BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
When you think about your ideal dress watch, what do you imagine? For all of us it’s slightly different; some will undoubtedly think of the most restrained dress watches from the likes of Audemars Piguet or Vacheron Constantin with ultra-thin cases measuring 34mm or 36mm in diameter and likely just two simple hands at the most. For others, the perfect dress watch is something a little more modern and, perhaps, a little more wearable. That’s where Czapek is looking with its Quai des Bergues N°17 Double Soleil Aqua Blue.
The Czapek name returned to the horology scene in 2015 with the Quai des Bergues; it’s been there right from the off, and in that time, it’s had quite a few iterations which have all screamed individuality. The Aqua Blue, I’m happy to say, is no different. It exudes a modern charm while staying faithful to the idea of a dress watch – namely, a watch with a tasteful appearance, a well-proportioned case size, and a comfortable wearing experience.
We start with the appearance. The way the Aqua Blue looks is an adaptation of a historic design. Czapek took the layout of the reference No. 3430 pocket watch when creating the Quai des Bergues. They’ve played around with the design a little bit over the years, but have generally stayed steadfast with the layout, that being two subdials arranged at the bottom of the dial. On the left is the small seconds with an elegant lancet hand travelling slowly to show that the watch is running and time is progressing. On the right is the power reserve/weekday indicator.
In keeping with the reference 3430 pocket watch, the Aqua Blue has a weeklong power reserve – that’s 168 hours. Winding the watch moves the double-ended lancet hand, which points to both the number of days of power left in the mainspring barrels and the day of the week. Of course, to make that work, you ideally need to wind it to full on a Sunday, unless you’re one of those crazy people who never set their date or day-of-the-week indicators. I found that winding the Aqua Blue became a nice little ritual on a Sunday, and the watch has a good gear ratio, as it only takes about 60 twists of the crown to wind it from empty to full – darned good considering you’d usually wind an automatic watch around 30 twists and then put it on and let it wind itself over the day. Czapek tell me that in the 1850s, when François Czapek was making his watches, it was common for people to wind their watches after Sunday Mass, I wonder how many folks today make Sunday a special “watch winding day”. You could also wind it to the corresponding day at any point in the week. For instance, you could wind it to only three days of power reserve on a Thursday, and then wind it to full power on Sunday. It’s a simple way to have two indications in one; it doesn’t require overthinking.
Back to the appearance. As well as the lovely dial colour of the Aqua Blue, we also have a more pronounced guilloché pattern than on some of the other watches in the Quai des Bergues range. This dial pattern, called “Double Soleil”, represents intriguing phenomena known as sun dogs. The technical name for sun dogs is parhelia, and it occurs when sunlight refracts in ice crystals within the atmosphere to produce bright spots on either side of the sun in the sky. There can also be a halo effect visible, too. The Aqua Blue’s dial captures that phenomenon remarkably well.
Czapek’s dial partner, Metalem, developed this finish with them, and it’s very striking in person, glittering and glistening under the light. Straight lines radiate outwards across the dial from the two subdials; it’s something you really need to see in person. This version of the Aqua Blue, with the triangular hands, is pretty easy to read at most angles, although the hands are polished, so at some points they disappear. As we should expect from boutique independents like Czapek, there is some choice with the design, as you can have their classic Fleur-de-Lys hands instead of the ones on this watch – this also replaces the double-ended lancet hand of the power reserve with a straight thin one. A black version with this pattern is available too if blue isn’t your thing, and if you ask them very nicely (and probably pay extra money), they will work with you to make a unique watch with different colours if you so choose – but let’s keep that secret between us, shall we?
At 40.5mm x 11.9mm the Aqua Blue is incredibly wearable. All but the most avid sumo wrestlers will undoubtedly find it easy on the wrist, and there are different strap lengths to suit. I also took the time to measure the watch on WristReview’s VSS (Very Scientific [Kitchen] Scales), and it clocked in at just 80 grams, one of the lightest watches I’ve measured on them, actually. The case is made from stainless steel, which contributes to the watch’s lightness, and it means the watch not only sits nicely on the wrist but is well-balanced and not prone to sliding around. At the moment, the ‘Double Soleil’ guilloché on the dial is exclusive to the 40.5mm diameter, meaning that, for now, the larger 42.5mm watches (the original size when Czapek was relaunched) and the smaller 38.5mm watches don’t get this dial pattern. The case is water resistant to 50m.
The magic happens around the back and is visible through a sapphire crystal. What you’re looking at is a revised version of the proprietary Calibre SXH1, the first in Czapek’s movement family, introduced with the Quai des Bergues in 2015. The easiest way to tell this revised version apart from the original is by the open-worked construction around the balance cock and above the going train, the wheels visible around the balance wheel. Instead of the elegantly grained pieces on the SXH1’s first iteration, Czapek has skeletonised them to reveal the mechanics underneath, which are still elegant but in a different way. If anything, revealing more parts of the SXH1 makes it look even more haute than it did before. The restrained graining, combined with the heat-blued screws and the hand chamfering and bevelling, make it look like a mix of old-school horology technique and futuristic thinking, which is Czapek’s message.
Beyond the traditional and modern finishing techniques is the movement’s design. Earlier, I talked about the dial’s layout being reminiscent of the No. 3430 piece, but the Calibre SXH1’s layout is also reminiscent of the original piece. One side of it features the twin barrels while the other the escapement assembly, just as François Czapek set out all those years ago. Of course, the SXH1 is different in several ways, but it still squeezes seven days of power from those two barrels while being 4.75mm thick, the beat rate is 3Hz. Czapek developed the SXH1 with Chronode, the Le Locle-based expert movement firm founded by Jean-François Mojon, whose most notable work, apart from Czapek, is with Cyrus. The SXH1 is proprietary to Czapek, so no other brand can use it. Everyone knows everyone in the Swiss watch industry, and they’re keen to work together where they can. Czapek, to its credit, has a history of being open about who it collaborates with when making watches; as well as being transparent, it also shows a sense of the horological community in Switzerland.
Wearing the Quai des Bergues N°17 Double Soleil Aqua Blue has been a privilege. It’s a modern dress watch that looks the part, wears the part and has the movement credentials to back it all up. It also has that “alternative” feeling that makes the independent watchmaking scene so exciting. This version of the Quai des Bergues is available now at a price of CHF 19,200 before VAT.
