BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Czapek & Cie was formed in the mid-teens as a revival of the Czapek name, which at one time was twinned with that of Antoni Patek as Patek, Czapek & Cie in the early 19th century. Today, the name exists by itself, and the brand is very popular with watch connoisseurs. Czapek itself says it “collects rare people” in its tagline. I’m not quite sure what that means, but I believe they mean they have a big circle of exciting and unique friends who buy their watches. It’s not that they have a basement full of people kept in stasis. I mean, probably not.
Maybe that will be the future one day, but a more likely future is that of robotics moving closer and closer to the science of our daily lives. With that in mind, Czapek introduces a special version of its Antarctique Rattrapante called the Antarctique Rattrapante R.U.R. which packs more than a few surprising and pleasing details.
The most obvious detail is the robot head on the dial, which at first appears to be nothing more than a nice engraving applied to an openworked chronograph dial. However, once you interact with the chronograph, you’ll note the robot’s appearance changes if you look closely enough. When the chronograph is stopped and at the zero position, its eyes are coloured blue. Start the chronograph, and the eyes turn yellow, inspired by the eyes of a character called Shrike from Mortal Engines (2018). Stop the chronograph without resetting it, and the eyes turn red. The eyes of the robot’s head were hand-painted, and the robot’s head was crafted from titanium by partner firm MD’Art. Oh, another tiny detail I like is the writing on the chronograph subdials. Czapek says it’s a new language made for the watch, which is based on that of the Yautja, the iconic hunter alien antagonists from the various Predator movies.
The movement on display on the dial side is a modified version of Czapek’s SXH6 with the robot head feature. The SXH6 was developed by Czapek and partner firm Chronode, which is a specialist firm with plenty of experience crafting unique and extraordinary pieces like this. Chronode was founded and is still headed up by Jean-François Mojon, also the leading watchmaking expert at Cyrus. For those who want the raw specs, the SXH6 has a 60-hour power reserve with a variable inertia balance wheel beating at 4Hz. Being a rattrapante movement, which means it has a split-seconds function, it has two column wheels for smooth and precise operation. It also has a horizontal clutch.
All of this is set within a 42.5mm x 15.3mm stainless steel case with 120m of water resistance. As is standard for Czapek’s Antarctique model range, the new Antarctique Rattrapante R.U.R features a tapering stainless steel bracelet with brushed and polished details and Czapek’s “easy release” clasp with micro adjustment. A complimentary rubber strap is also included, and a leather strap can be included upon request as well.
I think this is quite an intriguing release from Czapek. I like the layering of details they have, from the unique finishing on the robot’s head to the making of a new language just for this watch. If that wasn’t enough detailing for you, the R.U.R. in the name refers to Karel Čapek’s 1920 play Rossum’s Universal Robots, which introduced the word ‘robot’ to the English language and told a warning story about the rise of science, technology and automation. Will they take idea submissions do you think? I think they could fit the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies in Czapek watches somewhere.
There will be some that say Czapek didn’t go far enough with the robot theme on the watch itself, but it’s hard to say they underdelivered in terms of the storytelling, and for watches like this storytelling is a fair chunk why people buy them. Whether it’s enough to convince them to spend CHF58,000 (pre-tax) on one of the 77 watches Czapek is making, that’s a question for Czapek’s “rare people”.
