Czapek Place Vendôme Complicité “Courage Every Second”

The idea for the watch was born in 2018 as an evolution of Czapek’s renowned initial models, Quai des Bergues and Place Vendôme. The beauty of the concept was to respect the position of the escapements at 4.30 and 7.30 and have them connect to the differential at 12 o'clock. Xavier (Czapek CEO) couldn’t find a watchmaking partner able to respect this architecture, with the differential at 12 o'clock as a central element of the concept. 

So the idea was left aside until…. a story of family and friendship brought it back to life. Paul, one of Xavier’s children, was in the same school class in Neuchâtel as the daughter of Bernhard Lederer and a mutual friend introduced the two fathers. This encounter led to an intense exchange of ideas and advices: while Xavier was focused on product and branding, Bernhard was on pure watchmaking. 

They began talking about making a watch together, resolved the problem of the dual escapement running around the center, and both a friendship and a watch -‘Complicité’ - were born.

The Only Watch piece was designed even before Czapek had finalised the designs for the production models of the newest addition to its Place Vendôme collection. This one-of-a-kind piece is cased in steel (rather than the precious metals of the production models) and the dial is encircled by a ‘champlevé‘ enamel ring in the colours of the 10th Edition of Only Watch.

Estimate: CHF 80,000 - 100,000

Sold for: CHF 85,000