François Czapek, a name with great historical significance, was once the business partner of a certain Antoine Norbert de Patek. But especially since the brand's rebirth in 2015, the Czapek name has become popular among watch lovers. This year the independent brand celebrates the 10th anniversary of its revival by unveiling a limited edition watch to commemorate this milestone. Inspired by Czapek's historic pocket watches, the Czapek Time Jumper is an unusual Montre à Guichets with a patent-pending jumping 24-hour hour display and a trailing minute display. An exclusive guilloche pattern around a magnifying glass is engraved on the hinged protective lid. When you open the lid, the intricacies of the new in-house caliber 10.01 become visible.
While the Czapek Time Jumper is clearly inspired by 19th-century pocket watches, this unusual Montre à Guichets (a style that has seen a strong revival of late) is anything but a nostalgic reinterpretation of Czapek's creations of yesteryear. As the brand's CEO, Xavier de Roquemaurel, explained, the idea was to “rethink the expression of the times and bring something new and fresh to the table.”
The anniversary watch combines traditional details with a modern, futuristic touch. While the smooth pebble case shape is inspired by a flying saucer, it features a hinged guilloche lid that partially obscures the display and is reminiscent of a classic pocket watch. A circular opening in the center reveals the jumping hours (24 hours on two digits, more on that later) through a bubble-shaped magnifying glass, while the minutes are displayed through an arched opening through a grinding wheel at 6 o'clock. Thanks to a push button between the tabs, the lid can be opened and reveals the subtleties of its movement.
The 40.5 mm diameter case is made of steel, while the engine-turned insert of the lid is made of white gold. The latter's signature pattern was created with Metalem and is available exclusively from Czapek. It is an evolution of the vortex-like Singularité guilloché design developed for the Antarctique Tourbillon, which creates the optical illusion of curves drawn to a deep center. A yellow gold version with matching guilloche cover is also available.
The Czapek Time Jumper also marks the debut of the in-house Caliber 10, a new automatic movement whose adaptable architecture will serve as the basis for future developments. Visible through the back of the watch, it features a centrally mounted, skeletonized rotor and bridges made from recycled 950 platinum that create an interplay of concentric circles. The variable inertia balance wheel is equipped with 4 gold inertia blocks and operates at a frequency of 4 Hz. Its single barrel provides a power reserve of 60 hours.
The Time Jumper is equipped with the 10.01 iteration of the movement, which features a 24-hour jump hour mechanism and trailing minutes. This complex, integrated mechanism can be admired by opening the watch cover. The jumping hour is a rare, complex and demanding complication. Hours and minutes must jump and fly back on an hourly basis. The mechanism needs to accumulate power before it can release it all at once with a quick movement but without an additional jump. Czapek goes one step further with a patent-pending solution and his 24-hour display is powered by two different discs. In fact, jumping hours are usually based on a disc – the Cyrus Etheral Twin Orbital Tourbillon is another rare example of a double-digit jumping hour, but with a display on a 12-hour basis.
The hours are marked on two sapphire discs – one for the individual numerals, one for the tenths. The minutes are laser engraved on the surface of a large wheel that rotates around the circumference of the movement. Both the hour and minute displays are filled with luminous material to improve legibility in the dark. As you have come to expect from Czapek, modern, high-quality surfaces give the movement depth and life.
The Czapek Time Jumper comes on a blue rubber strap with a steel pin buckle. The watch is released in a limited edition of 100 pieces at a price of 42,000 francs (excl. taxes). The 3N yellow gold edition is limited to 30 pieces and available at the same price 64,000 francs (excl. taxes). In the future, new editions will be introduced and more customized orders will be placed. A total of 180 time jumpers will be produced.
For more information, visit www.czapek.com.
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