Geneva, September 2026 - Czapek & Cie inaugurates its new flagship boutique at Quai des Bergues 27, where François Czapek made his first renowned steps in the Genevan watchmaking ‘mythology’. Timed to Geneva Watch Days, the Maison presents the Quai des Bergues "Midnight in Geneva" in a new 40.5 mm stainless steel case, alongside Place Vendôme Complicité Glacier Blue, a 10-piece platinum edition born of the Complicité between CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel and master watchmaker Bernhard Lederer.
The Quai des Bergues is not simply an address. It is where the Czapek story evolved from insurgent to master. In 1839, François Czapek — a Czech-born Polish watchmaker who had fled to Geneva after the failed Warsaw uprising of 1830 — founded with a fellow Pole and a local partner from Versoix, a first company that would mark the history at Quai des Bergues 29. For six years, this quayside atelier was the cradle of some of the most prestigious haute horlogerie timepieces of the era. When the associates parted in 1845, Czapek founded Czapek & Cie on May 1st of the same year, going on to open the first watchmaking boutique on the Place Vendome in Paris and to become one of the great watchmakers of his time.
Nearly two centuries later, Czapek & Cie — revived in 2015 by a group of passionate entrepreneurs — returns to the very same quay. The new Geneva flagship is both a homecoming and a forward step: an expression of the Maison's conviction that the best way to build the future is to remain grounded in who you are.
“After naming our first collection ‘Quai des Bergues’, opening a flagship on the Quai des Bergues was an obvious dream that we have had for a long time,” says CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel. “This is where it all started — not just for Czapek, but for modern watchmaking in Geneva, with the Cabinotiers taking over the upper levels of the buildings on the quay to get the light from the sun and stay away from the noise of the city. The first collection of the revived Czapek in 2015 was a tribute to this era. Coming back here is a statement about what we stand for.”
The boutique opened its doors to the public in July 2026, with an inaugural evening on September 1st bringing together press, collectors, local institutions and friends of the Maison — on the eve of Geneva Watch Days, of which Czapek is a proud original partner.
A NEW KIND OF WATCHMAKING SPACE
The Quai des Bergues 27 boutique introduces, for the first time in a Czapek-owned retail space, the brand's new store concept developed in collaboration with design agency Live Teams. The concept was previously deployed in Czapek's first authorised retailer corners in late 2023; the Geneva flagship is its inaugural expression in a fully dedicated boutique.
The design deliberately breaks with the conventions of traditional watchmaking retail. Raw stone walls — a direct echo of the historic Geneva streetscape — meet American walnut furniture, midnight blue Alcantara, and a layout conceived around dialogue rather than transaction. There is no counter separating the visitor from the collection. Instead, the space is arranged around shared tables and open display stands, inviting collectors to browse, sit, discover, and engage at their own pace, a sort of “horological art gallery” as stated by Xavier Dietlin, the showcases contributor to the concept. Presiding over the space are the Rondo works by Polish-born international artist Oskar Zięta — mirror-polished steel sculptures whose inflated forms are shaped by what Zięta himself calls 'controlled loss of control': a mastery that deliberately leaves room for the material to find its own expression. In their curved surfaces, visitors find their own reflection — a reminder that at Czapek, the rarest element in the room has always been the person wearing the watch.
A dedicated living room space offers the setting for deeper conversations about watchmaking and collector services, while the main gallery space ensures the full breadth of Czapek's collections, calibers, and vintage watches is accessible from the moment one steps inside. The boutique expresses in physical form what the brand has always practised: that a watch is the beginning of a relationship, not the end of a transaction.
QUAI DES BERGUES "MIDNIGHT IN GENEVA" — A NEW CHAPTER FOR AN EMBLEMATIC PIECE
When Czapek opened its first modern boutique in Geneva in 2019, it marked the occasion with the Quai des Bergues “Midnight in Geneva” — a limited edition of 18 pieces with a 42.5mm case in stainless steel, featuring a deep blue aventurine dial and the Calibre SXH1, the Maison's proprietary hand-wound movement with a seven-day power reserve.
For the inauguration of Quai des Bergues 27, Czapek revisits that founding gesture — this time in the new 40.5mm case format, introduced by the Maison as a third size for the Quai des Bergues collection. The case retains all the defining signatures of the original: the curved silhouette, the characteristic lug geometry, and the sapphire caseback that offers a view of the movement. A subtle refinement of the case-side recesses accommodates the calibre, and the lug slope has been adjusted to ensure an exceptional fit on a wide range of wrist sizes.
The aventurine glass dial — crafted in dark blue, its surface alive with the mineral glitter that inspired the piece's name — is presented here for the first time in this diameter. Working in aventurine at any scale is demanding; the material is complex, fragile, and unforgiving of compromise. The particular challenge of this format lies in the recessed sub-dials for the small seconds and power reserve indicator: rather than carving cavities into the aventurine, the main dial is cut through entirely, and the sub-dials are set onto the underlying base metal plate — a construction of just 0.4 mm thickness — visible through the apertures. A technique that demands exceptional precision at every stage, to preserve the integrity of the aventurine while achieving the depth of finish that defines the Czapek aesthetic.
As with its 2019 predecessor, the new edition is limited to 18 pieces — a nod to the address of Czapek's first modern boutique in Geneva at Rue de la Corraterie 18, where the Midnight in Geneva story began. The piece will be available at the new Geneva flagship and through a selection of authorised retailers worldwide, with immediate delivery.
PLACE VENDÔME COMPLICITÉ GLACIER BLUE: A CONTINUING FRIENDSHIP
Timed to the same calendar, Czapek presents a new expression of Place Vendôme Complicité: the Glacier Blue. Cased in Pt 950 platinum and limited to 10 pieces, it carries forward an architecture born of the friendship between CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel and German-born master watchmaker Bernhard Lederer, a founding member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI).
“The Place Vendome Complicité Glacier Blue is, above all, the continuation of a friendship,” says Xavier de Roquemaurel. “The same complicité between two independent watch creators that gave this collection its name.”
At its heart, two independent balance wheels beat in opposite directions, each governed by its own escapement, with a differential positioned at 12 o'clock that reconciles any variation between their rates. This self-regulating architecture, fully visible on the dial side, sits here on a light blue PVD-treated, grainé main plate, its cool tones matched by faceted, mirror-polished rhodium-plated indexes and partially skeletonised sword hands. The manually wound proprietary Calibre 8, comprising 293 parts, drives the double escapement with differential gearing and central seconds, and delivers a 72-hour power reserve indicated between the two balances. Each variable-inertia balance wheel is fitted with four adjustment screws and four weights, its Breguet terminal curve tuned in concert with its counterpart so that the two independent oscillators remain, in effect, in constant dialogue. Two sapphire bridges, set with six rubies in gold chatons, expose the full gear train; on the reverse, 18 inward angles are hand-chamfered and the bridges and main plate hand-bevelled, in keeping with the établissage that Bernhard Lederer's contribution first made possible for this model. The piece will be available at the new Geneva flagship, and through authorised retailers worldwide.
