“When people ask me, how can you explain that Czapek has moved from making 150 watches through a thousand watches today and stays now at a thousand..It's because we had the right watch at the right moment, at the right price at the right place.”

Xavier de Roquemaurel, CEO of Czapek on the runaway success of the Antarctique 

 

In Brief

• A tale of revival and more reinventions than Lady Gaga, Czapek originally came to the timekeeping table  in 1832.
• In 1839, Patek, Czapek & Cie' came to fruition alongside Antoine Norbert de Patek. This later became Czapek & Cie six years later while the latter went on to create Patek Philippe. 
• Famed for producing novelties for Napoleon Bonaparte, the brand soon established boutique stores across Europe in Warsaw and Place Vendome in central Paris. This French namesake remains an integral part of their present lineup with unique triangular bridges. 
• The horological renaissance began thanks to another homage, the Quai des Bergues. Housing an ingenious day of the week function, original movement and enticing price, it represents the first journey for the independent’s current CEO, Xavier de Roquemaurel.
• Encompassing a number of different models such as the Faubourg de Cracovie and Terre Adelie, the Maison has tackled the three handed timepiece with aplomb in the form of the Passage de Drake, evoking modernity alongside a single link steel strap.
• Off the back of Geneva Watch Days 2024 where Czapek launched the Antarctique Polar Sky and Antarctique Flying Diamonds with gorgeous aventurine dials, it’s Xavier de Roquemaurel’s time in the spotlight, in an exclusive interview with Simon Lazarus, Head of PR and Content at Chrono Hunter. 
• Covering all manner of subjects from design codes and the SXH5 movement to the explosion of the Antarctique and how he coined the phrase “horological eroticism”, I sat down with the CEO of Czapek in this far reaching tete-a-tete.

As Michael Jackson once sang about…everyday create your history. 

And that is precisely what the CEO of Czapek has done for the best part of a decade. One of three businessmen that relit a timekeeping torch under the brand, he has been through several rebirths of his own…including being unemployed a handful of times.

Revived in 2015 down to a shareholder initiative, the devil is very much in the detail with flecks of modernity tied in with exquisite watchmaking of the highest order.

Now, the father of five is as cool as ice. The Mick Jagger of CEO’s in the industry he is brimming with charm and with more rock and roll than the Richard Mille RM66 Flying Tourbillon.

So much so that he has overseen a transformation within the Maison that has firmly put them on the Haute Horlogerie map. What is this down to? We’re talking of course about the Antarctique.

Snowballing after COVID when Czapek launched their initial execution in 2020, it’s the ideal alternative to the usual boardroom steel sports chic suspects like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Rolex Daytona or Girard Perregaux Laureato. 

Blending sexy visual theatre befitting of a catwalk at London Fashion Week with their powerful in-house SXH5 movement, it has a 40.5mm or 38.5mm case diameter.

Elegantly suitable for any office attire or special occasion, it’s sleek, harmonious with a transparent case back that lends itself to other versions including the 42.5mm Antarctique Rattrapante with split-second mono-pusher chronograph. 

With topics ranging from the trials and tribulations of his career before Czapek to his own collection and the importance of aventurine dials in the Maisons’ new executions, sit back for a minute and unwind with this no holds barred interview with the man of the hour.

Synchronise your watches…it’s time to start the clock.

 

Xavier De Roquemaurel, CEO of Czapek - The Big Interview

Simon Lazarus: Guys. What's going on…Simon Lazarus Head Of PR & Content for Chrono Hunter. Today we have fantastic guest joining us. He needs no introduction, but I'll give him one anyway. It's the CEO of Czapek, Mr. Xavier De Roquemaurel. Enchanté. Great to meet you. 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Good afternoon, hello everyone 

Simon Lazarus: How are you sir?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Well, it’s the afternoon for me.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah. likewise. How are things in Czapek HQ?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: It's good. I am actually in the manufacturer right now. The funny thing is that the HQ is much smaller than the manufacturer, because the HQ is in Geneva and the manufacturer is in La-Chaux-de-Fonds.

Simon Lazarus: Okay.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And today in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, it is very windy…very, very, very windy so it’s a strange fall and it's like this. We keep the focus on the work.

Simon Lazarus: Absolutely love that. So two things to start off. Thank you so much for your time because I know obviously in the watchmaking world time is precious and time is of the essence.

So thanks so much for doing this. Secondly, you've given me an early birthday present. Parce que c’est mon anniversaire le onze octobre..

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Excellent. Congratulations. 

Simon Lazarus: Vingt-trois ans…non je rigole! 43 going on 93. But I know you have five children.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Okay.

Simon Lazarus: I have two very bossy…deux princesses. Huit et cinq ans so it’s all going on as you know.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So tonight is going to be a crazy evening at home.

Simon Lazarus:  Every day is crazy as you know yourself. Yeah. so you have five so what is the split?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: One boy, three girls. and the last one is a boy.

Simon Lazarus: Two boys okay..keep you busy

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And the wife that is joking on me because I apparently tend to be a bit impartial when it comes to my kids and to be a little bit too to use too many superlatives, so I shouldn't talk about them.

Simon Lazarus: But look, it's time to focus on the watches. So look, we do things a little bit differently at Chrono Hunter okay in terms of my interviews and how things go.

So I want to go back to the beginning of Czapek, take me way back in time. Premiere Mai mille-huit cent trente neuf. The first of May 1839. I am sure that rings a bell. So talk to me..

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. We're not supposed to speak about that part, the forbidden part you know.

Simon Lazarus: Nothing is forbidden on my interviews.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: The forbidden beginnings. There was a guy called, you can Google, the forbidden beginnings by a police historian, and it’s an interesting article where he discovered  a lot of things.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And among them the existence of Czapek. Yeah, now we should go back a little bit further to…sorry 1833. 

Simon Lazarus: Right.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: That's when Czapek and local Swiss watchmaker Moreau made their first company. And so probably the work. I mean, I said, probably, because this is the potency that you know about Pierre-Yves Donzé who is our historian. He's a very famous historian.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Today he's based in Osaka, but he is Swiss and he’s one of the Swiss watchmaking history, especially and he’s focused on the 18th and 19th centuries and did a lot of research for us and continues.

And he said, Most likely Czapek and Moreau were more financial and Czapek was working for other watchmakers, doing production, doing repairs, doing every job that has to be done, but they were lacking the funds to actually buy the gold to make the gold cases.

So that we never found a period and we never found a watch sorry from that period. 

Yet we found some archives that were firstly proof of existence if you want.

And then we've got 1839 where there is a company called Patek, Czapek and Companies that was created, where there is a new partner…Antoine Norbert de Patek and it's a new company, and it's a six year partnership, which is completely normal. 

Because in that period of time in Geneva, the business partnerships lasted six years. At the end of the six years, either you terminate, you renew or renew with an amendment if you want. 

Simon Lazarus: So why such a short period? Six years?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: It was like that. If you think about it, there are so many partners that part ways, so probably the way is that businesses were not made to last one hundred years.

And it evolved over time and you know the corporate law in Switzerland had just evolved in 2023 so by 2022 and 2023 and the following so it’s normal that corporate laws evolve.

Nothing wrong about that, but the fact is at the end of the six years, the three partners parted ways Antoine Norbert De Patek created a new company. 

He took the legacy of the preceding one, and Czapek on May 1st 1845 created Czapek and company and that’s the company we are talking about. 

Simon Lazarus: So let’s fast forward a little bit now and when you take over. Deux mille quatorze? (2014)

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Well I joined at the end of 2013. and we really started working at the beginning of 2014. And so

Simon Lazarus: Tell me about the partners that you aligned yourselves with?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So the starting point was that I was unemployed, I was desperately looking for a job, with five kids to feed at home, and it was a tough moment.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah. What were you doing previously…briefly?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And so I worked a bit in watchmaking. And then before I worked in fashion for Ermenegildo Zegna in cosmetics for L’Oreal and in food for Mars.

So you see it's a wide array of experiences,…always with an end product for an end consumer and that was a product that was more and more emotional. 

So it's like growing the ladder of more and more sophisticated and more beautiful products. I realised that I was in love with beauty when I worked at Germain Maybelline and with L'Oreal group and then Loewe…it was amazing such a beautiful brand.

Simon Lazarus: Tell me more about the brand and why it was so beautiful?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Because of the craftsmanship, you know…

Simon Lazarus: Mmm.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: It's all handmade. And when you think about it, I think that we spend our lives trying to be G-d without being G-d. We are just men and women, but we love to create as human beings. And we love to create with our hands. 

And I think that's what Loewe has been capable of to protect, nurture and was this incredible know-how. I remember we say in French, Malevy some craftsmen that were cutting you know the leather like that..perfection,

Simon Lazarus: Okay, wow so artisan?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: To the millimetre. Exactly the thing that was incredible, that no machine could do with that angle, that precision, and that was a real know-how. 

And I had different jobs there. But one was product manager and being a product manager for men’s accessories is like a dream job I can tell you. From shoes to bags, to leather goods, belts, gloves. 

All accessories that you can dream to have. You play with them, you play with colour with leather, with everything and you have designers working with you the nicest collections.

And that's probably the job where I learned the most about my job today as CEO.

 

The Art Of Horological Eroticism

Simon Lazarus: Look like you say it's the art of perfection, which obviously, it's transcended from your previous roles into Czapek, in terms of where you with the design codes, the design language, the craftsmanship, the artisanal skill, like you say to the very fine detail. 

So what I'm going to go on to is what I've heard, you say, a lot of times and you probably have to copyright this one. Horological eroticism..talk to me. 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: I have done my homework. J’ai fait mes devoirs.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: (laughs) With five kids I did them too huh..you can see where the inspiration comes from.

Simon Lazarus: Now, tell me more about this phrase because it's a great phrase and obviously…

Xavier de Roquemaurel: No. it's clear the idea…It was a combination of elements. First of all, we buy every year about two to three pocket watches from Czapek from the period that we are talking about 1845 1870.

So when we buy these pocket watches, it is always like a super pleasure. We look at them. it's a reference, a source of inspiration. Everything.

And I was realising that there were not so many different ébauche (a raw unfinished movement) from that period. So you have a typical ébauche with a typical bridge for quarter repeaters. 

And for free hand watches, you have another ébauche that is quite classical with three bridges, like fingers like that…straight bridges. But the movement is much more visible than in many watches ten years ago, let's say.

And on the other side, it was even more true for sport watches that were made by brands who are in the field of Haute Horlogerie for when they were making a sport watch, they would basically cover everything.

Eventually, you would see the escapements, but you would have large bridges and really, very little interaction with the customer on what would be the mechanic of the watch. 

And I felt it's very frustrating and I was not the only one because when I was talking to some of the watch collectors, they were also saying you know..and on top of that, we sometimes wear watches with the crown on it.

This is because it's safer at work to be using that kind of watch for many reasons. And of course, I like everything that I'm experimenting with when I wear the rest of my collection.

So we thought about creating something that would really much more unveil the movement and that's how the idea of lingerie came. And it's from the lingerie that I coined that crazy wording of horological eroticism.

Simon Lazarus: Have you trademarked it?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So eroticism, reveal the movement but it’s so finely revealed, it’s so much like embroidery, that it’s actually erotic from a watchlover’s perspective.

Simon Lazarus: Just a little teaser before I see what you mean. Well, you've answered pretty much my next question, but I am going to ask it anyway. 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: So I'm gonna move on to a couple of numbers I'm gonna throw at you These are Quatre-vingt dix neuf and dix-sept…17. Do those numbers mean anything to you? 99 and 17.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Err 99 would be one before and 100 and…

Simon Lazarus: Okay.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: It's a limited edition. We've also done 99, and we've got some limited editions of 99 and…

Simon Lazarus: I'll give you a hint.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Some are 100

Simon Lazarus: I'll give you a hint. Antarctique. 2020. Ninety-nine pieces,…

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: sold in 17 days.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah, that's right. That's right. That’s right. I should know. I should know. I think I didn't know how to stick to that number of limited edition numbers.

This limited edition of 99 and 17. It's terrible. These games on the size of a limited edition number are one of my nightmares..anyway.

Simon Lazarus: Because you had phenomenal success within two and a half weeks you've sold out your first edition of the 40.5 millimetre Antarctique.

So, for our audience because for me I'm here to enlighten, to educate and of course to entertain to inform our audience about this phenomenal success of the Antarctique.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. So if you think back to that moment of time Czapek is a startup. And Czapek is a startup that has a great image but has not picked up. So, in that sense, we're growing steadily, but very slowly. 

88 watches, 123 142, 160. That's the first number. In 2020, we made 150 watches because of the COVID. Because in fact, we have about 600 watches waiting to be made.

But that's when suddenly, the whole story starts to blow though. And the idea is COVID comes in and none of us have an idea of what's going on.

Simon Lazarus: Yes.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: I stupidly thought it would be something that would last six to ten months. Something that would not only happen that year and would certainly not be as deadly and as terrible as it was. 

But still, when the lockdown comes on March 11 or 12 in Switzerland, we have to make a decision. And the decision we make is to continue. And we don't stop. We've got that movement which is unfinished. But we are getting there. Okay. 

And we can’t stop because we felt if we stop now, to restart now will be very difficult. So, we had very limited funding. The Swiss government, the Conseil Federal gives a loan to companies which is 10% of their sales revenue.

So we were having sales of two million and we had 200,000 Swiss francs. In 50 minutes, that was crazy.

Simon Lazarus: That’s impressive.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So I remember asking at midnight, with my wife, we're typing the data and at eight and my banker arrives at 8 in the morning and by 8:52 we got the email from Cyril saying hello Xavier, everything, the money is in the account. Boom, like okay, that's Switzerland. it's a really well-run country…

Simon Lazarus: Que Dieu bénisse (Thank goodness)

Xavier de Roquemaurel: That was Credit Suisse and we regret a lot that Credit Suisse disappeared now, but it’s like that..we got such a relationship and such a closeness with our banker that’s also part of the success. Anyway, we’ve got the loan, we’ve got the guts and we go for it.

And I became a lorry driver. And I take my components, and I move from one guy to the other to get the components being finished…you know.

Simon Lazarus: Really.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: You know to get the garnissage being done, the anglage being done. So that’s what I’m doing. It pays my job. The problem is that some larger companies are really close.

And so we don’t get the components we get enough components to make the watch (tick tack)so we know. So the watch is running very well. And we go for it.

So we launch on May 26th 2020 with the watch that is making a perfect, tick tack in good time. We don't know about the winding yet, because we don't have some of the components of the winding. 

And then we present it on May 26th…and that day there is absolutely nothing happening in the world regarding watches. So, we benefit from a complete you know. There is a desert, there's a highway with no one on it. And that's all for us. 

And so, you know what happens is that the blogs they want to communicate. They got that launch. They feel like oh that's bold. These guys are crazy. They are launching a watch right now when everything is closed.

Okay, let's give it a try. 

And then behind the computer, you have all the watch lovers, the hunters who are there, bored ..they have nothing to do..ah well there is a new watch

Simon Lazarus: C’est du bon timing? (It’s great timing)

Xavier de Roquemaurel: That's it.

And that's when people ask me, how can you explain that Czapek has moved from making 150 watches through a thousand watches today and stays now at a thousand watches by the way..It's because we had the right watch at the right moment, at the right price at the right place. That’s it.

Simon Lazarus: Absolutely. Look, I see from various sources that you've gone from around 300 watches in 2021..

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah, correct.

Simon Lazarus: Apparently, but I want to hear it from the horse's mouth to around two and a half thousand by the end of 2025.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: No. No, we changed that. I changed my mind. (laughs)

Simon Lazarus: Tell me the new number then..

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So the thing is that, so we did 300 then we did 450, the following year in 2022. it's not exactly, the true number would have been 600 if we had received the component. So we basically had 150 watches in the safe waiting for one last component. And…

Simon Lazarus: Mmm.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And you can see the impact on the turnover. 

So let's say 450. And then the following year, which was last year, was 1,050…and then big surprise. It's with a thousand fifty we are a very profitable company, A very smooth well running friendly company.

And so the question is…do you want to break that? Really

Simon Lazarus: Mmm.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Really? By going to two thousand. Who is asking you to go to 2000? Because, you realise that you had the fear that you had to do two thousand because there was such a craze about that watch, about the Antarctique..

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: About Czapek that you had people putting a lot of pressure on getting that watch faster on you producing it faster. Yeah, but then you had a lot of people saying…Hey. Come on. Keep staying small.

Don't deliver too many watches. Don't have too many after sales. We know people, we have some retailers asking us, how do you make it happen?

You have very few returns from your brand. You are way below the 5% average of the industry. Why is that?

And we are like, well we just make them one by one. You know, we are just very careful about the way we do it and we suddenly had the surprise to realise that happiness was coming before.

And that we had a beautiful treasure and that we needed to protect it. And by going too high, the risk was to destroy part of what we had created. 

So now, there are 28 people in the company.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And it's fantastic. And I want to stay at 30, that's it. 

You know, we're missing another couple of guys, we see that already because we have got so, so many ideas that we need a little bit more people in the machining and the construction to get more things out.

But, we've got two million in machines that are fantastic. That are different.

So I would say we could produce I would say 90% of what is in a watch in house. So now let's do it and let's have fun and keeping the capacity to say…Hello, Simon.

Let’s have an interview and let's be cool and let's me give the time to answer to someone who's writing to me on my Instagram account…

Simon Lazarus: Yeah, absolutely.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: The day I don't have that time, it's a different company…

Simon Lazarus: No, I know. Couldn’t agree more.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And, you know sometimes, it's like when I decided to get married with Marie, I knew her for some time, but it seemed to be too simple that she was the woman of my life.

It was in front of me. So sometimes you just have to stop and say this is it…you have it in front of me, protect it, that's it.

Simon Lazarus: Absolutely look.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So 1000 is the number.

Simon Lazarus: 1,000. Okay. Wow, that's a very credible source that I've got that from. So, they're way off. And so we're still so touching on the Antarctique.

Okay, there's so many steel sports models. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, The Nautilus etc. Why do you think some of the main successes for why it was so explosive, as a sort of the go-to luxury, steel sports model that everyone is talking about?

 

“We collect rare people”

The official tagline of Czapek

 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So we really like to do things, our own way. It's a question of panache. 

We prefer to go maybe less high, but with our own means. Do not have someone who has pushed us by the behind and now to achieve 100% of what we achieve.

And to give credit to 100% of the people who have helped us doing that. And the idea was that We would run away. And we continue to run away from everything that other people are doing.

And sometimes we have on the table this morning, it was happening, a beautiful design and we're like that's beautiful, but this is reminding too much of that brand. 

We cannot do it. The designer has been going in the wrong direction here. He's too close to this brand. We're never going to do that. I don't want to go and see Felix and say look I have got something that is really nice. 

Don't you think? But doesn’t it remind you…no..a bit. Uh no. I know this and the same thing from Gerald Genta. He was an incredible designer, but we definitely did not want to have a watch that was looking in any angle like a Gerald Genta watch.

And because we did that, it's easy to understand that subconsciously, people like the Antarctique because it stood out by not being possible to relate it in one thing or another, but just it was a very balanced design with a trompe l'oeil effect, and that was it.

Simon Lazarus: Yes. So you have so many declinations, there's a Sashiko Pink Lotus, the Rattrapante Ice Blue, the Passage de Drake Glacier..

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah

Simon Lazarus: And what's your favourite?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: Because there's too many to mention.

At this point both of us laugh in unison

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So I got five of them. So I got the initial Antarctique Terre Adelie, grey, which is amazing.

I got the Lanikai. That is such a beauty with the enamel, you know and other Grand Feu notes on it. And I got the one I'm wearing now which is the Mount Erebus.

Simon Lazarus: Let’s have a look.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Mount Erebus was the same as the Terre Adelie with the same as the Terre Adelie

Simon Lazarus: So simple but so stunning…

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. The enamel dial with white and yellow gold…

Simon Lazarus: I mean

Xavier de Roquemaurel: With rubber. The yellow gold with rubber is absolutely fantastic. Yellow gold with rubber is like, people don't believe it's a gold watch. No? No, it's not a gold watch. So nobody really is really staring at you when you wear it.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Nobody believes you are actually wearing a gold watch. So it's very cool, and it's just a beautiful colour. And so, I have the Rattrapante Blue and the Glacier Blue Antarctique S.

And so it depends, what, where and how, if I'm going to a place where I don't want to have other watches for security reasons and…

Simon Lazarus: Mmm.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And I keep the watch, always on my wrist, I take the Antarctique S. Because it's so light, so beautiful. You don't feel it, you can sleep with it. It's just so close to you.

So I would say that’s the vacation trip anywhere in the world,…

Simon Lazarus: Mmm. So that’s your go-to?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Because no thief knows about the Antarctique S..they won't believe it's such an expensive watch. So, that's cool. 

And so, that's the one I would wear. I'm wearing the gold quite often now, here in Switzerland and the Antarctique is addictive. Uh, I mean the Rattrapante is addictive and I like to chrono, to time things often.

And the Lanikai would be I am in a safe place, it’s vacation time and the Lanikai is such a beauty. And of course the Emperor of all is Terre Adelie. So I will wear the Terre Adelie less than others but it's the starting point. So I needed it (laughs)

 

“You are bad. You are really bad. Naughty boy. How can you do that? Oh…Quai des Bergues, but the Promenade is along the Quai des Bergues”

Xavier de Roquemaurel playing a game of celui-ci ou celui-la (This one or that one)

 

Simon Lazarus: That's great. I have hundreds of questions here. I'm going to see if I can get through as many as possible. So tell me about the SXH5 and the importance and how integral this is to Czapek.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So, the SXH5 as you understood come from these meetings with collectors and the sense that we had lost the direction of the North by being too industrial in watchmaking.

And that we had to come back to small little bridges with anglage like embroidery. But there was another thing which is…I was frustrated to work with constructors that were telling me, it's like this. You know the construction is done.

You can play around but you cannot change anything. And so, the idea was for the SXH5 was to start with a blank sheet of paper. And to really build from zero. And I am not a watchmaker and I'm not a constructor. 

And I'm not even a collector. So I am really like the blank, virgin guy. I'm the virgin guy. And so, I talked to the constructor who was a very nice guy. We work together, Daniel Martinez and I gave him some ideas which were possibly stupid ideas. 

But that's where it was interesting for him because I was not the usual route. and somehow he tried to do something, according to what I was asking him. I want to have the escapement under six and the barrel at 12 and just playing with all the elements around…like a circle you know.

And it was not exactly possible but he made it possible. And that was it. You know the beauty came from this work humanly and then we introduced the designer in that story and the Ping Pong was at three people. And the designer made the final step to the beauty of these different bridges.

Dial closeup of the Antarctique Flying Diamonds launched at Geneva Watch Days 2024

 

Simon Lazarus: Mmm Very interesting, I'm a couple more questions then I think time is the enemy comme; d’habititude. So Let's fast forward to Geneva Watch days and briefly about the Polar Sky and the Flying Diamonds with that incredible aventurine glass dial. Tell me more…

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Aventurine has always been a material that we love. After working at Loewe with all these materials, I worked at Zegna and we were playing with fabrics, with the capability to create so many beautiful fabrics, and with different materials. 

And for me, the same thing…Haute Horlogerie is a cousin of Haute Couture. That's it, handmade and hand conceived, the beauty and the design are key, and you go to the most difficult, you flirt with the impossible. 

So, finding materials that were difficult to work with but had a beautiful effect was, is part of the essence now. So we started with the Quai Des Bergues, and then the next step was to do the Antarctique but we actually had too many orders.

So we made some of the watches we launched last month, we have them in the inventory for two years. Because it was just too early to launch them, and we just said, Okay, let's have the full set and only that as a launch.

Four different models, two sizes, and two types of indexes, one standard in the Antarctique indexes and the diamond Antarctique indexes.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah, they look incredible.

Antarctique S Polar Sky with aventurine dial

 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So it's a new diamond cut that is registered called the Czapek cut and the beauty is that it's like a baguette diamond with a point. So it's actually 24 facets instead of only 14 for a normal baguette diamond. 

And it's here in the aventurine dial, it is just floating over the aventurine. It’s a beauty so that’s why we called the model the flying diamonds. Because you look at it and say, It's really like this. 

At the same time, if you don’t pay attention you just don’t feel like you see the diamonds. It's like, too minimal to be seen, and…

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: And the shapes being slightly different, people don't recognize immediately, it's diamonds. So it's also playing with everyone, and we like that, to be discrete and yet visible.

and it's the fine line. It's not easy. That's why we spend so much effort and time on design.

 

Simon Lazarus: Yeah, it's that clarity on the dial. It is the level of detail, is what you are mentioning about the Antarctique with the Aventurine glass dial, which is obviously a great material. You’ve no plans to work with tantalum?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. No, we have plans to play with different steel. And let’s say different metals,…

Simon Lazarus: I hear, Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: But it’s not for right now. But it's not for right now. However, right now I have too many other things to do with our new 191 CNC machine…so it will come on time.

But you're building a huge castle. You don't want it to be a card castle. You want it to be a beautiful castle that is the home of the love for watchmaking.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: So yeah, step by step. Be patient guys,…

Simon Lazarus: This is why we can't fit everything in now. We have to do a part deux at Watches and Wonders. So I'm gonna round up because look I could be here for another 45 years trying to get into my questions.

I want to play a little game that I did with Nicolas Rudaz, CEO of Franck Muller who I interviewed last year…Celui-ci ou Celui-la..

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Okay.

Simon Lazarus: And I know you're up for this. So you tell me, we're gonna have about 60 seconds. You need to just tell me what you prefer? So…are you ready? 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: Vous êtes prêt? 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: Chronograph or Moon Phase?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Chronograph.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: You can have those come on.

Simon Lazarus: Skeleton or tourbillon?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Both…you can have both come on!

The lesser of two evils: Does Czapek’s CEO prefer the Quai des Bergues, above or Promenade?

 

Simon Lazarus: Good answer…Promenade or Quai des Bergues?

At this point Xavier laughs out loud with an enthusiastic grin on his face.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: You are bad. You are really bad. Naughty boy. How can you do that? Oh…I hate you. (Shrieks). Quai des Bergues, but the Promenade is along the Quai des Bergues…bad boy.

Simon Lazarus: We'll call it a draw. I'm just going on the horological eroticism route. And finally, if you have one minute left on this planet, what Czapek are you wearing and why..now bear in mind, you can also double wrist.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah. If it's my last watch to wear on the planet, I think I will go to the Terre Adelie…Secret Alloy. Antarctique Terre Adelie Secret Alloy.

Simon Lazarus: And why?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yes, Because it was the most difficult watch to create, to deliver and to make. It's where we have put all our heart, all our guts, all our tears. And by doing things right,

Simon Lazarus: Yeah.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: People came to us so that's the beauty of it you know.

Simon Lazarus: And I forgot one last question. Raclette or fondue?

Xavier de Roquemaurel: (Laughs) Fondue…Fondue. Because you have more of a sharing concept with fondue

Simon Lazarus: Yeah, yeah. we could be here till the end of time but I'm gonna wrap this up now. Thank you so much for your time, your answers, your insight into horological eroticism. I look forward to doing a part deux at watches and wonders, next year in Geneva. 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: With pleasure.

Simon Lazarus: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for doing this and giving me your time

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yep.

Simon Lazarus: And for giving your answers to a very awaiting Chrono Hunter audience. I look forward to seeing you in Geneva in 2025.

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Yeah.

Simon Lazarus: And bonne chance avec absolument tout.  

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Okay, thank you very much, Simon. Take care.

Simon Lazarus: That's great. Thank you Xavier 

Xavier de Roquemaurel: Thanks for the interview, I loved it!!

 

Conclusion

Like Arnold Schwarzenegger we are sadly going to have to terminate this interview…for now. 

Be sure to stay tuned as there will certainly be a part two at Watches and Wonders 2025 in Geneva where I’m sure there will be some fascinating declinations and discussions to sink our teeth into. 

With nothing but the highest respect paid to former Polish watchmaker François Czapek, the phoenix still continues to rise from the flames in the search of horological greatness.

And flying under the wings of CEO, Xavier de Roquemaurel, one cannot deny the brand is reaching new and exciting heights.

Besides, which brand do you know was reborn out of a passion for watches via a crowdfunding campaign, then one year later awarded an illustrious GPHG Public Prize for the Quai des Bergues No. 33bis? 

Only one.

With this rare collective of connoisseurs reigniting the brand, thus becoming shareholders, the Czapek community grew out of feverish love…and has never looked back.

The dream became a timekeeping reality which has made the Maison one of the hottest luxury independent watchmaking brands on the scene. 

Add in smokin collabs with some of the big hitters in the industry such as Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, Donzé Cadrans (established 1972, responsible for their Grand Feu enamel dials) as well as expert hand engraver Michèle Rothen Rebetez, you have a winning formula. 

Forget about the roof being on fire. As The Trammps proclaimed in 1976, “The heat was on, rising to the top, umm..Everybody's goin' strong. That is when my spark got hot. I heard somebody say burn baby burn, disco inferno.”

Are you in the market to buy a luxury steel sports watch like the Czapek Antarctique? Looking to sell a Rolex and upgrade to the Terre Adelie? Perhaps you want to buy an Audemars Piguet quickly in time for Christmas or have had the ultimate promotion?

If you want peerless service, fairest prices and the quickest turnaround, it’s about time you contacted Chrono Hunter. Contact us here and receive multiple offers from our carefully curated selection of the best luxury watch retailers. 

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Suiting all manner of budgets and wallets, we understand the importance of a high value transaction. Benefit from authenticity, a dedicated team of experts and unrivalled brand knowledge, making us the essential platform to buy a watch or sell a watch.

Our array of five star reviews on Trustpilot, further supports our dedication to the ultimate buying and selling experience that’s unrivalled in today’s market. 

 

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Images: (unless otherwise stated) Czapek

 

Further Reading: 

On The Clock With Alexandre Beauregard, Founder of Beauregard Watches.

 

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