Kari Voutilainen Horology

John K. Lindgren

VOUTILAINEN Watch Price: THB 2,5 million

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Kari Voutilainen. Say it again, please… Ka-ri Vou-ti-lai-nen. This Finn, hails from Lapland, the immense hinterland within the arctic circle in Finland. He is a double certified watchmaker and a member of the select Swiss Haute Horologie ('hoote horro-lo-schiee') guild with many esteemed old French/Swiss watchmakers such as: Audemars Piquet, Blancpain, Brequet, Chopard, Girard Perregaux, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.

This writer recently met Voutilainen on his first to Bangkok visit where three of his masterpieces were displayed at the exclusive Gaysorn "Art of Time" exhibition.
Voutilainen is a dedicated, independent horologer of the old school, making handcrafted, exceedingly expensive and complex mechanical watches that are a wonder to behold. Meeting him in the hotel lobby I am reminded of Peter Sellers.... but a more affable, modest and relaxed Sellers.
Voutilainen, 46, had a keen interest in mechanical things and moving parts, cogs and wheels as a young boy.

"We had a family friend who owned the only watch shop in town and I was quite often over there as my watch was always broken". And he adds "I also took apart some big pendulum chime wall clock's and sometimes I could not reassemble them again! And I managed to dismantle cars and motorbikes as well."
Later in his youth he realized he wanted to do two things: "I wanted to do something with my hands, and I wanted to be independent."
After receiving his high school diploma he completed his watchmaker's training at the famous Kelloseppäkoulu, the Finnish school of watchmaking near Helsinki.

In his 20s he worked in the Finnish-Swedish small border town Ylätornio repairing digital alarm clocks, wristwatches, grandfather and cuckoo clocks and in 89 Voutilainen's passion for complicated watches led him to the leading international watchmaking school in the world: the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program (WOSTEP) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Here the precocious student was quickly spotted and hired by Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps, one of Switzerland's premier manufacturer's of Haute Horology. There he learned to master micro-mechanical engineering, and execute very demanding restoration jobs of some of the world's rarest time pieces, as well as the creation of new and original limited edition (piece unique) masterpieces. Alongside his professional work, Voutilainen devoted himself, through many long evenings alone in his basement, like the craftsmen of yore, to developing his own unique machines.

In 2002 Voutinainen went solo and opened his own atelier situated in the tranquil village of Môtiers at the foot of the Jura mountains near Switzerland's French border, the very heart of Swiss mechanical watchmaking. Here the Finn started a 'one-man' manufactory, of the old style, where the horologer does everything from A to Z, with painstaking precision, with the loupe glued to his eye. No place for robots and computers here!

A case in point is his minute repeater watches with a miniscule set of hammer and gong, which according to Voutilainen " should ring loudly and have a crystal clear sound". He elaborates, "I don't like watching TV in my free time I rather spend it in my workshop". On the new generation of watchmakers he laments, " they know very well how to manipulate a computer mouse - but nothing at all about using a pivot file" .
As watchmakers are sometimes also collectors I ask him about his own private collection. "In the 90s in Finland I bought a Glashutte tourbillion, escarpment model for EUR 1.200 the masterpiece was broken and dilapidated I repaired it and today it is worth over EUR 24.000". Another restoration job was a Patek Philippe split chronograph wrist watch (circa 1945). It was transformed from a dead watch to mint condition vintage luxury item, ticking softly.

Voutilainens watch cogniscienti can be found in Finland, Japan, Spain, and Singapore. "My annual production is limited to a dozen pieces," says Voutilainen. On his wrist I see a Voutilainen Chronometer. A stunning, rectangular dress watch in white gold with steelly blue frosted finish sporting three dials. It screams elegance. In it, Voutilainen hosted a forgotten vintage movement the 'Caliber 27' a mechanism created solely for observatory trials and never commercialized. Looking at it through the transparent sapphire glass back I was mesmerized by the complicated and beautiful movement.

Last year Voutilainen's remarkable 'OBSERVATOIRE' chronometer won the coveted Grand Prix d'Horologie de Geneve 2007 in the men's watch category. You can hear the distinct clear chimes of the minute repeater just click-on to www.youtube.com type: `Kari Voutilainen' and listen.

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