CZAPEK

The Czapek brand as we know it today began with a crowdfunding campaign in 2015 but the name traces its origin back to the largely forgotten co-founder of perhaps the luxury watch world’s most prestigious house. In 1839, François Czapek was the partner of fellow Polish immigrant Antoine Norbert de Patek in the Swiss firm Patek, Czapek, & Cie, which would become Patek Philippe when Jean-Adrien Philippe joined in 1851, after Czapek had departed at the end of this contract with Patek. Czapek watches in the modern era pay tribute to the ambitious technical and aesthetic spirit of its namesake. Watch collectors and watch-industry peers have taken notice: Czapek’s Quai des Bergues watch brought the new-old maison its first GPHG award just a year after its founding. Czapek’s collection includes elegantly classical timekeepers as well as high complications like rattrapante chronographs and tourbillons. Watches in Czapek’s limited-edition Antarctique collections have proven to be nearly as elusive as some of Patek Philippe’s most coveted pieces.

Founded: 1845 (original), 2015 (modern)

Headquarters: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Ownership: La Joux-Perret, under Citizen Group

Notable models: Time Pyramid, Globetrotter, Luna Magna

Did you know: Founder François Czapek wrote one of the first Polish-language books on watchmaking ever published