W&W 2023 Czapek & Cie. Antarctique Révélation
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.
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.
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. 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.”
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.
“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.”
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. 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.
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.
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.
Technical specifications
Czapek & Cie. Antarctique Révélation
Limited edition of 100 pieces
Case
- Material: Stainless steel
- Diameter: 40.50 mm
- Glass: Sapphire crystal glass-box with anti-reflective treatment
- Case back: Sapphirec crystal back with anti-reflective treatment on the inner side
- Screwed-down crown
- Water-resistant to 120 meters
Dial and hands
- Minute track and small second subdial in grey smoked sapphire crystal
- Luminiscent, steel Sword hands
- Luminiscent, rhodium plated steel hour markers
Movement
- Caliber SXH7: Czapek's in-house slef-winding skeletonized movement
- Diameter: 30mm - 13 lines ¼
- Height: 4.20mm
- Number of parts: 152
- Number of jewels: 25
- Swiss lever escapement, veriable-inertia balance fitted with four gold inertia-blocks
- Frequency: 4 Hz - 28'800 vph
- Power winding system: Micro-rotor with a recycled platinum mass
- Power reserve of 60 hours on one single barrel
- Barrel torque: 8.00 mm
Finishing
- Open rachets, sandblasted black bridges, bevelling, straight-grained sides, hand-chamfered
- Hand-beveled main plate
Functions/Indications
- Hours, minutes and small seconds
Strap and buckle
- Integrated stainless steel bracelet with Czapek exclusive Easy Release system and micro-adjustment device
- Additional calf leather or rubber strap
MSRP: CHF 38'000
For more information, please visit czapek.com
Comments
Leave a comment