About Us

The story of the Prokop & Brož brand began at the end of 2011. On one of the last warm days of that fall, an unlikely trio could be found in the garden of the U Pinkasů pub. The first of them was an extroverted metalhead, a connoisseur of fine spirits and a walking encyclopedia of the art and craft of watchmaking – an icon of watch journalism in the Czech Republic – Jan Lidmaňský.

The second was Martin Brož, an unassuming and modest master watchmaker and keeper of the mechanical tower clock on Wenceslas Square, who had already earned recognition for several successful one-off commissioned pieces.

Arriving slightly late was Jan Prokop, whom most wristwatch enthusiasts will associate with his many years at ELTON hodinářská, a.s., the company that makes PRIM watches. Yet what originally brought him to that company was also a desire to put into practice the industrial design capabilities of his studio, Creative Services, s.r.o.

Behind this meeting was Jan Lidmaňský’s vision of bringing together all the genuine Czech and Moravian makers of wristwatches for a unique project – a presentation box containing the very best watch from each of them. A box that would serve as a calling card of Czech watchmaking as of 2012. In addition to the figures mentioned, Lidmaňský also approached Luděk Seryn, Ondřej Berkus and Martin Weichert.

In the end, the project was never realized, for many reasons. The most significant was the sudden death of Martin Weichert – a promising watchmaker/designer who was able to see a watch as an art object, and to make watches as such.

So the project never came to pass, but a seed had been sown between Martin Brož and Jan Prokop: friendship, mutual respect and a desire to work together. And the first chance to take on a joint project came right after.

On November 22, the marketing department of Plzeňský Prazdroj approached Creative Services, s.r.o., a company owned by Jan Prokop, with a request to design a unique outdoor clock, similar in character to an astronomical clock. The clock was meant to help draw attention to the 170th anniversary of the founding of the world-famous brewery.

This came about as a result of earlier collaboration on the design of a beer dispensing tower – the “Pípa” – with illuminated logos of the draft beers and with beer cooling all the way to the tap. That project showed that Creative Services’ solutions are not only creative in design but also thoroughly thought through, so that a project can be implemented efficiently and then operated. Over recent years, the tower they designed has thus become one of the distinctive elements of Plzeňský Prazdroj’s corporate identity.

But let us turn our attention to the “beer astronomical clock.” Building it was a welcome project that tested how well Jan Prokop, his design firm Creative Services, s.r.o., independent watchmaker Martin Brož and a group of his friends, all exceptional craftsmen, could work together. All of them cared not only about satisfying a prestigious client but above all about successfully completing an interesting work of horology. Perhaps that is why the clock was completed despite an incredibly short deadline! After initial informal discussions, the project was finally given the green light only on February 3, 2012, 76 days before it was scheduled to go into operation. April 19 marked the start of the 170-day countdown to the 170th anniversary of the founding of Pilsner Urquell.

Clearly, working on a piece that cannot simply be assembled from purchased components brings people together, especially when there is no room for any error. That is exactly what happened with Jan Prokop and Martin Brož.

At the turn of October and November 2012, Jan Prokop ended his long and successful tenure at ELTON hodinářská, a.s., choosing instead to pursue a vision he had been nurturing for several months: a newly established watch brand, Prokop & Brož, that would draw on the combination of his design, marketing and sales experience and the watchmaking skill of Martin Brož.

Symbolically, on 12.12.2012, they jointly presented the new company, its ambitions and its first watchmaking achievement: a limited edition of twelve gold watches, František Kupka Salón d’Automne Paris 1912, created to mark the 100th anniversary of the presentation of František Kupka’s abstract paintings, which defined a new conception of fine art.

In the years that followed, the watch collection grew at a rapid pace. Among the other new releases, the highly successful Jednoručka and Opus models deserve mention, along with several model lines of regulator-style watches, which have become almost synonymous with Prokop & Brož watches.

Retrograde mechanisms, first introduced in the Retron series, also attract considerable attention from wristwatch enthusiasts. As the company developed the ability to make its own calibers, it presented the Regutron model at the Salon Exceptional Watches and immediately won the “Watch of the Year 2018” title with it.

Internationally, the greatest recognition went to the Spirála watch, which, together with the František Kupka watch and the Jednoručka, is among the watches most often mentioned in foreign articles.

After 14 years, the company offers a collection of 10 core styles, 20 unique cases and 40 model lines covering most of the spectrum, from flagships with retrograde movements, through understated dress watches, to modern casual, sports and pilot watches. As the icing on the cake, it also offers a marine desk chronometer, made in collaboration with the renowned glass artist Jan Frydrych.

In 2025, the company unveiled its collaboration with ŠKODA Auto, a.s., on a limited series of 130 watches celebrating the 130th anniversary of the founding of Laurin & Klement, the direct predecessor of the ŠKODA Auto carmaker. These watches also received the Watches of the Year 2025 award at the Salon Exceptional Watches. They drew attention not only for their design but also for the original PB120 caliber, which the company developed for this series.

Despite all this, PROKOP & BROŽ remains a company open to collaboration with its customers, offering them the chance to become co-creators of their own one-of-a-kind piece.