Jonathan Snellenburg
Director
Lot 142
Kari Voutilainen. A very fine stainless steel lever chronometer wristwatch with Bulletin de Marche
Chronomètre d'Observatoire, No. C26072, sold 2009
13 December 2012, 15:00 EST
New York, California, Los Angeles and California, San FranciscoSold for US$63,250 inc. premium
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Kari Voutilainen. A very fine stainless steel lever chronometer wristwatch with Bulletin de Marche
Chronomètre d'Observatoire, No. C26072, sold 2009
21-jewel highly finished Peseux calibre movement, free sprung Guillaume balance with Breguet overcoil and Grossman inner terminal curve, white gold dial, engine turned chapter ring with polished arabic numerals, subsidiary seconds, gold Breguet hands, polished cylindrical case with transparent back secured by six screws, maker's leather strap with 18K white gold deployant clasp, accompanied by Observatoire de Besançon Bulletin de Marche, guarantee certificate, two additional straps, an additional buckle, screwdriver and a bespoke inlaid maple presentation box by Cedric Vichard with certificate, case, dial and movement signed. 38mm
21-jewel highly finished Peseux calibre movement, free sprung Guillaume balance with Breguet overcoil and Grossman inner terminal curve, white gold dial, engine turned chapter ring with polished arabic numerals, subsidiary seconds, gold Breguet hands, polished cylindrical case with transparent back secured by six screws, maker's leather strap with 18K white gold deployant clasp, accompanied by Observatoire de Besançon Bulletin de Marche, guarantee certificate, two additional straps, an additional buckle, screwdriver and a bespoke inlaid maple presentation box by Cedric Vichard with certificate, case, dial and movement signed. 38mm
Footnotes
The base caliber of the Chronomètre d'Observatoire (observatory wristwatch) is the famed Peseux 260, a movement mostly used for observatory trials. It has been hand finished with Geneva Stripes, anglage and perlage. Special attention has been given to the free sprung 13mm diameter balance wheel. While the exterior of the spring uses a typical Breguet overcoil, the spring has been given an inner terminal curve devised by Moritz Grossman one of the original founders of the Deutsche Uhrmacherschule in Glashütte. Grosmann, who later taught at the Horological School at Le Locle, was influential in the science of chronometry and in the final development of the precision watch in the early 20th century.
Kari Voutilainen was born in Finland in 1962. He moved to Switzerland in 1989 to attend the International Watchmaking School where he completed the WOSTEP complicated watch course, a post graduate course for those watchmakers dedicated to the restoration of complicated, high quality rare watches. Following his graduation he found work as a restorer for Parmigiani. In 2002, Voutilainen established his own company in Môtier Switzerland.