Eqotime meets Czapek's charismatic CEO

Text/image: Britta Rossander & Mia Litström

The Frenchman Xavier de Roquemaurel, CEO of the revived Czapek, is an easy-to-talk-to and engaged interview subject. He talks willingly and a lot about the brand that he together with the art expert Harry Guhl and ”the secret watchmaker” Sebastian Follonier relaunched seven years ago. 

Xavier comes from a successful international career within what he calls ”emotional products”. He started within sales, then took an MBA in Business at IESE in Barcelona. After that went to the LVMH group as international product manager and then moved on to Ermenegildo Zegna. The entrance into the watch world went via a job as marketing manager for Ebel which he left in 2012 to work on his own projects. The year after he met the art expert Harry Guhl and ”the secret watchmaker” Sebastian Follonier, they decided to revive the brand Czapek which was officially relaunched at the end of 2015.

A bit of history:

1811 

Franciszek Czapek was born in Semonice in Bohemia (nowadays the Czech Republic). The family later emigrated to Poland.

1832 

He fled to Switzerland after the collapse of the Polish uprising that he had actively taken part in. He now founded his first company, ”Czapek & Moreau”, together with a local partner.

1835 

François Czapek and Antoine Norbert de Patek, both Polish emigrants, survived an uprising that forced them to flee. They met the year after and. Czapek then invited his countryman Patek into a collaboration and they founded the company Patek, Czapek & Cie on 1 May 1839.

1845 

The partnership lasted six years during which they created several exceptional watches. At the end of April that year they dissolved the partnership. Both men continued to produce watches. Czapek founded Czapek & Cie on 1 May 1845 with a new partner, Juliusz Gruzewski and what Patek did we know.

1850 

Czapek quickly got a reputation as one of the 19th century's best watchmakers. He delivered to the imperial court and had shops in Geneva and Warsaw as well as in Paris on Place Vendôme. 

For unknown reasons the company is said to have changed owners around 1869, possibly because Czapek became ill or died, his date of death is unknown. On the other hand a known calendar watch has a French inscription in the case that can be translates as: Czapek and Company / No. 10630 / A. Chaillet Successor / 84 Rue du 4 Septembre / Paris. In another place it says 1876 / Rudzicki which may indicate that the business continued for a time after Czapek disappeared from the picture. 

Czapek is a relatively young independent company. A never previously seen entrepreneurial strategy known as ”crowdfunding equity” was the starting shot. The collectors were not only given the opportunity to acquire a watch but they also got a part of the company which in that way swiftly got over 200 shareholders. After the successful campaign Czapek was reborn as a watch manufaturer after a break of 143 years. It did not take long before they proved to the world how great potential this ”second coming” had. In 2016 Czapek & Cie won the ”Public Prize” at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG).