Since its introduction in 2020, the Czapek & Cie Antarctique collection has grown into a strong darkish horse contender within the white-hot subject of built-in bracelet sports activities watches. With its distinctive bracelet design, dynamic dial ending, intricate in-house motion, and charismatic mix of sharp angles and gentle particulars, the Antarctique collection has earned no small quantity of fanatic acclaim, notably after the 2021 introduction of the revised Passage de Drake sub-line. For 2022, the model doubles down on this well-liked idea with a pair of latest dial choices, including distinct new personalities to the refined base design. The brand new Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue and the restricted version Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon provide vibrant, eye-catching new dial colorways, giving this elegantly restrained design a extra playful character.
Each the Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue and the Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon share the identical 40.5mm chrome steel case design as the remainder of the Antarctique collection. At first look, this is among the easiest circumstances within the present crop of built-in bracelet metal sports activities watches, however this smooth kind carries a wealth of charisma within the tremendous particulars. The general silhouette is clear and planar, dominated by sharp unchamfered edges and broad brushed surfaces. At 10.6mm-thick, this isn’t a very deep case, however Czapek & Cie visually slims the watch down additional in photographs with a harsh, nearly brutalist rectangular case aspect cutout. On high of this aggressive angular kind, nonetheless, the model provides layers of hotter, extra luxurious element. For instance, the curving sweep of the slim crown guards at 3 o’clock and the outsized signed crown itself add a softer contact in photographs, whereas the delicate compound curve of the outer case aspect edges provides this sharply outlined kind a barely extra curvaceous, natural look. In step with the sporting ethos of the collection, each new fashions additionally provide a stable 120 meters of water resistance.
For the dials of the Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue and the Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon, Czapek & Cie provides new colours to the collection’ geometric stamped dial design. The dynamic “Stairway to Eternity” trapezoidal texture stays intact, making a dramatic collection of highlights and shadows in photographs with a wealthy semimatte end. Though the pointed paddle handset and daring red-tipped seconds hand are carried over from earlier iterations of the Antarctique Passage de Drake, the utilized indices are considerably reworked for these new variants. The general wedge-like form of those indices stays related, however the pointed ideas are much more pronounced with a broader polished bevel. As well as, the utilized Arabic numerals at 12 o’clock have been changed with double indices, and there’s a new partial index flanking the dial-matching date window at 6 o’clock (for people who favor the look of the Arabic numerals at 12 o’clock, Czapek & Cie gives these as an choice). In fact, the most important departure from earlier fashions within the collection comes by way of coloration. For the Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue, the model makes use of a suitably icy pale blue PVD coating, which supplies the watch a livelier and fewer self-serious character in photographs than extra commonplace navy blue finishes. Because the identify suggests, the Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon as an alternative opts for a salmon dial hue, however the galvanic dial end seems nearly golden in pictures. It’s a yellower, extra delicate hue than most salmon dials, however this sunny coloration performs handsomely with the remainder of the design with out feeling overstated.
Czapek & Cie powers each the Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue and the Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon with its in-house SXH5 automated motion. The model’s ending idea for this motion runs 19th-century development ideas by way of an ultra-modern filter, with seven pocket watch-inspired skeletonized bridges rendered in a high-tech mixture of matte blasted and brushed black with hand-polished chamfers. The recycled platinum micro-rotor permits for a comparatively uninterrupted view of the SXH5’s gear prepare, whereas the engravings for each the rotor and the bridges are laser-applied. When it comes to efficiency, the SXH5 gives a decent 56 hours of energy reserve at a 28,800 bph beat fee. Czapek & Cie completes each fashions with its trademark C-link built-in bracelet in chrome steel, with a flowing tapered design and attention-grabbing polished heart hyperlinks.
By introducing extra vibrant colours into the collection’ lineup, the brand new Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue and the restricted version Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon give this nuanced fan-favorite design a bolder character. Though the Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Glacier Blue is a daily manufacturing mannequin, the Czapek & Cie Antarctique Passage de Drake Salmon is proscribed to solely 99 examples. Each fashions can be found now by way of licensed sellers. MSRP for each fashions stands at $22,000 as of press time. For extra particulars, please go to the model’s web site.
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