Voutilainen Vingt-8, White Gold

The Vingt-8 is Voutilainen distilled, focused independent watchmaking with nothing to distract. Kari started his brand Voutilainen with the Observatoire in 2007. The Observatoire famously used NOS Peseux 260, an observatory calibre that was never actually cased for wristwatches. When it came time to rethink the offering in 2011, the calibre 28 Vingt-8 was born. This was a new calibre directly from Kari. Though there are more complicated, valuable, and rare Voutilainen works, the Vingt-8 remains Kari’s most influential, archetypal masterpiece. And it looks the business in white gold.

Kari has handful of signature touches everywhere which seem to comprise this entire design: varied and intricate guilloché, finely polished elongated teardrop lugs, observatoire hands, and painstaking movement finishing. It also has a very clear push/pull dichtomony between being modern execution of very classic elements. For example, you get three styles of hand-turned guilloché on the dial, but just three numerals. The dial is signed, but instead of the country-wide edict of ‘Swiss Made’, it’s subtle flex reading only ‘Hand Made’. And that’s true, the joy of Kari’s work is how long it takes to make one watch: these days his entire workshop makes 60 watches per year. A triple layer guilloché will slow you down a bit. Those inlaid hands take a day each. For context, Richard Mille and Lange create a similar volume of about 5,000 watches yearly. Journe, 900ish. Kari has not scaled as aggressively as some other comparably esteemed independents by choice and that should be more discussed.

Nowhere is this dichotomy more clear than the calibre 28. It seems like a classic lever escapement and gear train at a glance, but isn’t. The architecture is clearly 260-influenced, but there’s a direct impulse, two escapement wheels. The balance has an intricate architecture comprised of a traditional Breguet overcoil but then a super unusual interior Grossmann curve which distributes tension more evenly over the entire spring. That’s what’s possible when you’re creative and make every detail in hand. And look at the gear teeth micro-beveling. The Finnish have a word that doesn’t exist in English: sisu. It means stoic determination, tenacity toward one purpose with grit. The Vingt-8 is a celebration of Kari’s fully realized.

This example has only light surface wear visible. The case appears full and well-defined on its hallmarks. It comes with its full kit, from a well-regarded Zurich retailer.