel case, mechanical skeletonized movement
  • Minutes track and small second subdial in grey smoked sapphire crystal.
  • Micro-rotor SXH7 caliber, entirely conceived in-house by Czapek & Cie. 

Limited edition of 100 pieces

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MOVEMENT
Calibre SXH7: Czapek's in house self-winding mechanical skeletonized movement
Diameter: 30 mm – 13 lines ¼
Height: 4.2 mm
Number of parts: 152
Jewels: 25

Swiss lever escapement, variable-inertia balance fitted with four gold inertia-blocks
Frequency: 4 Hz – 28800 VpH
Power winding system: Micro rotor with an 100% recycled platinum mass
Power-reserve > 60 hours on one single barrel
Barrel torque: 8.8 Nmm
FINISH
Open ratchets, sandblasted black bridges, bevelling, straight-grained sides, six hand-chamfered inward angles
FUNCTIONS
Hours, Minutes & Seconds
CASE
40.5mm Stainless steel case
Height: 10.6 mm
Sapphire crystal glass-box with anti-reflective treatment ARDur©
Sapphire crystal case-back with anti-reflective treatment
Water resistance: 120 meters (12 atm)
Screwed-down crown
Watch weight: 95g
DIAL
Minutes track and small second subdial in grey smoked sapphire crystal
Luminescent, steel “Sword” hands
BRACELET
Integrated stainless steel bracelet with Czapek exclusive "Easy Release" system and micro-adjustment device
Additional calf leather or rubber strap 
 
Our Partners
    Conception: Daniel Martinez, Adrian Buchmann, Emmanuel Bouchet, Patrick Rossi & Xavier de Roquemaurel
    Components and movement manufacturing: AB Product, Arcofil, Atokalpa, Ceramaret, Chronode, CMT-Rickenbach, Comblemine, Crelier, Generale Ressort, Inca, Inodeco, Inhotec, MLV, MPS, Novasort, Precipro, Risa, Stocco and as well a few standard components.
    Habillage: AB Product, Capsa, Econorm, Gravages, HMS Waeber, Jean Rousseau, Metalem


PRODUCTION
- Limited edition of 100 pieces
🔴  PRICE CHF 38’950 or $ 38’500 (US duties incl.)

🔰Edition - Only of ✅ 100 pieces

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Press Release - 2023
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Czapek & Cie – 2, Rue Saint-Léger, 1205 Genève Suisse
Contact presse: Valeria Garavaglia Pedroni
Email: valeria@czapek.com | jane@czapek.com (UK)
Tel.  +41 79 314 08 54
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