While these days they’re a darling of the independent watch scene, it’s only been 10 years since Czapek & Cie made their world debut. And while these days they have the confidence to take big swings like robotic function indicators and breathtaking metiers d’art, the origins of the brand really were a bit of a gamble. After all, who’d ever heard of crowdfunding a watch maison?
It’s come to pass that every few months there’s another watch brand launching on Kickstarter. Watches, in fact, seem to be one of the platform’s safer bets. But in 2015, it was relatively new and the idea of creating a serious, respectable watch brand via crowdfunding was beyond the imagination of… well, anyone. That is, except for a trio of watch lovers: Harry Guhl, Sébastien Follonier, and Xavier de Roquemaurel.
In the years leading up to the launch, Guhl had been deeply interested in watchmaker François Czapek, whose eponymous manufacturer was founded way back in 1845. It wasn’t idle curiosity either; he was enraptured by the watchmaker’s vintage pieces, enough to have designed a handful of prototype watches, which he took to Xavier.
Xavier de Roquemaurel, CEO & Founder
Unfortunately, these early iterations didn’t respect the history of Czapek. In Xavier’s words, “they were ‘a sort of Frankenstein. We put them aside and restarted from ground zero and made a brief for two models: Past to Present and Present to Future.”
Of course, some actual watchmaking expertise would be needed to bring that heritage heft to a brand like this, so Xavier linked up with haute horology watchmaker Follonier. Together the trio pondered the idea of a brand revival – before it turned out that Guhl hadn’t just built those prototypes for the fun of it; he’d already registered the Czapek & Cie brand name. This revival, it seemed, was inevitable.
During this ‘gestation’ time, Xavier sought advice from a fair few players in the watch industry – including Oracle Time’s own Mark Edwards – and could tailor better what they had to offer to succeed. But how were they going to get the money to fully launch? They didn’t want the outside investment that would usually sideline them as decision makers. But Xavier was a proponent of the lean start-up idea (without, incidentally, reading Eric Ries’ seminal book on the subject). So, they opted to try something that had never been done before: crowdfunding equity.
Genève Quai des Bergues
The aim was to raise CHF 1,000,000 (approx. £950,000) from the campaign, and when they launched it in 2015, that was a daunting number. But apparently their catchphrase, ‘anyone can buy a watch, but you can own a brand’ struck a chord. And when the campaign ended in early 2016, they’d raised CHF 1.1 million. It was a groundbreaking success, something that had never been achieved in the watch industry before and proved there was hunger for something beyond the horological norm. Now they just needed to build some watches.
Those watches took two forms. On the more accessible end, there was the Quai des Bergues, a gorgeous throwback to the old François Czapek pocket watches. It was designed as an entry-level watch – at least by the trio’s aspirational standards – simple, elegant and refined and was the piece that they would launch with. Then at the other end of the spectrum was the Place Vendôme Tourbillon Suspendu, intensely modern but with nods to the similar 1800s roots. They had the mechanics, proprietarily developed with Chronode’s Jean-François Mojon, they had a growing wave of hype behind them, and a handsome watch in the Quai des Bergues No. 33bis. Baselworld 2016 was a guaranteed success… until it wasn’t.
“They were coming to our booth as car drivers looking at the accident on the other side of the road to count the victims,” says Xavier of Czapek & Cie’s exhibition debut. It didn’t go well with the traditional retailers, and it was a blow. How can you sell watches without retailers? The answer these days is obvious of course: direct to consumer. But that’s largely with the benefit of hindsight, as while accessible pieces were already being sold aplenty outside of bricks-and-mortar stores, the same couldn’t be said of haute horology. Who was going to spend that amount of money – in this case tens of thousands of Swiss Francs – without trying on the watch first? By the end of 2016, Czapek & Cie had sold nearly 90 watches, so the answer was, apparently, quite a few collectors.
Quai des Bergues No. 33bis
At the same time, in November 2016, Czapek & Cie won their first GPHG award with the Quai des Bergues No. 33bis. In a decidedly calcified industry, seeing an incredibly young, independent brand that was doing things this differently recognised with the equivalent of an Oscar… well, it was just the latest in the brand’s list of firsts. The following year they launched their one-minute suspended tourbillon, the aforementioned Place Vendôme Tourbillon Suspendu, which flexed their complication credentials. Then came the Faubourg de Cracovie, a high-frequency integrated chronograph which landed somewhere in the middle of their collection.
Over the next few years, Czapek & Cie continued to build on all three models, along the way opening their first boutique on rue de la Corraterie, close to the Quai des Bergues – the original home of François Czapek that inspired the modern brand’s debut watch. The thing is, up until this point I’d have said that Czapek were a success, but not up there with the big players. Their classical timepieces were gorgeous, their complications impressive, but they still lacked something a bit more crowd-pleasing, even if that crowd were always going to be limited to serious collectors. That all changed in 2020 with the Antarctique.
Czapek Antarctique Terre Adélie
2020 was a weird year for watches. COVID-19 was on a rampage – and I was seeing it in by watching Disney films and drinking negronis. But as people sat at home wondering what to do with all their disposable income now holidays were out of the question, they turned to watches. At the same time, this was the era of the Gerald Genta revival, where integrated bracelet sports watches were still on their ascendency. It was the perfect time to get in on the action and the Antarctique had enough to fill an Expendables movie.
The faceted case, the sinuous bracelet with its tongue-in-cheek ‘C’ links, the ultra-cool dials (including my personal favourite Passage de Drake) and sports-meets-high-watchmaking style, backed by an entirely new, in-house microrotor movement added up to a watch that was sold out just weeks after launch. This was the moment that, for me at least, Czapek stopped being a brand by collectors for collectors and became a major player in the Swiss watch world. To this day, the Antarctique has been copied plenty but never surpassed, the launchpad that’s allowed Czapek & Cie to try ever more ambitious things.
To say it’s been a journey is an understatement. From the founders’ initial faith in the revival of a lesser-known watchmaker and the idea of haute horology crowdfunding to the mechanical weirdness that is the Czapek Antarctique Rattrapante R.U.R., it’s a lot to fit into a scant 10 years. And there’s still plenty more to come. In-house finishing, a new movement architecture in the calibre 10, it’s an exciting time for a brand that’s helped change what a fine watchmaking manufacture can be – especially since they now have their own manufacture, even if its creation was a practical necessity.
Czapek Antarctique Rattrapante R.U.R
“The creation of the manufacture in 2022 was a strategic decision guided by survival” explains Xavier. “The post-Covid chaos in the watchmaking supply chain – and consequent shortages – was turning the management of an order book containing several thousand watches into a veritable time bomb. The only solution was to insource in order to avoid further disruptions. And suddenly, a whole new world opened up. We could finally fulfil our dream of modernising fine watchmaking, while respecting our elders and showing a different path from that taken by the major luxury groups. In 2023, we reaffirmed our initial vision, to manufacture only 1,000 watches per year, and we organised the manufacture in order to leverage hand-crafting. Our second in-house motto became: One customer, one watch, one watchmaker.”
Now that haven of watchmaking has 30 staff and is continuing to develop new watches, new movements, and new approaches to Czapek’s particular breed of haute horology. And remember to keep your eyes out. As Czapek & Cie celebrate their own anniversary with a series of celebratory timepieces (including Watches & Wonders’ stunning Antarctique Tourbillon), you’ll see plenty of media on the subject – including an upcoming documentary. You might even see some familiar faces in the mix, too.
Gallery
Find out more at Czapek.
