Independent watchmaker
Kari Voutilainen
Also recorded as: Voutilainen · Voutilainen, Kari
Finnish-born watchmaker in Môtiers known for his own calibres, guilloché dials and the Vingt-8 movement.
Kari Voutilainen was born in Finland in 1962 and trained at the Finnish school of watchmaking, then at WOSTEP in Neuchâtel, where he later taught. He spent a decade restoring and making complicated watches at Parmigiani's restoration workshop in Fleurier before setting up on his own in Môtiers in 2002.
His first watches, the Observatoire series, were built around vintage observatory-grade movements; his own calibre Vingt-8, with a double-wheel escapement, followed in 2011. He bought a dial-making workshop in 2014 so that his guilloché dials could be made in-house, and he has collaborated with other makers, including MB&F on its first Legacy Machine.
- Country
- Switzerland (born in Finland)
- City / centre
- Môtiers, Val-de-Travers
- Founded
- 2002
- Status
- Active (independent)
- Key people
- Kari Voutilainen (b. 1962)
Innovations & specialities
- Observatoire watches built on observatory-grade movements (2002)
- Vingt-8 calibre with a double-wheel escapement (2011)
- In-house guilloché dial workshop (2014)
Timeline
- 1962Born in Finland
- 2002Own workshop in Môtiers
- 2011Vingt-8 calibre
- 2014Dial workshop acquired
Works by Kari Voutilainen in the catalogue
Open in the catalogue →
Linked through the Atlas maker authority list, which reconciles the spellings used by different institutions. Attributions are as stated by each holding institution or auction house.
