In the booming luxury watch market, the vitality of micro-maisons stands out. Founded in 2015, Capek is one such brand, but listening to CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel, it becomes clear that the journey to success was not always smooth.
Edited & Text by Yukiya Suzuki (Chronos-Japan)
[Article published in the July 2024 issue of Kronos Japan]
A micro-maison that summons the goddess of fortune, thinking while running and improving while running
Born in Lyon, France in 1969, he built his career at various cosmetic brands before earning an MBA in business and joining Loewe in 2001, where he served as International Product Manager. After working at Ermenegildo Zegna, he entered the watch industry in 2011 as Marketing Director at Ebel. After leaving Ebel in December 2012, he met Harry Goulet and Sébastien Foronnier and worked hard to revive Czapek in 2013.
"In mid-March 2020, the new coronavirus arrived in Europe and then Switzerland. It was a huge shock to us. No one expected that the whole country would suddenly go into lockdown one day."
Even under these circumstances, Roquemaurel decided to launch a new model. On May 26, 2020, they announced the Antarctic, the brand's first in-house caliber, the SXH5.
"Prior to that announcement, in March, my wife and I, along with the board members, made this important decision. We wanted to move the brand forward even a little, even amidst the lockdown situation. At the time, one of our board members said, 'The goddess of fate favors the brave,' and this proverb perfectly symbolized the situation. Therefore, we decided to continue business despite the difficult circumstances and announced the Caliber SXH5."
The Cal. SXH5 was an extremely original design, with the existing center rotor replaced with a micro rotor, and the bridges supporting each gear beautifully skeletonized so that the gears that make up the gear train from the barrel to the escapement could be seen.
"The reason we adopted a micro-rotor was for aesthetic reasons. We love mechanical movements, so we focused on showing the gear train from the barrel to the escapement by skeletonizing the bridge so that each gear that makes up the gear train can be appreciated."
In addition to its beautiful appearance, the Cal. SXH5 is also excellent in terms of precision.
"The SXH5 is equipped with an excellent escapement, achieving a high accuracy of ±1 second per day. However, it did have a weakness. The winding efficiency of the micro-rotor used to show off the gear train was very low. So we decided to change from the original unidirectional winding mechanism to a bidirectional winding mechanism by using the MPS reverser."
The reverser used is a one-way from MPS, a giant in micro bearings. The bearing section has built-in shock absorbers, which apparently also reduced the rotor rotation noise. Such a flexible development approach is something only Micro Maison could achieve.
Think as you run, improve as you run. That's because the goddess of fortune always has to grab you by the bangs.
The 2020 model combines the Antarctic's signature sporty exterior with a unique dial featuring a series of trapezoids. The Caliber SXH5, which has undergone repeated improvements, has undergone a change in the micro-rotor material and ball bearings, further improving performance. Automatic (Caliber SXH5). 28 jewels. 28,800 vph. Power reserve of approximately 56 hours. Stainless steel case (40.5mm diameter, 10.6mm thick). Water resistant to 120m. Price: 3,960,000 yen (tax included).
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