Kari Voutilainen was born 1962 in Kemi, Finland. He trained as a watchmaker at WOSTEP (Neuchâtel watchmaking school) in the late 1980s, then worked at Parmigiani Fleurier through the 1990s on movement design. He went independent in 2002, establishing his workshop in Môtiers (Val-de-Travers, Switzerland). The brand produces hand-finished movements, hand-guilloché dials, and (since the 2010s) the brand's own hairsprings - a level of vertical integration matched only by Patek Philippe and a few other haute-horlogerie houses.
His signature reference is the Vingt-8 (launched 2011), with a 28-tooth direct-impulse escapement (a Voutilainen-developed alternative to the Swiss lever) and twin-balance differential rate-stabilising mechanism. The Observatoire (2008+) is the brand's chronometer-grade dress watch with extreme dial finishing. Annual output is small (~50-60 watches), retail starts CHF 60,000, and the brand has a multi-year wait for new orders. Voutilainen also manufactures hands, cases, dials, and hairsprings for several other independent brands; his Comblémine workshop is a major dial-supplier to high-end brands.
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