Available Now: Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green”
After proudly introducing you to our latest Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green” edition, we are now thrilled to launch it in the Fratello Shop. This watch is our second collaboration with Czapek, and we couldn’t be more excited thanks to the overwhelmingly positive feedback you all have given us already. The great news is that you can pre-order this limited edition in the Fratello Shop as of today, with only 50 pieces available.
If you’ve not had the chance to read the introductory article from earlier this week, now is the right time. The Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green” is a watch with an interesting story. If you recall our first collaboration with Czapek from 2021, you will remember it used a beautiful Viridian Green dial. Our second collaboration further explores the history of viridian green and its humble artistic beginnings in Paris in the 19th century. It’s a genuinely fascinating story that we covered in our introductory article.
A very special Promenade
Apart from having an exciting story behind it, the Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green” is simply a stunning watch. As the name suggests, it uses the case of the Czapek Promenade, a watch the brand introduced during Watches and Wonders earlier this year. The beautifully sculpted 38mm stainless steel case is a joy to wear, but the dial makes this watch particularly special.
The gorgeous green fumé sapphire dial lets you see the stunning SXH7 movement underneath. What’s even more special about the dial is how the fumé effect radiates from the sub-seconds register. Czapek produces the gradient through a particularly complicated metallization process on the sapphire. It’s formed by tiny dots, each around eight microns in diameter, and invisible to the naked eye. Each dot is five to 10 times thinner than the diameter of a hair. These dots are arranged randomly, creating a perfect visual gradation.
The challenges of the Transparencies dial
This watch’s dial was the most challenging component for Czapek to realize. Anyone who knows what Czapek is about will know that the brand will not settle for anything less than perfection. This single component took more than two years of back-and-forth with the dial manufacturer and follow-up meetings with our team before we nailed the exact execution we’d been aiming for. In the words of Xavier de Roquemaurel, Czapek CEO, “Transparencies was a straightforward and beautiful idea… and turned out to be a very complex project spanning more than two years of R&D and tens of failed trials until reaching this exceptional final execution in viridian green.”
Xavier also explains, “The Promenade Transparencies finds its inspiration in the off-centered small-seconds focus in the skeletonized Antarctique, the Révélation. This time, the effect was created by the gradient in the sapphire dial. It starts fully transparent in the small seconds and increases to dark green on the periphery. The shade is created by a metallic coating that captures the green color.”
The SXH7 is a thing of beauty
One of my favorite things about Czapek’s watches is their movements. They’re incredible architectural beauties, and the SXH7 is no exception. It may seem familiar, and that’s because it used the SXH5 as a starting point for development. Czapek’s watchmakers had to reverse part of the caliber to make the front as visually impressive as the back. For example, they flipped the entire escapement. The rotor weight now features engraving on both sides too.
Furthermore, Czapek had to redesign the entire crown mechanism and keyless works. As a result, the seconds hand had to move to a sub-dial between 4 and 5 o’clock as it could no longer connect directly connect to the central pinion. The SXH7 then receives the same level of decorations and manual finishing on both sides, thus drastically increasing the time required to create a single piece. The beautiful finishes include an open-worked barrel and sandblasted bridges with hand-chamfered, straight-grained flanks.
Czapek’s SXH7 is immediately recognizable by its seven skeletonized bridges holding the gear train, inspired by the 19th-century pocket watches of François Czapek. The movement plates and bridges feature fine Haute Horlogerie finishes, including beveling, straight-grained sides, and hand-chamfered inward angles. Beating at a 4Hz (28,800vph) frequency and wound by a 100% recycled platinum micro-rotor, the SXH5 offers 60 hours of power reserve.
A green strap for a green watch
To complete the Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green,” we decided to pair it with a green Cordura strap. This beautiful strap easily dresses up and down and provides you with comfort and flexibility, all while complementing the rich green dial and highlighting the Promenade’s versatility. While Czapek’s core-collection variants exude more traditional personalities, we wanted to match the boldness of the skeletonized movement with the strap. This strap has leather reinforcement on the pin holes and a Czapek-signed stainless steel pin buckle.
Pre-order the Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green” now
The Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green” costs €32,000 ex. VAT, but you can reserve yours now in the Fratello Shop with a deposit of €9,600 ex. VAT (30% of the total price). We will contact you to collect the balance when the watch is ready for delivery. Czapek aims to deliver your watch by the end of July 2025. We’re thrilled to finally share this watch with you and the entire Fratello community. We’re also always excited to hear what you think. Let us know in the comments if you intend to add the Czapek × Fratello Promenade Transparencies “Viridian Green” to your collection!
Please note: should you change your mind and request to cancel within 14 days of placing your order, Fratello will offer a full refund of your deposit. After this 14-day grace period, all orders will be final, and we will be unable to cancel your order or offer a refund of the deposit.
