Expanding on the vision first introduced with the Viridian Green edition, Czapek & Cie presents the Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue. Limited to just 38 pieces in a 38mm steel case, this release presents an artful study in light and shadow—transparency, in both sense of the word.
High-precision vapor deposition achieves a transparent gradient dial, which reveals an openworked movement engineered and decorated by Czapek.
The centerpiece is its striking blue fumé gradient dial, achieved through a precise vapor-deposition technique. Microscopic metallic dots, each around eight microns wide, or several times thinner than a human hair, are metallized onto the underside of a sapphire disc. By concentrating these dots near the outer edge and dispersing them toward the 4:30 small seconds sub-dial, the dial shifts seamlessly from clear transparency at its center to deep opacity at the rim.
Revealed beneath is the in-house automatic Calibre SXH7, a fully skeletonized evolution of Czapek’s foundational SXH5 movement. Its seven openworked bridges echo the multi-bridge layout of François Czapek’s 19th-century pocket watches. To keep the dial side fully legible without hiding the mechanism, Czapek inverted the entire escapement, repositioned the small seconds directly onto the fourth wheel, and redesigned the keyless works. Powering the movement is a micro-rotor machined from 100% recycled platinum, intricately engraved on both sides.
Czapek is more upfront than most brands about how much of its watchmaking processes are in-house, and what is outsourced to more experienced experts.
Designed in-house by movement specialist Dan Martinez, assembled in-house, then finished 75% in-house, the Calibre SXH7 sits alongside more than 10 proprietary movements that Czapek has produced since its revival in 2015. Built specifically to showcase skeletonization and hand-finishing, this versatile movement also powers the translucent Antarctique Plique-à-Jour Polar Blue and the openworked Antarctique Révélation series.
While Czapek outsources the initial machining, the independent manufacture openly celebrates its specialized partners: Atokalpa for escapements and regulators, Générale de Ressorts for mainsprings and barrels, AB Product for other movement components, Vaucher and Chronode for complicated movements, and Metalam and Donzé Cadrans for dial engineering.
Offered on either a blue nubuck leather strap or an integrated steel Milanese mesh bracelet, the Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue retails for CHF 28,800 / US$ 40,300.
