A beautiful $26,000 watch from a brand you’ve (probably) never heard of

When collectors are ‘tired’ of the big brands, they turn to lesser known watch manufacturers.

What they’re looking for, generally speaking, is engineering prowess in the making of the watch, great design, rarity and exclusivity (ie, high price).

The new Czapek Lanikai checks all those boxes.

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As the Slavic-sounding name suggests, Czpek was founded in the Czech Republic but it’s currently Swiss.

It’s been around for over 200 years and it made a recent comeback with the new Antarctique line, a no-nonsense automatic watch with spectacular dials.

Made in partnership with US brand Collective Horology, the new Lanikai (also part of the Antarctique family) is no exception.

The striking enamel draws its inspiration from the ocean waves in Hawaii.

The name is actually a tribute to the shorelines of Lanikai beach in the Hawaiian city of Oahu.

Collective Horology’s co-founder Gabe Reilly said they spent almost a year working on that dial.

They did it because they wanted to capture “the unique quality of [Lanikai’s] waters”, from the color and texture to the motion of the waves.

In order to make the ultra-conspicuous blue dial stand out even more, Czepek removed everything else from the dial except for the hands.

There are no markers, no indices, no date, no numbers – nothing.

The ‘engine’ in the watch is manufactured in-house by Czepek themselves, as is the case and the matching integrated bracelet.

So we’ve talked about engineering and design, which means there are still two criteria to be met: rarity and exclusivity.

It’s rare, with a production cap of 50 pieces only.

And it’s exclusive (=expensive), with a retail price tag of $26,500.

Given its rarity, and the fact that it’s only available from the Collective Horology’s website, it’ll probably sell out in a matter of days.

And you can definitely expect it to resurface in the pre-owned market at even crazier prices.

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