Czapek & Cie

Czapek & Cie's story begins on May 1, 1839, when Polish watchmaker Franciszek Czapek, who had arrived in Geneva in 1832, partnered with another Polish emigrant, Antoine Norbert de Patek, founding "Patek, Czapek & Cie". In the partnership, Czapek was the technician, responsible for production, while Patek handled the commercial side. The company produced about 200 watches a year, employing largely Polish craftsmen, but the collaboration lasted only six years: in April 1845 the two partners went their separate ways. Patek continued with Adrien Philippe, giving rise to what would become Patek Philippe; Czapek, on May 1, 1845, founded a new house together with partner Juliusz Gruzewski, keeping his own name.

Under the leadership of Czapek and Gruzewski, the new Czapek & Cie enjoyed a period of great prestige: in 1855 it became official supplier to the court of Napoleon III, and in the following years it opened boutiques in Geneva, in Paris on Place Vendôme (1850) and in Warsaw (1854), serving an international clientele that included the Khedive of Egypt Ismail Pasha and the Russian Golitsyn family. This golden period, however, came to an abrupt and poorly documented end: around 1869–1871 the house changed hands, perhaps due to Czapek's own illness or death, and within a few years the brand disappeared from the historical record, effectively closing its original activity.

The name lay dormant for over a century, until, starting in 2011, art expert Harry Guhl rediscovered its history and set its revival in motion. In 2014 he brought in Xavier de Roquemaurel as CEO and watchmaker Sébastien Follonier; in December 2012 the name was officially registered, and in November 2015, following an equity crowdfunding campaign that raised over 2 million Swiss francs from more than a hundred investors around the world, Czapek & Cie was officially relaunched in Geneva as an independent high-watchmaking manufacture — among the first historic brands to be reborn through the direct support of enthusiasts.