Czapek Quai des Bergues Guilloché Ricochet 38.5mm

I have to admit that initially I was quite sceptical when I first saw the Czapek pieces, but, but, but... the brand, under the charming and energising leadership of CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel developed nicely, which is perfectly illustrated with the new 38mm Quai des Bergues Guilloché Ricochet. A hint of consistency and two focal points make all the difference, but see yourself:



My original concerns revolved around issues which I saw all too often with hopeful start-up brands, such as another ancient but obscure name revived, a crowdfunding exercise (a few years ago refreshingly novel, but currently commonplace), the 'unusual' power reserve combined with a weekday indication, and somehow the fact that the two sides of the medal watch did not really fit to each other: the (mostly) Baroque dials and a decidely 21st century movement (see here ).

Well, Xavier can be seducing (ask FX or KIH...), but on top of it all he is a bona fide watch enthusiast, one who loves to discuss watches and one who listens, digests and advances his pieces. There are two developments which I believe bode well for the young brand: (i) the introduction of a 38.5mm version and (ii) the development of more modern dial design that offer a better match to the movement architecture.

The Quai des Bergues Guilloché Ricochet has been first offered this year in the 42.5mm stainless steel (Aqua Blue dial) or white gold (Sea Salt Grey dial) case, each in a limited edition of 15 or 10 pieces, respectively, with the former one already sold out. In addition, there was a unique piece adorned with an Aqua Blue dial with a red gold case:


Its outstanding feature is a hand-guilloched dial, which is inspired by the capillary waves formed once droplets hit a water surface. Here, Czapek made the right decision and developed a pattern that highlghts one distinctive feature of its watches: the two subdials at 04:30 (power reserve) and 07:30 (small seconds), respectively, act as dual focal points.



The really fascinating part is exactly where I would expect it: the “wave interferences” between the two subdials:



The dial, btw., is beautifully made by expert manufacturer Metalem, which should ring a bell with may of us (Philippe Dufour, anybody?)...

Czapek calls this the “Ricochet” guilloché pattern and states that they took inspiration from an ancient design created by Francois Czapek in the 1850s. The brand explains this in a video they posted recently:



For the first time seen at the Salon QP, Czapek showed a new 38.5mm version of the Quai des Bergues Guilloché Ricoche (differences in dial colour due to my poor photography...):



In the recent years, collectors return to the classical, 'golden size' of 38-39mm diameter, which fits nicely on a great variety of wrists. This is one reason why the new watch comes very timely. The other one I think lies in the beautiful calibre SXH1, a manually-wound movement with two barrel springs and an escapement running at a rate of 21,600 vibrations per hour, offering about 7 days of power reserve. It has been developed together with Jean-François Mojon's Chronode company:



The movement counts 14 lines ¼ – 32 mm, and once encased into a smaller housing it makes for a compact arrangement bursting of horological content - just as it should be!