Kari Voutilainen

Celebrities

An admirer of Breguet and Berthoud, Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen values the decorative skill that goes into a dial, finely executed finishing and movements made to stand the test of time.

Kari Voutilainen spent his childhood in Kemi, the harbour town in Finnish Lapland where he was born in 1962. There was nothing that might lead him to watchmaking other than a family friend; a watch retailer who offered him a glimpse of the secret world beneath the dial. On leaving high school, Kari Voutilainen traded Kemi for Helsinki where he studied watchmaking, qualifying in 1986. His first job would take him back to Kemi, where he spent two years in a watch shop as a repairer. Then next stop Switzerland and Neuchâtel where he joined the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program – WOSTEP to learn the finer points of complicated movements. He was gifted and clearly passionate about his craft, and this is perhaps what caught the attention of Michel Parmigiani, who hired him in 1990 for his restoration workshop. It was there that Kari Voutilainen met Charles Meylan, a retired watchmaker who continued to work at Parmigiani simply for pleasure. A fount of knowledge, he shared his precious expertise with the young Finn, all the while encouraging him to fly with his own wings.

Kari Voutilainen did exactly that in 2002 when he struck out on his own: a lone watchmaker with an eye for fine craftsmanship, elegance and refinement without ostentation. This admirer of Breguet and Berthoud values the decorative skill that goes into a dial, finely executed finishing and movements made to stand the test of time. In the early days, working out of a cramped atelier, he got by as best he could, earning the money he needed to make his own watches by contracting for others, including Greubel Forsey and MB&F. All the while continuing to supply third parties, Kari Voutilainen completed his first watch in 2005, then a second, then, as the years passed, he was able to give up contracting completely to focus entirely on his own production. Output has steadily increased to reach some 60 watches a year, helped by a staff of around thirty; some at Comblémine, the high-end dialmaker which he acquired in 2014, and some at the workshops which in 2021 moved from a manor in Môtiers to “Le Chapeau de Napoléon”, a former hotel-restaurant which, from its mountain perch, looks out across the Val-de-Travers.

Collectors were soon standing in line, prepared to wait months, even years, for their chosen creation. What is it that brings them to Kari Voutilainen’s door? A modern take on a classical aesthetic, the extraordinary beauty of the finishing, in particular the guillochage and other decorative arts such as engraving and enamelling on the dial, and a high level of engineering that can draw on a production tool capable of machining any part. Indeed, every Kari Voutilainen watch is designed, produced, assembled and superbly decorated in-house. There’s no sales team: Kari Voutilainen communicates personally with each of his customers. His signature watch, the Vingt-8, is fitted with a patented escapement inspired by Breguet’s direct dual impulse natural escapement. Building on a Calibre 28 base, a Voutilainen watch can have a thousand different faces. Mechanically, it can incorporate a GMT function, a GMT with a power-reserve indication or a minute repeater. Aesthetically, there are no limits. And that’s even before the tourbillons and chronographs that complete his award-winning collections.

1986

Graduated from the Kelloseppäkoulu watchmaking school in Greater Helsinki, Finland.

1988

Trained in complications and restoration at the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program – WOSTEP.

1990-1999

Restorer for Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps.

2000-2001

Taught complications at WOSTEP.

2002

Set up his own workshop.

2005

The first Kari Voutilainen watch: Masterpiece 6, a decimal minute repeater.