A Classic Watchmaker & The Decimal Repeater

Introduction A transplant from the white nights of summer, Finland's Kari Voutilainen, finds himself an "Artist Watchmaker" in the Swiss village Motiers of the Val-de-Travers region. An area with a noted tradition of artistic watchmaking - Bovet (past and present) to Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps - Kari's atelier is primed for "thoughtful and creative watchmaking." Born in 1962, his interest in horology started when he was a young boy, with frequent visits to a family friend's watch shop to have his watch repaired after his boyhood adventures left it broken. These visits encouraged his fascination with mechanical things and eventually led to his entering the Finnish School of Watchmaking in Tapiola, which is considered one of the world's finest watchmaking schools. In 1989 he came to Switzerland to attend the Complicated Watch Course at WOSTEP, which is a "post graduate" course for watchmakers dedicated to the restoration of complicated, high quality and rare watches. Completing the course the same year, he was spotted by Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps and subsequently worked there for 10 years in their restoration department. After leaving Parmigiani he spent 3 years teaching at WOSTEP in Neuchatel, where he headed up their department of complicated watchmaking. During this time he also taught beginners and devised new courses for the curriculum. Not surprisingly, Kari views his time in the restoration department of Parmigiani as the most influential. In a small workshop with an elderly watchmaker, he absorbed the knowledge that was freely given about complicated watches and the methods by which to make the required parts- knowledge that comes only from experience and tradition. Deciding to become an independent watchmaker, he left his position at WOSTEP in 2002 and began private restorations, work both for the industry, and making a wristwatch that would usher him to an AHCI candidate membership in 2005.

Craftsmanship Feeling the standard of watchmakers is generally declining, a result of the watchmaking schools no longer creating craftsmen, but rather after-sales servicemen, he puts his passion and respect for the craft and traditions of "classical watchmaking" into all of his work - "The quality of the work is important for me." And while that may sound trite standing alone, a quick look at his work reveals it to be truthful. His work exhibits skillful handwork, classic designs coupled with new ideas, and impeccable finishing. His work exudes quality. To illustrate his philosophy let's look at some of his work. First, a restoration of a 13''' Patek Philippe split chronograph movement. As can be seen from the "before" picture there are various parts missing, such as the brake lever, split seconds wheel and bridge, splits seconds column wheel- in short, most of the split chronograph mechanism, as well as the intermediate chronograph lever and wheel, plus other chronograph bits. And, what was present was in generally poor condition due to rust or poor handling over the years. Kari made all of the replacement components in his workshop, as well as doing all of the functional and decorative finishing himself. The restored Patek is on the right. Like most watchmakers, he wanted to make a watch, which he finished 10 years ago: a pocket watch tourbillon that entailed 3 years of evening work totalling some 2,000 hours to complete. The movement uses twin barrels, has up/down indication, and a one-minute tourbillon with lever escapement. Kari made the movement, case and hands, with the dial being a blank comprised of several pieces that were screwed together and engine turned by a specialist. The case and dial are made of silver. That work was followed by an interesting exercise. Using a marine chronometer ebauche, which required the making of parts of the going train, he added a constant force escapement (escapement remontoire) fitted into a tourbillon - making it all himself! Remontoires, whether train or escapement, serve the purpose of providing a more constant power to the oscillator, in this case a free sprung Guillaume "integral" balance, thus producing a more constant amplitude and more stable rate, leading to superior timekeeping. This is accomplished by introducing an intermediary spring into the going train, somewhere between the power source and escape wheel (train remontoire) or by placing the intermediary spring in the escapement itself (constant force/escapement remontoire). These intermediary springs are wound at specific intervals from the movement's power source and then provide the power to the oscillator. In the case of a constant force escapement the power to the oscillator comes directly from the escape wheel, which essentially removes the variations of driving force and variances in power transmission through the going train. In Kari's arrangement the remontoire spring, which is a spiral spring, is armed during every drop of the escape wheel. Fabricating the remainder of the going train, the constant force escapement, keys for winding and hand setting, plus all finishing, it took more hours to complete than the pocket watch. The work was done during his spare time, and completed in 2000.

Masterpiece 6 At BaselWorld 2005, Kari Voutilainen will be exhibiting as an AHCI candidate member. His first offering is a world first: The Decimal Repeater - a ten minute repeater, with up/down indicator. Having restored, serviced and built many repeaters, he always felt their arrangements were not logical. While the calculations of a quarters based repeating system are not difficult, he feels it sounds out the time in a manner not true to the way time is read. Therefore, he developed a system where the time would be sounded out in tens, a decimal based system, e.g., 1:53 - in the decimal system the time would be sounded out as: Hours - 1 dong, Tens - 5 ding/dongs, Minutes - 3 dings. In the quarters based system the time would be sounded out as: Hours - 1 dong, Quarters - 3 ding/dongs, Minutes - 8 dings. Notice anything? Yep, that's right, in the decimal based system "exact" minutes are sounded, which is not the case with the quarter based system. As mentioned, the calculations aren't difficult, but doesn't the decimal based system "ring" truer? I think so. To bring Masterpiece 6 to life he started with a Louis Audemars minute repeating ebauche, circa 1890. Starting with a high quality ebauche provides a marvelous foundation, but more than 100 parts were going to be fabricated over a period of two years, as well as the making of the hands and the finishing of the entire movement, which means there is far more Voutilainen in this movement than Audemars. The snails for the minutes and tens, the surprise piece, canon pinion, center wheel and pinion, minute and tens racks, hook for the minute rack, barrel bridge, modification of hour star, with new bridge made for it, the up/down mechanism and Geneva stop works were all crafted by Kari in his workshop. One of the more challenging components to make was the minute snail. A normal minute snail, one based on the quarters system, has four lobes representing the 4 quarters, with each lobe having 14 steps representing the minutes of each quarter. Voutilainen's decimal based system requires a six lobed snail representing the six 10 minute intervals, with each lobe having 9 steps representing the minutes for each 10 minute interval. Beginning with the Schaublin 70 lathe, a center hole is first drilled and then bored to be perfectly true. This is followed with milling the lobes and steps, but not the deepest steps. Once accomplished, the work is moved to the jig borer and the deepest steps are milled leaving the inner most corners for very precise and sharp filing. A hole is then drilled for the pin of the surprise piece, which must be sized carefully to allow for the action of the surprise piece. After this careful machining, the piece must be hardened and tempered. This is a delicate process, as the necessary hardening of the piece can distort the shape of the snail, thus spoiling the work. The 10 minute snail is heated to the necessary temperature on a piece of charcoal to help produce an even and thorough heating. When ready, the snail is quickly placed on a piece of flat steel that is wet with oil, followed by another piece of flat steel placed on top sandwiching the part and preventing distortion. The part is thoroughly cleaned and tempered by slowly heating the part to a blue color. Once achieved and cooled down, the blue color is removed by careful finishing. This is but one example of the necessary careful craftsmanship. The finish of this watch is impeccable. The bridges and cocks are finely beveled with straight-grained flanks and deep mirror polished countersinks. The movement side is adorned with Geneva waves, while the mainplate is finished with circular and snail graining. The beveled and straight grained steelwork is all done by hand, as is all of the other mentioned finishing. Not forgetting that a watch needs to keep reliable time, Kari has equipped the Masterpiece 6 with a variable inertia balance made from stainless steel using gold timing screws. It is free sprung, with a Phillips terminal curve to improve stability of rate. Choosing stainless steel was a practical matter - it is non-corrosive, antimagnetic and machines well enough. The timekeeping is to within 5 seconds a day. A repeater should "ring loudly and have a crystal clear sound," in Kari's book. To achieve this he believes the most important factor is the quality of the case. This, he says, requires a casemaker- a craftsman who knows the traditional methods and can create a case that is "comfortable to wear and has a superb ringing tone." Having found such a person, a classically styled case, with tear drop lugs and pleasing proportions was made, per Kari's instructions. Unlike many high-end modern cases that are milled from solid blocks of metal, traditionally made cases are constructed from flat strips of metal that must be worked to the necessary shapes, scuplted and soldered together. Hand skills and a bit of force are required when making cases in this manner. A byproduct of making cases in this manner is that the material, 18kt. rose gold in this case, becomes much harder than if it were simply milled from a solid blocks. This hardness, as well as the proper fitting of the movement to the case, coupled with the experience of the casemaker, is what Kari believes separates a first class sounding repeater from the rest - all other things being equal, e.g., properly fitted and adjusted gongs. The case back is hinged and is engraved with cubist inspired design. Opening the case back reveals the beautiful movement, which is protected under a sapphire glass. The 18kt. gold winding crown is set with the highest quality cabochon sapphire. The design of the case allows full view of the engine turned gold dial, with its applied gold Roman numerals against the blue dial improving legibility. The hands are also crafted from 18kt. rose gold.

Technical Details -Limited numbers - no more than 5 of these pieces will be made. -Minute repeating movement, striking ten minute intervals, with two hammers on two gongs. The worlds first Decimal Repeater -Power reserve indicator (39 hour winding reserve). -Stainless steel variable inertia balance wheel with gold screws, hairspring with Phillips terminal curve. -Swiss lever escapement. -37 jewels. -18kt. rose gold case, 39.50mm diameter with hinged case back (The case back is hand engraved with cubist theme. Inside it is inscribed, "Voutilainen Masterpiece 6") -Hand sewn crocodile skin strap -Gold engine turned dial with gold applied Roman numerals. -Subsidiary seconds dial at "6'o'clock." -Rose gold hands. -2 sapphire crystals (front and inside).

Conclusion In an industry and profession in need of true watchmakers, real craftsmen, it pleases me greatly to see the likes of Kari Voutilainen. Capable of making a complete watch, he respects the traditions of watchmaking, while searching for ways to innovate. Masterpiece 6 is an example of his talents and philosophy. Working alone his production is necessarily limited, but it is also his desire to stay small, making exclusive watches for appreciating enthusiasts. He will be exhibiting with the AHCI, hall 5.1, booth B 01 at BaselWorld 2005 March 31 -April 7. For those interested in purchasing a watch, Kari may be contacted HERE. AHCI discussion forum | ThePuristS Homepage Comments, suggestions, and corrections to this article are welcomed. Please e-mail comments or sign the guestbook. Copyright March 2005 - Mr. Curtis D Thomson and ThePuristS.com - all rights reserved Pictures provided by Kari Voutilainen.