2/14/2023 0 Comments 216 calibre woods drive![]() ![]() A watch isn’t an anonymous object, not any more. Its story, its true story, is increasingly important. With a record eight Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève awards to his name (the first in 2007 and the most recent in 2020), Kari Voutilainen explains in his shy and self-effacing manner, “A watch today is not something you go and fetch from a shop. ![]() Kari Voutilainen guards the privilege of making all the watch hands himself – it’s like putting his signature to his work. He also guards the privilege of making all the watch hands himself – it’s like putting his signature to his work. Then there’s the pre-assembly (a particularly time-consuming step), assembly (every watchmaker is responsible for assembling one watch from A to Z) and casing-up – which he usually does himself. ![]() The manufacture also treats and tempers its own steel, and performs exquisite decoration and finishing on each of the 16,000 components produced annually (1,200 references). It should be noted that his output is extremely limited – around 80 watches per year, in series of no more than 12 at a time – and that his genuinely integrated manufacture machines all its own components with the exception of balance springs, barrel springs and gemstones (although he does occasionally do some stone-cutting). Such is his prestige that his order book is currently full until 2026! Over the course of this steady twenty-year ascent, which he has accomplished with unassuming humility and remarkable consistency, Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen “came in from the cold” to be recognised as one of the most outstanding purveyors of independent haute horlogerie. ![]() And figuratively, because his watchmaking is at the pinnacle of aesthetic refinement and mechanical perfection. Literally, because his manufacture is now settled in its new quarters at the top of the Chapeau de Napoléon (Napoleon’s Hat), an eyrie perched on a cliff at an altitude of 960 metres, with an eagle-eye view over the Val de Travers in the Swiss Jura mountains. His year, 20 years since Kari Voutilainen created his own independent watch brand, the founder is on top of the world – both literally and figuratively. ![]()
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