BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Czapek’s Antarctique range of watches reflects the brand’s ambition to lift itself from a tiny atelier to a fully fledged powerhouse of the watch industry. The Antarctique is the brand’s take on the go-anywhere-do-anything attitude that people love and expect from their high-end Swiss made timepieces. Gone are the days of these sorts of watches being in small cases on leather straps sitting in boardrooms, Swiss haute horlogerie is expected to perform nearly anywhere in the world. For late 2025, Czapek is releasing three new versions of the solid 18k gold Antarctique, we got to see two of them in person (but we’ll talk a little about the third piece anyway).
The first model up is the Antarctique Mount Erebus Green Meteor. Presented in 18k yellow gold, this watch gets the Erebus’ name from the Antarctic volcano, Mount Erebus, which is unusual in that the volcano’s emissions include microscopic particles of gold. The watch features a meteorite dial that has a translucent lacquer over it that’s been coloured green, a classic combination when paired with the yellow gold case.
Measuring 40.5mm x 10.6mm and presented on an 18k yellow gold bracelet (a rubber strap is an option too), the watch shimmers in a most pleasing fashion, the randomised patterns of the meteorite represent something special and unique to each watch. Behind the dial is Czapek’s selfwinding calibre SXH5.
Conceived in-house by the Czapek team, the calibre SXH5 has a 4Hz beat rate and a 60-hour power reserve, powered by the solid platinum micro-rotor. Czapek made eight of these watches, and upon checking their website, it seems they have all been sold. The price was CHF39,400 on the rubber (or leather) strap or CHF63,000 for the gold bracelet.
The second model we got to see was the Antarctique Mount Erebus Falcon Eye. Like the Green Meteor, it features an unusual dial which is made of the gemstone Falcon’s Eye (also called Hawk’s Eye, apparently). This unique gemstone, presents as being quite dark with streaks of colour brightening everything up and providing contrast and light play. Of course, each watch will have a slightly different look to its dial owing to the natural randomness of the stone.
It’s presented in an 18k rose gold case with the same proportions as the Green Meteor watch, which means that it has 120 meters of water resistance so you really can wear the Antarctique wherever you like. I can imagine it by the pool a lot, or on the deck of one of the fancy yachts you might see parked around Venice. This watch also features the calibre SXH5. We really like the futuristic style of finishing Czapek went for with this movement, you’d think that, being a brand about traditions, the movement would look quite traditional too. And yet, the SXH5 with its cut outs, bridges and array of finishings looks set for the future. Unlike the Green Meteor, the Antarctique Falcon Eye is not a limited-edition piece, but they have capped production to ten pieces a year, and they’ll cost CHF39,000 on the rubber/leather strap or CHF62,000 on the 18k rose gold bracelet.
The last piece, Antarctique Mount Erebus Lapis Lazuli, was one we unfortunately didn’t get to see in person. This is because, we’re told, that when we visited team Czapek (that’s definitely not a hint), the prototype for this particular watch was accompanying company Co-Founder and CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel on his adventures. This watch features an 18k rose gold case like the Falcon Eye watch, but it has a vibrant dial of lapis lazuli. We do see lapis lazuli in watches on occasion, and when it’s used, it sparkles magnificently. To source the lapis lazuli used in this watch, and the stones used in the other watches, Czapek turned to its partner Gemmes-Tech.
The difficulty of working with such thin pieces of stone on the dials of the watches presented some unique challenges, most notably the date function which the Antarctique usually has. On these watches, you’ll notice, the date has been omitted entirely as cutting out the date window was not an option with these dials. You still get the applied markers with lume in them, and lume in the hands as well, for low-light legibility. As with the other watches, this piece is available on a rubber or leather strap with a gold deployant buckle or on a solid 18k rose gold bracelet with your choice of either polished intermittent links or a fully polished look. Like the Falcon Eye watch, Czapek is limiting production of these watches to just ten a year. The price on either of the straps is CHF43,000, and on the bracelet it’s CHF66,000. All prices displayed in this article exclude VAT.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of the precious stone dials soon from Czapek, they have a way of making the kinds of watches people seem to want from them the most. It’s probably because they take quite a lot of direction from the people around them, including their customers and their shareholders. Perhaps if you have an idea for them, you can write to them (and send them some money) and they’ll do it. It’s worth a shot, right?
