After spending a decade restoring the finest horological creations of the past three centuries, in the early 2000s Kari Voutilainen set up his own workshops, marking the beginning of his meteoric rise to horological superstar. His earliest creations were soon followed by the Observatoire and Vingt-8 series, incorporating movement finishing of the highest level. Voutilainen’s dial treatments and finishing, all created completely by hand - as the dials proudly state - are typically instantly recognized by horological connoisseurs, presenting a very recognisable - without renouncing to incredible variety - style. The present Vingt-8 is no different, fitted with a hand-guilloché two-tone dial in a darker teal-blue and a vibrant ultramarine. It features an optical illusion pattern, which the brain perceives the dial to be almost three-dimensional. While this pattern was featured in a series of Vingt-8s released in 2020. Reminiscent of the Op Art works of Victor Vasarely, it uses simple color and texture to achieve a psychedelic effect. The caliber beating within the Vingt-8, with its extra-large balance wheel and direct impulse escapement, was fully developed in-house by Voutilainen. While it uses a traditional Breguet overcoil, the interior curve is the little known “Grossman curve.” The Grossman curve is a method of bending the balance spring in such a way that it compensates for any gravitational errors.



The present Voutilainen piece is without a doubt a watch originally reserved for a very important and highly demanding client. Not only it comes with two dials - one featuring the typical Voutilainen-style guillochage, the other a more uncommon black enamel with Breguet numerals - but on top of that both dials bear the customised inscription “AM XY”. While the meaning of these letters remains unknown - beyond the obvious deduction that they had sentimental value to the original owner, possibly being initials of family members - the significance of the master watchmaker agreeing to create not one but 2 dials with bespoken inscription is apparent to anyone.

As if this were not enough, an additional personalised detail can be found on the case: the case number actually include the designation “Max” at the end - “280064Max”. The meaning of the engraving is once again left in the darkness (most likely being the nickname of someone important to the owner), but the relevance of granting a customised case number (arguably, a unique instance not just for Voutilainen but for the entire watchmaking industry) is again obvious to any high-end horology connoisseur.