Czapek & Cie unveils the Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue

With the Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue, Czapek & Cie continues an exploration that has become one of the most fascinating signatures of its Promenade collection: that of a transparency that does not try to show everything, but to suggest, to reveal and ultimately to let the eye lose itself in the depths of the movement. Limited to just 38 pieces, this new interpretation pairs a smoked blue sapphire dial with the fully skeletonised architecture of the in-house SXH7 caliber.

Two years after the Promenade Transparencies Viridian Green, Czapek returns to an aesthetic territory it has already explored, but with a different shade. The green gives way to an aqua blue whose variations in density turn the dial into a genuine interface between the visible and the invisible.

Because here, the dial is no longer a border between the wearer and the movement. It becomes a window.

A transparency that changes the perception of time

The philosophy of the Transparencies collection rests on an idea that is as simple as it is demanding: to give the eye access to the mechanical architecture without sacrificing the depth, legibility or aesthetic identity of the watch.

The Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue takes up this approach and pushes it in a new chromatic direction.

At first glance, the dial appears to show a delicate smoked blue gradient. In reality, its construction is far more sophisticated. The disc is neither painted, nor lacquered, nor tinted throughout. It is a genuine sapphire dial whose colouring is achieved through metallisation.

This distinction is essential, because it allows Czapek to keep at the centre of the dial the transparency that is the very essence of the collection.

The eye thus passes through the sapphire to reach the SXH7 caliber straight away, whose bridges, gears and components become an integral part of the aesthetic composition.

The blue is born of light and material

To achieve its smoked effect, Czapek uses a metallisation process based on physical vapour deposition, or PVD.

The principle is to deposit a metallic coating beneath the sapphire disc in the form of a multitude of microscopic dots. Their diameter is about eight microns, several times less than the thickness of a hair.

The subtlety of the process lies in their distribution.

The density of these micro-dots increases gradually towards the periphery of the dial, while it decreases as the eye moves closer to the small seconds counter positioned at 4:30.

It is this variation in density that creates the blue gradient.

The sapphire therefore remains perfectly transparent at the centre before becoming gradually more opaque towards its edge. No pigment alters the material itself. The colour results solely from the density of the metallic coating.

This construction gives the dial a particular depth. Light spreads across its surface while the movement remains perceptible beneath the sapphire, giving the impression that the mechanical components float behind a blue veil.

Hour markers that become an integral part of the transparency

The Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue does not merely reuse the dial of the previous edition.

Czapek also introduces a new execution of the hour markers.

Whereas the first Promenade Transparencies Viridian Green used metal hour markers, the new version adopts blocks of light blue Super-LumiNova.

Each marker is placed and fixed by hand directly onto the sapphire dial.

Once natural light has faded, these markers retain their presence by emitting a luminescence in the same light blue. The choice is particularly consistent with the dial’s chromatic treatment, as it extends the hue into the darkness.

The watch thus keeps its graphic identity without resorting to any additional decorative element.

The SXH7 caliber, mechanical heart of the transparency

But the true star of this Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue remains, without doubt, its movement.

Visible both dial side and case back side, the automatic SXH7 caliber is a fully skeletonised evolution of the SXH5.

Czapek did not simply remove material to make the movement visible. The caliber was entirely rethought so that its mechanical architecture is as interesting to observe from the front as from the back of the case.

Seven openworked bridges reach out from the edge of the movement to grip the gear train. Their layout directly evokes the multi-bridge architecture of the pocket watches made in the 19th century by François Czapek.

The historical tribute is subtle. It is not about reproducing an old movement, but about taking up an architectural language and transposing it into a contemporary construction.

The mechanics then become part of the design.

A movement designed to be admired from both sides

Making a skeletonised movement interesting on the case back side is one thing. Giving it a genuine presence on the dial side is another.

To achieve this result, Czapek’s engineers had to thoroughly rework the architecture of the SXH7.

The entire escapement, in particular, was reversed. The small seconds was moved to a counter located at 4:30 so that it is driven directly by the fourth wheel.

The crown, the winding components and the time-setting system were also rethought so as to find their place on the dial side without disturbing the overall reading.

These modifications are not mere technical adjustments. They answer a genuine aesthetic ambition: to turn the caliber into a mechanical spectacle visible from both faces of the watch.

Hand finishing multiplied by two

This transparent architecture also imposes a particular demand in terms of decoration.

Usually, most of the finishing of a movement can be concentrated on the face visible from the back. With the SXH7, that logic disappears.

Since both sides of the caliber are on display, both faces must receive the same level of attention.

The ratchet wheels are openworked, the bridges sandblasted, and the inward angles are hand-bevelled. The flanks, for their part, receive a straight-grained satin finish.

These treatments are carried out symmetrically at the front and at the back.

The consequence is obvious: the amount of hand-finishing work is considerably increased.

In a watch this transparent, no detail can truly be hidden. Every surface, every angle and every transition becomes potentially visible through the sapphire.

It is this absence of a façade that gives the Promenade Transparencies its particular character. The movement is no longer just an engine. It becomes the face of the watch.

A micro-rotor in recycled platinum

At the heart of this skeletonised architecture, the micro-rotor is also an important aesthetic element.

It is machined from 100% recycled platinum and receives engraving on both of its faces.

Here again, Czapek applies the same philosophy: since the rotor can be observed from several angles, each of its surfaces must be worked.

This pursuit of consistency, even in the mechanical elements that are least immediately visible, reflects a commitment to finishing that goes well beyond mere decoration.

The SXH7 caliber runs at a frequency of 4 Hz, or 28,800 vibrations per hour. It has 25 jewels and offers a power reserve of 60 hours.

A 38 mm Promenade

The stainless steel case takes up the characteristic dimensions of the Promenade collection with a diameter of 38 mm.

Its proportions remain particularly restrained for a watch whose movement takes up so much visual space.

The curved lugs and hollowed flanks help preserve the slimness of the whole. The thickness reaches just 10.8 mm.

This architecture contributes to the elegance of the watch on the wrist while keeping enough presence to showcase the depth of the caliber.

The sapphire crystal and the case back are both given an anti-reflective treatment on their inner face.

This detail takes on particular importance here. In a watch designed around transparency, stray reflections could quickly blur the reading of the movement. The anti-reflective treatment lets the eye pass more easily through the two sapphire surfaces and into the mechanical architecture.

Water resistance is stated at 50 metres.

An aesthetic between symmetry and surprise

The Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue keeps the fundamental codes of the Promenade collection while giving them a new interpretation.

The off-centre small seconds counter at 4:30 is, in particular, one of the characteristic elements of this family of watches. Here it becomes the point around which the dial’s gradient gradually organises itself.

The transparency is therefore not uniform.

It evolves.

It lightens around the small seconds and thickens towards the edges of the dial, creating a kind of blue halo that seems to accompany the movement.

This construction aligns with the aesthetic philosophy Czapek claims: working with symmetry while introducing elements of surprise.

The watch thus gives an impression of architectural mastery while retaining a share of mystery.

When the mechanics become spectacle

There is a certain temptation, in contemporary watchmaking, to show ever more.

Skeletonisation, open dials, visible components and openworked movements have multiplied over the years.

Czapek adopts a more subtle approach here.

The transparency is not total. The smoked sapphire retains a degree of opacity. The metallic micro-dots gradually filter the light. The movement appears, but it is never delivered entirely to the eye in a single reading.

You have to observe.

Turn the wrist.

Change the angle.

Let the light move.

It is precisely this controlled frustration that gives the Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue its charm. The movement is visible, but it still has to be discovered.

Mechanics that play with desire

Xavier de Roquemaurel, CEO of Czapek & Cie, sums up this approach by speaking of a form of “mechanical eroticism”.

The expression may be surprising, but it describes the principle of the collection quite accurately.

Here the transparency works as a game of revelation. Some details appear clearly while others remain partly hidden behind the sapphire and the elements of the movement.

The eye tries to understand what it sees.

The gaze follows a bridge, stops on a gear, returns to the small seconds counter, then discovers a new angle of the mechanics.

The watch then becomes a visual experience as much as an instrument for measuring time.

A limited edition of 38 pieces

The Czapek Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue will be produced in just 38 pieces.

A choice that naturally reinforces the exclusive dimension of this creation, but which above all recalls the artisanal nature of the project. Between the making of the sapphire dial, the microscopic metallisation, the hand placement of the markers, the skeletonisation of the movement and the finishing carried out on both of its faces, this watch concentrates a considerable number of delicate operations.

The limited production thus appears as the logical extension of an approach that favours quality of execution over quantity.

Czapek continues its exploration of transparency

Two years after the Promenade Transparencies Viridian Green, Czapek & Cie shows with this new Aqua Blue that transparency can still offer many possibilities.

The house does not change its philosophy. It changes its light.

The deep green of the previous edition gives way to a more airy smoked blue, while the metal hour markers are replaced by blocks of light blue Super-LumiNova. Behind this aesthetic renewal, the SXH7 caliber remains at the centre of the project, with its fully skeletonised architecture and its hand finishing on both of its faces.

The Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue thus succeeds at a particularly delicate exercise: showing more without losing the mystery.

This is perhaps where the whole strength of this creation lies. In a world where technical performance is often shown off without restraint, Czapek prefers to suggest. The brand turns the movement into a mechanical landscape and the sapphire into a filter between the eye and the heart of the watch.

An approach that gives time a new depth, somewhere between light, material and mechanics.

Technical specifications

Czapek & Cie Promenade Transparencies Aqua Blue

Limited edition: 38 pieces

Case: stainless steel

Diameter: 38 mm

Thickness: 10.8 mm

Crystal: sapphire with anti-reflective treatment on the inner face

Case back: sapphire with anti-reflective treatment on the inner face

Water resistance: 50 metres

Dial: smoked blue sapphire achieved through PVD metallisation

Hour markers: blocks of light blue Super-LumiNova, placed by hand

Small seconds: off-centre counter at 4:30

Movement: automatic in-house SXH7 caliber, fully skeletonised

Micro-rotor: 100% recycled platinum, engraved on both faces

Frequency: 4 Hz, or 28,800 vibrations/hour

Jewels: 25

Power reserve: 60 hours

Availability: from 20 August 2026

Distribution: authorised Czapek retailers, the Geneva boutique and czapek.com

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