Voutilainen Vingt-8, White Gold

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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.…

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Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon

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The fifth major Laurent Ferrier calibre wasn’t what anyone expected in 2018: an Annual Calendar. Until then, it felt like everyone had been waiting and hoping, imaging what could be with calendar complication and one of the great independent old guard. But what the world saw in the Montre École was not what anyone expected.…

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Ferdinand Berthoud FB 3SPC.2

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If Ferdinand Berthoud doesn’t ring a bell, here’s what you need to know in an instant download. Think high independent watchmaking underwritten by Chopard, well above LUC. Think marine chronometry roots, re-interpreted for the wristwatch, as the name takes from one of the most accomplished and inventive, insatiable watchmakers of the 18th century. And think…

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FP Journe Chronomètre Bleu

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In the same way that the Oysterquartz is Rolex on the back foot under a forcing function to become inventive, the Chronomètre Bleu represents FP Journe’s best ability under pressure. This context still is not talked about enough. It was conceived in the midst of the 2008 financial meltdown. Precious metal values were skyrocketing. Demand…

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Brown Guilloché Dial Voutilainen Observatoire

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Despite sharing a strong family resemblance, this Observatoire is not a Vingt-8. It’s what came before, in tiny numbers, powered by a quite modified and ridiculously-beautifully-finished Peseux 260 before Kari’s own calibre 28 was ready. There were fewer than 50 examples of the Observatoire made before the Vingt-8 took over the throne. It was so…

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Lang & Heyne König Albert Von Sachsen

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Lang & Heyne, not to be conflated with Lange, are quite unlike anything in the independent world. Taking inspiration and terrior from Dresden, Mirko Heyne and Marco Lang slowly built an audience for German watchmaking that is of equal quality to anything Glashútte but entirely distinct, though much of that was accomplished with hire Jens…

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Romain Gauthier Logical One, Titanium

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Pause a moment and just contemplate the insanity here. The fusée and chain is surely the most spectacular way possible to deliver a constant force from the mainspring. A fusée and chain made of a snail cam with a chain of individual rubies used as roller bearings is, well, madness. As if that weren’t enough,…

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FP Journe Vagabondage II, Platinum

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No one remembers who comes in second. That was the fundamental problem facing FP Journe’s first attempts at the digital time display, the Vagabondage series, in the wake of the Zeitwerk. However, by third go, FP Journe’s manic obsession had yielded his own first, running digital seconds. Despite that massive and somewhat insane accomplishment, it…

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‘Art Deco’ Piece Unique Voutilainen Vingt-8

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I don’t know what to say here except that this is a pretty wild thing. This is the ‘Art Deco’, a piece unique Voutilainen based on the 28SC SB, the first Vingt-8 to feature centre seconds. But this Art Deco has a lug we haven’t seen before or after, which looks like it belongs permanently…

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Sylvain Pinaud Origine ‘Ste Croix’

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Sylvain Pinaud is one of the more recent guard of independent watchmaking, one can be easily forgiven if the name is unfamiliar. His work is of a very high bar, both in being design led but with masterful quality. Pinaud’s story differs from many of the more recent independents in a long career, working first…

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