First chronograph milestone on a royal road

Faubourg de Cracovie “L’Heure Bleue”

CASE : stainless steel, “glass box” sapphire crystal and sapphire caseback with anti-glare treatment, water-resistant to 50m

SIZE : 41.5mm

MOVEMENT : mechanical selfwinding Czapek SXH3, integrated columnwheel chronograph, 65h power reserve, 36,000 vph, COSC-certified

FUNCTIONS : hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph, stop-seconds, date

DIAL : galvanic blue, exclusive Czapek “Ricochet” guilloche pattern, rhodium-plated steel hands

STRAP : alligator leather, folding clasp

After the Quai des Bergues (Geneva) and Place Vendôme (Paris), Czapek & Cie metaphorically whisks us off to the Faubourg de Cracovie to discover its first chronograph model. Like the two previous collections, this newcomer is named after a boutique opened by François Czapek – in this case in 1850 and on one of Warsaw’s most prestigious streets, Krakowskie Przedmieście : Faubourg de Cracovie in French. It also houses the Maison’s third movement, self-winding Caliber SXH3, developed by Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier and equipped with a column wheel and vertical coupling clutch. Remarkably balanced with its 30-minute and 12-hour counters horizontally aligned in the center and complemented by a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock carrying the date display, the blue dial features a concentric “Ricochet” guilloché pattern rippling around the two large counters, like pebbles tossed into the water. Inspired by a motif used by François Czapek himself and typical of the brand’s Quai des Bergues models, this design appears in a larger version here, endowing the watch with a more contemporary and dynamic spirit emphasized by the red tip of the slender sweep-seconds hand. The Faubourg de Cracovie chronograph also comes in a black-guilloché “Dioné & Rhéa” version or a more classic white “Grand Feu” enamel interpretation.