A friendship between Czapek’s CEO and an independent watchmaker gave the Place Vendôme Complicité its double escapement, now dressed in platinum and ice blue.
Czapek today introduces the Place Vendôme Complicité Glacier Blue, cased in Pt 950 platinum and limited to 10 numbered pieces. It arrives with the inauguration of the brand’s new Geneva flagship on the Quai des Bergues.
Two independent balance wheels beat in opposite directions, each with its own escapement. A differential at 12 o’clock reconciles any variation between their rates, in full view on a light blue main plate. The hand-wound Calibre 8, with 293 parts, shows 72 hours of power reserve between the two balances.
“The Place Vendome Complicité Glacier Blue is, above all, the continuation of a friendship,” says Xavier de Roquemaurel. Lederer, born in Germany, is a founding member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants.
Two sapphire bridges, set with six rubies in gold chatons, leave the whole mechanism open to view.
The Basics
Brand: Czapek
Model: Place Vendôme Complicité Glacier Blue
Diameter: 41.8mm
Thickness: 14.8mm with lugs (13.3mm on the wrist)
Case material: Pt 950 platinum; sandblasted, hollowed-out lugs
Dial: Open-worked, light blue PVD-treated grainé main plate; circular-grained hours and minutes track; faceted, mirror-polished rhodium-plated indexes; partially skeletonised rhodium-plated sword hands
Water resistance: 50m (5 atm)
Strap: Alligator, platinum (Pt950) pin buckle on a titanium folding clasp
Limited edition: 10 numbered pieces
The Movement
Calibre: 8, proprietary, hand-wound, created with Bernhard Lederer
Functions: Hours, minutes, central seconds, power reserve indicator
Winding: Manual
Power reserve: 72 hours
Frequency: 3Hz (21,600 VpH)
Images courtesy of Czapek.