A Secret Alloy Is the Key to This Chronograph Watch’s Stunning Look

More watches should have secret ingredients.

Published October 24, 2024

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Secret ingredients are a mainstay in family recipes and trendy cocktails, but watches?

Over the weekend, I visited the ninth edition of the WatchTime New York watch fair, where I had the pleasure of getting hands-on with a number of rare and extremely special pieces from some of the most prestigious independent watch brands in the world.

Out of all the spectacular watches I handled, one of the pieces that impressed me the most was the new chronograph from the Geneva-based independent brand Czapek. The watch was breathtakingly beautiful in every way, from its case to its movement, but its most stunning feature was its dial.

And that is no coincidence, as Czapek actually utilized a secret alloy to produce this stunning and unique dial.

a czapek watch — Czapek used a secret metal alloy to achieve the effect seen on the dial of its latest chronograph.

Wait, Who Is Czapek?

Czapek (pronounced cha-pek) isn’t exactly a household name, though it is a legendary name in the Swiss watch industry that was revived in more recent times to become a modern favorite of in-the-know collectors. For the uninitiated, here is a brief rundown of the brand’s history — which does cross paths with a very familiar name in watchmaking.

The original incarnation of the brand was called Patek, Czapek, & Cie. and was founded in 1839 by two Polish immigrants in Switzerland: François Czapek and Antoni Patek (yes, that Patek). The original company lasted just six years before mounting disagreements caused Czapek and Patek to go their separate ways.

1871: Czapek mysteriously disappears.

Patek, of course, eventually teamed up with Adrien Philippe in 1851 and renamed his company Patek Philippe. Czapek, meanwhile, established his own brand in 1845 called Czapek & Cie. Czapek’s eponymous brand lasted only until 1871 when, according to the current company’s website, the watchmaker mysteriously disappeared.

Fast-forward 144 years to 2015 and the Czapek brand is finally relaunched under the leadership of CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel. The resurrected brand draws inspiration from the historical Czapek for its in-house movement designs but is otherwise a highly contemporary haute horological brand exemplified by its flagship integrated sports watch, the Antarctique.

czapek watch on a mans wrist — Modern Czapek quickly made a name for itself with the gorgeous Antarctique sports watch.

The Secret Sauce

Modern Czapek’s latest watch is a sportier version of its Faubourg de Cracovie dubbed the Crossroads. The new watch boasts the same beautiful stainless steel case as before, complete with hollowed-out lugs and integrated pushers that flow uninterrupted from the crown guards.

The watch also houses the same impressive in-house automatic chronograph movement as the rest of the Faubourg de Cracovie series. The Calibre SXH3 is a true haute horlogerie integrated chronograph with a high beat rate of 5 Hz, a power reserve of 65 hours and COSC certification. The movement features a column wheel, a vertical clutch and a linear hammer, along with Czapek’s typical stunning decoration — including a solid 18k gold rotor.

czapek mechanical watch movement seen through a display caseback — As is the case with every modern Czapek watch, the movement of the Crossroads is particularly drool-worthy.

What’s new here is the dial, which has received a couple of updates. One is the addition of a black tachymeter scale on its outer reaches for sporty functionality. The other is the application of an exclusive hand-crafted guilloché pattern dubbed “Crossroads” that features crisscrossing lines inspired by tire treads as a nod to the watch’s motorsports inspiration.

That guilloché is extra special because Czapek had to come up with a special metal alloy to get the effect they wanted. The material had to have the exact tensile strength to both accept and withstand the engraving while also offering enough sheen when polished to reflect light in the way the brand envisioned.

The raw Secret Alloy dial reflects light almost like a mirror.

The resultant material is what Czapek has dubbed the “secret alloy,” or Alloy 401, which is a mixture of gold, platinum, palladium, silver and at least one other secret metal. The alloy’s effect is impressive, as the dial boasts exceptionally deep and wide lines from the guilloché and yet reflects light almost like a mirror. It’s absolutely gorgeous in the metal.

Pricing and Availability

Czapek has launched two different versions of the Crossroads chronograph, both with secret alloy dials. The Crossroads Deep Blue features a blue color applied to the secret alloy dial, making it just a tiny bit less reflective but no less beautiful, while the Crossroads Secret Alloy features the dial in its raw, highly reflective silver form. The Secret Alloy version also features blued steel hands for additional light play.

The Crossroads Deep Blue is part of Czapek’s permanent collection, while the Secret Alloy edition is limited to just 50 examples. Both have the same SRP, however, retailing for $42,200.

That’s pricey, sure, but what did you expect from a watch historically linked to Patek Philippe featuring a dial made up of basically every precious metal known to man?