Czapek & Cie is delighted to present Diamond Drops, a glittering gem-set model that epitomises the Promenade philosophy. The collection is as much about style and artistic expression as mechanical excellence and Diamond Drops takes a ‘promenade’ in a new territory.
The new dial is a dazzling sequel to the original Goutte d’Eau, which captures the ripple effect when a drop of water (a goutte d’eau in French) falls onto the surface of a calm pond. The ripples emanate from the off-centred small seconds sub-dial, which serves as the impact point. Diamond Drops is a natural progression from that first expression of the idea, says Xavier de Roquemaurel, CEO of Czapek & Cie. “When we sold out of Goutte d’Eau during its launch at Watches and Wonders 2024 (the watches are being delivered to clients this month) we immediately started playing with other thoughts about water in its various forms – how it looks when light dances on the surface, how dewdrops sparkle on a sunny morning, what happens when water freezes to become snow or ice… This invited us to play not only with design, colour and materials but also the craft of gem-setting, asking ourselves how we could express the original idea in new ways.”
The answer was to reinterpret the ripple effect in diamonds and sapphires, using the snow-setting technique to blanket the entire dial in differently-sized stones, creating an unbroken expanse of sparkle and reflection that reveals almost none of the underlying metal – a glittering ode to nature.
Collecting rare talent
Czapek turned to its trusted partner, AB Products to meet the challenge of creating the Diamond Drops dial. For snow-setting, rather than creating uniform rows of gems held by gold claws, the gem-setter chooses differently sized stones – many less than 0.5 mm in diameter – which are placed into tiny wells hollowed out of the 18K white gold dial base. Each must be set as close as possible to its neighbour, like a microscopic jigsaw puzzle of gemstones. Adding to the challenge, a watch dial must be very thin with a perfectly flat surface, every stone had to be individually measured and the size of the well adapted to its exact size to ensure a perfectly flush finish.
While the snow-setting technique always demands an exceptional level of gem-setting skill, combining stones of different hardness and contrasting colours adds further complexity. Along with the diamonds, sapphires in different shades of blue are used, to make the final effect as naturalistic as possible. Setting the 360 diamonds (1.5 cts) and 319 sapphires (1.58 cts) requires six days of intensely focused work. Representing an additional two days of work, the bezel, flange and crown are set with a total of 173 diamonds (1.63 cts).
Merging art, craftsmanship, and innovation
The slim, 38mm white gold case of Promenade Diamond Drops is fitted with Czapek’s in-house micro-rotor movement, calibre SXH5.1. To accommodate the Promenade collection’s signature off-centred sub-dial, Czapek and its engineers played with the beautiful architecture of the original calibre and translated its strengths into a new identity – as always, guided by the Maison’s ‘Beauty above all’ philosophy. The calibre is immediately recognisable by the seven skeletonised bridges that hold the gear train in place – an architecture inspired by the 19th-century pocket watches of François Czapek. The plates and bridges feature fine haute horlogerie finishes, including bevelling, straight-grained sides and hand-chamfered inward angles. With an oscillating mass made of 100% recycled platinum, the self-winding SXH5.1 provides a power reserve of 60 hours.
Offered with a choice of sapphire blue calf leather strap, Diamond Drops will be made to order, with a maximum production of 10 pieces. It will be available through Czapek’s official retailers worldwide, the Czapek boutique in Geneva, and at Czapek.com.
