A case inspired by a volcano that erupts gold lava.

What does Alaska's Augustine Volcano have in common with Etna in Italy, Colima in Mexico, and Erebus in Antarctica? Real gold has been found in their lava. But only the last volcano has had the honor of being included in the name of Czapek's new model.

The Antarctique collection was the obvious choice for this model, where the line's creators draw inspiration from Antarctic geography. The Antarctique Mount Erebus model also happens to be the first watch in the collection to move away from steel and titanium.

The brand's CEO Xavier de Roquemaurel said he simply couldn't go on ignoring collectors' demands for gold. All manufacturers of luxury sports watches seem to turn to precious metals in the end.

With a partially faceted case and an integrated bracelet, the model preserves the defining traits of this watch category, which has long been more about luxury than sports. While introducing a new case material, the designers at Czapek have returned to the collection's first model to finish the dial.  

The Czapek Antarctique Terre Adélie was introduced in 2020 with a vertically etched dial, hand-decorated using the lamé technique by the dial-maker Metalem. The exact same technique has been used to decorate the dial of the gold novelty, where they've chosen to pair warm gold with chilled-out blue.

Not only did Czapek's Antarctique mark the brand's entrance to the new segment of luxury sports watches, it also heralded the arrival of Czapek's first in-house movement: caliber SXH5. Since then, the company has even demonstrated an openworked rattrapante chronograph movement in the Antarctique collection, but the beauty of the regular time-only watch engine remains unchallenged.

The architecture of the SXH5 movement with its row of bridges and platinum micro-rotor can be observed through the transparent caseback of the Antarctique Mount Erebus. The single-barrel caliber with a balance that runs at a frequency of 28,800 vph has a 60-hour power reserve.

The novelty with a case measuring 40.5 mm × 10.6 mm has a gold bracelet that can be interchanged with a blue rubber strap. Availability of the novelty is limited to 100 pieces in rose gold, and 50 pieces for the version in yellow gold.