Czapek & Cie closed its order book on the luxury sports watch, Antartique, back in April, admitting it simply could not produce enough watches to satisfy demand.
CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel fleshed out the scale of that imbalance to WATCHPRO during Geneva Watch Days, revealing the business had a backlog of 2,800 customers waiting for their Antartique.
The Antarctique Passage de Drake and Antarctique S models where the only Czapek models caught up in the sales freeze and the company said its objective was to clear the waiting list by 2024 and to start taking Antarctique orders from the time of Watches and Wonders in March 2023.
That looked like a tall order for a company that only produces around 300 watches per year, but Mr de Roquemaurel has a plan.
He is investing in new equipment and doubling production every year with the aim of delivering 2,400 watches per year in 2024/5 and 4,800 a year later.
Czapek is moving its Atelier to a new, bigger, facility in La-Chaux-De-Fonds, hiring more people, and re-organising work and procurement with component suppliers so it can assemble more watches.
“Getting to 1,000 watches per year changes the economics of the business and allows for investment in machinery and watchmakers,” Mr de Roquemaurel says.
Despite economic storm clouds gathering, Czapek is confident the current demand for independent watchmakers will continue, and its watches will always be scarce and rare.
Steel Antartique watches retail for £20,000 (and are available to buy immediately from retailers such as Jurawatches), but Mr de Roquemaurel believes the wealthy customers this price demands will keep spending.
“It is a risk free pleasure investment, there are not many of them,” he smiles.
“Distribution of wealth is creating millions of new millionaires, and 5% of them are getting interested in watches,” he suggests.
WATCHPRO Salon 2022 exhibitors and partners
Czapek & Cie. will be among the prestigious watchmakers exhibiting at this year’s WATCHPRO Salon.
Back for a second time after a spectacular debut in 2021, the two-day event takes place from November 11 to 12 at The Londoner, one of the capital’s most spectacular 5-star hotels on London’s Leicester Square.
Confirmed exhibitors include:
ALLEMANO | ANORDAIN | BALL WATCH | BIANCHET | BONHAMS | CHARLES GIRARDIER | CYRUS | CZAPEK & CIE. | DOXA | EBAY | ELLIOT BROWN | ENCELADE 1789 | GRAND SEIKO | HANHART | IKEPOD | JUNGHANS | LAURENT FERRIER | MARATHON | MAURICE LACROIX | MICHEL HERBELIN | MONTRES LEROY | ORIS | PARMIGIANI FLEURIER | PEQUIGNET | PERRELET | SCATOLA DEL TEMPO | SEIKO | SINN | SPEAKE-MARIN | SQUALE | SWISS CAPSULE | SWISS KUBIK | VICTORINOX | WILLIAM WOOD WATCHES | ZEITWINKEL
