Franciszek Czapek

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Franciszek Czapek (Czech: František Čapek, French: François Czapek) (1811-?) was a watchmaker, the partner of Antoni Patek in Patek, Czapek & Co.

Czapek was a naturalized Pole of Czech origin. He was born on April 4, 1811 in Semonice (now part of Jaroměř), Bohemia, the son of Jan Czapek and Catherine, née Walaschek. He took part in the Polish November Uprising as a soldier of the National Guard, in Warsaw. He later emigrated and eventually settled in Geneva, Switzerland. On October 22, 1836, he married Versoix Marie, the daughter of clock and watchmaker Jonas Pierre François Gevril de Carouge.

In Geneva he formed a partnership with Antoni Patek. The small company of Patek, Czapek & Co, which only employed about six workmen, produced approximately two hundred high quality watches per annum.

After ending his partnership with Patek in 1845, Czapek, set up its own company in 1851 under the name of Czapek & Co. His former partner founded Patek & Co which later became the famous company Patek Philippe & Co.. He became renowned for his enamelled and jewelled watches made for the Polish and other markets. By 1854 he had a shop in Warsaw and in 1860 he founded a subsidiary company on Vendôme Street in Paris. But nine years later, in 1869, the business was liquidated.

Franciszek Czapek was the author of the first book on watchmaking ever published in the Polish language Remarks on the watchmaking for the use of the watchmakers and the public (Słów kilka o Zegarmistrzowstwie ku użytku zegarmistrzów i publiczności). The work was printed in 1850 in Leipzig.