Mazurek is a unique watch. Swiss manufacturer Czapek & Cie in draws upon the tradition of making timepieces with Polish patriotic motifs, initiated by Franciszek Czapek – a 19^th-century watchmaker, a November insurgent, and the founder of Czapek & Cie brand. It is the second watch in the contemporary history of Czapek & Cie dedicated to a Polish patriotic song. After the Warszawianka edition, which was the tribute to the song from the November Uprising, now there the time has come for the most important song in the heart of every Pole – Dąbrowski’s Mazurka (pol. Mazurek Dąbrowskiego).

The creation of this unique series of watches was possible thanks to the cooperation between Czapek & Cie with Polish company Wealth Solutions.

Franciszek Czapek was an outstanding watchmaker. At the age of twenty he took part in the November Uprising, during which he fought in Warsaw in the ranks of the National Guard. After the fall of this armed rebellion, he emigrated and settled in Switzerland. There, together with a partner, he founded a watch manufacturing company. In exile, he also met another veteran of the November Uprising – Antoni Patek. The gentlemen decided to join forces and found the Patek, Czapek & Cie company. Czapek was responsible for the production of timepieces and Patek for selling and running the company. Their manufactury soon began producing about 200 watches per year.

However, after six years of cooperation, in 1845 their lives take different paths. Patek founded his own company. In turn, Czapek together with a new partner created a company that had a workshop in Geneva and showrooms in Warsaw and Paris. She became the official supplier of watches for the court of Emperor Napoleon III. This nineteenth-century watchmaker is also the author of a watchmaker’s treatise written in Polish – ‘A few words about watchmaking’. Currently, the existing Czapek & Cie company refers to its heritage and tries to propagate the achievements of its patron.

The song was written in 1797 in Reggio, Italy – i.e. the place where the Polish Legions formed to fight alongside Napoleon’s army under the command of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. Given the time and place of its creation, the song’s original title was “Song of the Polish Legions In Italy”. Its text was written by Józef Wybicki, while the composer of the melody based on folk motifs remains unknown.

The song accompanied Polish soldiers on the battle trail alongside Napoleon, which prompted, as one of its important elements, the creation of a free state. That is why the first public performance of “Dąbrowski’s Mazurka” on the Polish soil took place on the occasion of creation of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. The song was popular throughout the 19th century, and after Poland regained its independence, it became an obvious candidate for the national anthem. It has finally obtained this status in 1927.