The new Antarctique Tourbillon marks the beginning of a special year for Czapek: the 10th anniversary year since the revival of Czapek & Cie, which coincides with the 180th anniversary of the namesake Maison founded in 1845 by François Czapek.
Czapek & Cie unveiled a distinctive piece and started a new chapter in its history in 2020. The Antarctique is a stainless-steel everyday watch with a strong character, which quickly became popular among horology fans. The Antarctique line has already a smaller member, the Antarctique S and different models – for example with deep blue aventurine dial, fabric patterned dial (like Sashiko, a type of traditional Japanese embroidery), or skeleton version.
Antarctique Tourbillon
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Czapek’s revival, the company launched the Antarctique Tourbillon with different mesmerising dials. It is offered in a choice of three dial colours: cool Glacier Blue, goldish Photon Sphere and the mythical grey Secret Alloy, a limited-edition of 50 pieces.
Czapek has been collaborating with Swiss watch dial-maker Metalem since the beginning, now they developed together a new, trompe l’oeil guilloché design, named Singularité. The result is a dramatic vortex effect, giving the impression of infinite depth.
The watch designers gave a facelift to the case, taking the curved glass box principle of the Antarctique Rattrapante as the starting point, the front and back sapphire crystals have been subtly raised. This creates the impression that there is no bezel and increases the impression of ‘slimness’ on wrist.
The ‘birthday’ novelty deserves a new caliber – the Calibre 9. It is the first Czapek calibre not only designed, conceived and constructed in-house but also machined mostly in-house.
The three key elements – tourbillon, gear train and barrel – are revealed on the dial side, perfectly aligned on the vertical axis, giving an airy and light effect. The open-worked flying tourbillon appears to hover between the main plate and dial, directly connected to the gear train, which floats in the centre of the dial beneath a long and finely curved minutes bridge. The barrel dominates the upper section of the dial, floating in an aperture beneath an open-worked bridge.
‘We want freedom – hence the capacity to produce elements in-house. But we don’t want to make everything ourselves; for us, freedom also means the ability to choose and collaborate with the best specialist partners in any given area. That is what enables us to maintain agility and independence. These values are deeply embedded in the philosophy underlying our 10th anniversary celebration and our future’- Czapek CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel.
Photo credits: Loupiosity.com
All registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
All rights reserved.
