Why G&G Timepieces Is The Best Place to Buy Kari Voutilainen
Authenticity Guaranteed We make sure that every Voutilainen we sell is 100% authentic. Our team of experts inspects the movement, case, and dial, so you know you're getting the real thing.
Expert Guidance From traveling the world and working with top horologists, we know timepieces in and out. Independent watchmaking is a small world, and we know who made what, and when.
Competitive Pricing With offices in Miami and Zürich, we buy and sell against the real market on both sides of the Atlantic. And we pay top dollar when you sell to us.
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Reputation Clients worldwide trust us with timepieces at this level. Read our reviews, book a visit to the Miami showroom, or call us before you commit to anything.
Kari Voutilainen: A Quick History
Kari Voutilainen was born in Rovaniemi, Finland, in 1962. He finished the Finnish School of Watchmaking in 1986, then moved to Switzerland to study at WOSTEP, the advanced school where the industry trains its best. His early career was spent at Parmigiani, from 1990 to 1999, restoring some of the most complicated watches ever made. He returned to WOSTEP as a teacher from 1999 to 2002. Then, at age forty, he went out on his own, opening a workshop located in Môtiers, a small village in the Val-de-Travers.
What sets him apart in independent watchmaking is how much of the watch he makes himself. In 2014 he acquired Comblémine, a dial maker, so his dials are made inside his own house. Since 2013 he has worked with Unryuan, a renowned Japanese lacquer studio, on urushi dials. Urushi is a natural lacquer applied in thin layers over weeks. In 2018 he co-founded Voutilainen & Cattin, a case maker in Saignelégier. The movements are developed and finished in Môtiers.
The awards have continued through his whole career: twelve GPHG prizes between 2007 and 2025, including two in one night in 2019. In 2021 he became co-CEO of the relaunched Urban Jürgensen brand, and in December 2025 he stepped back to a strategic advisor role there. Today he's at the bench, not in the boardroom, which tells you most of what you need to know about him.
Sell ▸ trade ▸ source
At G&G we're happy to buy your current timepieces at top dollar. You're also welcome to trade toward something in our collection, Voutilainen or otherwise. We welcome your trade.
And if the piece you want isn't listed here, we'll find it for you. Inquire below.
Kari Voutilainen Features
Hand-Turned Guilloché
Guilloché is a fine pattern engraved into metal on a hand-cranked lathe, and it's the heart of the brand's identity. Voutilainen cuts his by hand on antique rose engines.
The In-House Calibre 28
His signature movement uses two escapement wheels instead of one, feeding energy through the gear train to the balance more directly. It's technical mastery you can actually see.
Hand-Finished Movements
Every bevel, countersink, and screw head is finished by hand, with no industrial polishing anywhere. Turn the watch over and the movement side is as beautiful as the dial.
In-House Dials
Dials come from Comblémine, the dial maker Voutilainen acquired in 2014. Most brands buy dials from outside suppliers. His aesthetic refinement starts under his own roof.
Urushi and Marquetry Dials
With the Japanese studio Unryuan, he makes striking dials in urushi lacquer, gold powder, and shell — materials almost nobody else in watchmaking uses. Five of his twelve GPHG prizes came in the artistic crafts category.
Bespoke Commissions
Many Voutilainen watches are one-of-a-kind, built to a single client's order. Dial design, hands, case metal, and numerals can all be yours alone. We can guide that conversation.
KARI VOUTILAINEN MODELS
Vingt-8
The Vingt-8 is the signature Voutilainen: a time-only watch built on his calibre 28 with its two escapement wheels. You'll know the case anywhere by its concave bezel and straight lugs. The family includes the sportier 28ti, which won at the GPHG in 2019, and the 28SC with central seconds, which won in 2020. It's the natural first watch at this level, and it's now a closed chapter: orders for the calibre 28 ended on 31 December 2025, with the 28MPR moonphase as the final edition.
Observatoire
The Observatoire is the early Voutilainen, built around vintage observatory-grade movements he finished by hand. It won his first GPHG prize in 2007. These are rare watches even by his standards, and when one surfaces it commands serious money. A 2009 example in white gold brought over $1 million at Phillips in June 2026.
Tourbillon and Complications
Beyond time-only pieces, Voutilainen builds complicated watches in tiny numbers. His World Timer, which shows every time zone at once, won the GPHG complication prize in 2023. The KV20i Inversé, which turns the movement face-up so you can watch it work, won in 2024.
Masterpiece Chronograph
The Masterpiece Chronograph is among the rarest Voutilainen watches, a hand-finished stopwatch produced in single-digit numbers. A 2012 example, number one of ten, set his auction record at Phillips New York in June 2026 at $1.84 million. If one surfaces, the window to act is short.
Urushi and Decorative Dial Pieces
These are the watches that win art prizes. Working with the lacquer masters at Unryuan, Voutilainen has created pieces like the Hisui, Aki-No-Kure, Ji-Ku, Starry Night Vine, and 28GML SOUYOU, each a GPHG winner in the artistic crafts category. Most are unique designs, made once and meant to be worn.
Kari Voutilainen FAQ's
Kari Voutilainen is a Finnish-born independent watchmaker based in Môtiers, Switzerland, since 2002. His workshop has won twelve prizes at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève between 2007 and 2025, and makes fewer than sixty watches a year.
Standard pieces have sold recently for about CHF 165,000 at Phillips in Geneva (May 2025) and $235,000 in New York (June 2025). Rare pieces brought $1 million to $1.84 million at a single New York sale in June 2026.
Fewer than sixty. Voutilainen has said his workshop takes on about fifty clients a year, and that he has no plans to grow past seventy watches annually. That limited number is a big part of the value.
The Vingt-8 is Voutilainen's signature model, a time-only watch powered by his own calibre 28. Its two escapement wheels deliver energy to the balance more directly than a standard design. Most collectors begin with a Vingt-8.
They're made in-house at Comblémine, the dial maker he acquired in 2014, with guilloché patterns engraved by hand on antique lathes. His urushi lacquer dials, made with the Japanese studio Unryuan, have won five GPHG artistic crafts prizes.
Yes. Orders for the calibre 28 and the models built on it closed on 31 December 2025, and the 28MPR moonphase is the final edition, made in three runs of fifteen pieces. The workshop stopped taking orders because waits had stretched past ten years.
There's no queue left to join, since orders closed at the end of 2025. Pre-owned is the only route now. Tell us what you're looking for and we'll source it, even if it's outside of our collection.
Recent results are strong. Standard pieces brought CHF 165,000 to $235,000 at Phillips in 2025, and four rare lots topped $1 million in June 2026. As with any watch, past results don't promise future prices.
