| Kari Voutilainen | |
| Birth Date: | June 1962 |
| Birth Place: | Rovaniemi, Finland |
| Nationality: | Finnish |
| Occupation: | watchmaker |
| Website: | http://www.voutilainen.ch/ |
Kari Voutilainen, AHCI (born in 1962) is a Finnish watchmaker residing in Môtiers, Switzerland. Voutilainen is generally considered to be one of the greatest living watchmakers.[1] [2] Altogether ten watches by Voutilainen have been awarded The Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix).[3]
Voutilainen graduated from the Finnish School of Watchmaking in 1986, and later continued his studies at WOSTEP.[4] [5] After his studies Voutilainen worked for Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps between 1990 and 1999 restoring complicated and rare watches. Voutilainen also worked as a teacher at the WOSTEP between the years 1999-2002.[6]
Voutilainen started an independent watchmaking business in 2002, building a limited number of handmade timekeepers.[7] [8] In 2005, he introduced the world's first decimal repeater sounding hours, ten-minute intervals and then minutes. In 2012 Voutilainen together with Andreas Strehler created the watch "Chapter III" for Maîtres du Temps.[9]
In 2013, Voutilainen began collaborating with Tatsuo Kitamura, head of the Japanese lacquer art studio Unryuan, and by 2022 had introduced several watches with dials decorated using traditional Japanese lacquer techniques.[10]
In 2021 Voutilainen together with a group of investors acquired watchmaking company Urban Jürgensen and was appointed as the CEO of the company.[11]