Kari Voutilainen

Masterpiece Chronograph Piece Unique

There are watches and then there are WATCHES. The Masterpiece Chronograph is a true museum quality piece that is an embodiment of everything we love about independent watchmaking. One of a very small handful of in-house chronographs from independent creators, this was actually Kari’s first fully in-house movement, made almost completely by him in his workshop in Motiers. The case was hand formed in white gold by Gideon Levingston, beginning with a thin sheet of gold and hand molding it, rather than cutting from an ingot as virtually all other modern cases are.

An edition of 11 pieces, the Masterpiece Chronographs were originally supposed to feature a ceramic balance wheel and carbon spring, but this system ended up not working so they were switched to standard balance wheels. This one, however, was fitted with a special 8 gold weight annular balance and is marked 1/1.

The watch comes from the original owner and was serviced by Kari last year. It has its original papers from 2007 as well as a letter from Kari explaining the balance modification in 2009.