Of the three Promenade watches unveiled by Czapek at Watches and Wonders in 2024, it was really only the Goutte d’Eau (drop of water) that fulfilled its full potential.
The idea was to take most of the case architecture and finishing of a 38mm Quai des Bergues and create a line of concept watches where dials are designed around a small seconds subdial offset at 4.30.
The Goutte d’Eau dial, as the name suggests, looked like a drop of water landed in the centre of the subdial, causing ripples to radiate out.
Czapek also made the subdial the centre of two Guilloché Soleil models, which represented the sun’s rays emanating out in an Art Deco-inspired style.
They felt a little flat alongside the Goutte d’Eau.
Czapek has kicked off 2025 with three new references for the Promenade collection, this time with a dial made to look like silk pinched at the central point of the small seconds display.
Inspired by textiles, the Promenade Plissé collection’s dial uses a stamping process that gives the impression of fabric being pushed aside by the weight of the sub-dial to bunch up into pleats across the dial.
There are versions in pink, ivory and pearl with production limited to 18 pieces for each.
The Promenade collection is promoted as a gender-neutral choice, although the new rose-coloured model sits in what used to be called the metrosexual segment of the market; a place where David Beckham clips into a Tudor Black Bay in the same pink as the Inter Miami home team kit.
“We have always believed that gender divisions in watchmaking are largely artificial,” says Xavier de Roquemarel, CEO of Czapek & Cie.
“Beauty and creativity unite men and women; making a beautiful watch cannot be reduced to a gender split. A beautiful watch will please men and women equally, in the same way that a beautifully tailored smoking [tuxedo suit] looks equally wonderful on men and women.”
Czapek has stuck with the in-house calibre SXH5, which uses a micro rotor to trim depth from a normal automatic movement.
Prices are expected to be around CHF 16,000.