Hands-On: Kari Voutilainen’s GPHG-Winning KV20i Is A Dream Watch, Even Without A Quintessential ‘Kari’ Dial

Welcome to “GPHG Week,” a themed mini-series where we’re covering four winning watches from this year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève that you otherwise may have previously missed. Today we have the Voutilainen KV20i which was awarded the “Men’s Watch” award at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève this year .

Another year, another Kari Voutilainen GPHG award, and another few handful of watches I’d love to own from the man himself. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Last year, when Voutilainen won for his World-Timer, I asked him jokingly, “Isn’t it starting to get old, winning these many awards?” He just smiled the shy smile he has when someone compliments him and shrugged. I guess not. It doesn’t get old for me, either.

I like Voutilainen’s watches quite a bit. The new KV20i is no exception. There’s this balance of old-school handcraft and movement design against an evolving, beautiful palette of colors and aesthetic design, plus the accessibility and friendliness of the man himself, that makes me dream of having a Voutilainen someday.

Sure, there’s some negatives. The watches are often quite thick (which we’ll unpack in a minute), and Voutilainen allows clients to customize his original designs (almost to a fault) to the extent that they sometimes look less than great on unique watches (not every collector has the best taste in design). But the watches he designs and executes himself are so special that I think it’s a bit foolish even to consider changing them. Take, for instance, the Tourbillon 20th anniversary pieces I wrote about earlier this year (themselves up for the “Tourbillon” category, won by Daniel Roth’s Souscription piece). Every single detail was thoughtfully and immaculately executed, down to the numerals. Print the label and ship it to my doorstep. I’d take it as is.

As Rich Fordon pointed out in our recap of this year’s GPHG awards, coming into this year, the last six men’s watch awards were split between Voutilainen and Rexhep Rexhepi. With a win this year, he extends that streak to seven. In fact, since 2019, Voutilainen has won six awards from the GPHG, four for the men’s watch prize and two for artistic crafts. Voutilainen has won GPHG honors 11 times, dating back to 2007 – one of the most outstanding long-term marathons of success in the history of the awards. The only other independent to find the same level of success is F.P.Journe’s unprecedented run of awards from 2002 to 2010 (except for 2007 and 2009, but including Aiguille d’Or in 2004, 2006, and 2008) before they stopped entering.

It feels Voutilainen is overdue for an Aiguille d’Or win, but the jury seems to focus on groundbreaking high-complication achievement. Sure, that is something Voutilainen is capable of doing. His perpetual calendar minute repeater looks (in pictures at least) to be the kind of thing you’d dream of owning, or the minute repeater GMT with the traditional three-finger bridge design for a repeater that you’d expect from a Vallée de Joux watchmaker from the late 1800s. 

But that was a unique piece and, therefore, not up for a GPHG award. Voutilainen’s workshop produced only 60 watches in 2022, which means that these kinds of high-complication pieces would be hard to make at scale. It’s possible we might even see an Aiguille d’Or win for Voutilainen’s hotly-anticipated Urban Jurgensen relaunch before his eponymous brand.

The new KV20i is reminiscent of Voutilainen’s 2019 GPHG Men’s Prize-winning 28ti, another “inverted” watch concept based on the caliber 28 found in the Vingt-8. What’s proven to be a success commercially and for awards has worked once again here, or more succinctly, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But Voutilainen has made both aesthetic changes and technical improvements over the 28ti.

The first thing that you’ll notice is that Voutilainen has shed the normal guilloché dial that most people are so fond of. In fact, you could make the argument that – with his work and the work of Comblémine – Kari Voutilainen’s work is all the more in demand. I’ve vacillated on whether this is the perfect Voutilainen for the watch you should only get after your first Kari with a great dial. But the finishing and construction of the watch are so damn good it’s hard to find fault with the open dial.

The layers of gears and beautifully frosted grey plates really draw you in but still maintain legibility better than most open dials. The movement largely varies from the original Inverse through the use of a balance cock at 12 o’clock instead of a full balance bridge, plus tweaks to the double-wheel escapement connected to the giant balance wheel. That escapement itself on the Inverse was quite interesting, the same as is found on all Voutilainen watches, a lubrication-free design descended from the Abraham-Louis Breguet’s natural escapement.

Part of the challenge of inverting a movement is the hand setting and general time-telling direction. On the 28ti and KV20i, additional gearing sits on top of the movement, which also adds a three-dimensional element to the front of the dial. This is pretty much an indirect wheel train, which then requires a tension spring so the minute hand doesn’t stutter. There are also the extra gears needed to replace the canon pinion and connect to the keyless works for hand setting. If that’s all too technical for you, just admire how great it all comes together on the dial side.

Because of the added works on the top of the dial, the watch is thicker than a Vingt-8, 13.8mm compared to 11.5mm. Slim watches aren’t Voutilainen’s raison d’etre, in part because of his emphasis on constructing movements that he hopes will be infinitely reparable and require no gluing of bridges or other parts. That means that plates have to be thicker so the screws can have enough purchase to be screwed and unscrewed over and over.

On the rear of the platinum example, you get a nice mix of these grey frosted bridges and gearing, plus the keyless works and a small seconds display (with no power reserve that you get on the 28ti). There’s also slightly less skeletonization than on the 28ti, but I don’t mind it – it simplifies the view and celebrates the quality of the finishing where it still remains.

Even at 13.4mm thick (give or take) it still wears well. Voutilainen puts a lot of thought into the case shape and the lower lug placement on the midcase, plus the dropoff of the teardrop lugs, hugs the wrist quite nicely. And again, despite how it might look here in a flat plane, it is legible enough to not think twice about it. 

In the photo at the top (and above), you’ll also notice another version of the KV20i that I don’t believe has been shared before. Kari himself pulled it out of the case at the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) show in the midst of Watches & Wonders and put it on the table in front of me. In addition to the “petrol blue” ring and 3N gold-grained finishing, the case is made of tantalum and is a unique piece.

The reverse actually celebrates Voutilainen’s guilloché work better than the platinum, with more of the blue-green dial work on the outside track. The rest of the movement (minus that 3N) finishing is otherwise the same. There’s no information on how many of these pieces will be made or if this will be a unique piece.

Finally, Voutilainen just shared a third version (the second publicly announced) of the KV20i with a “Cherry” color option and titanium case. I don’t wear much red, so the blue does much more for me, but yet again, there’s the added benefit of more guilloché on the rear between the external track and a closed small seconds subdial with guilloché as well.

The KV20i is no cheap proposition, but if you’re shopping at this price point, it’s certainly worth consideration, and not just because GPHG (and I) say so. The watch really speaks for itself. And unlike a lot of other independent brands, there’s still a level of accessibility to Voutilainen’s waitlists that – while still long – are happy to at least take your call. If you have the patience, and a passion for great independent watchmaking, this should be high on your list.

Voutilainen KV20i, 39mm diameter by 13.38mm thick platinum case (blue dial treatment) or titanium (red treatment), with 30m water resistance. Openworked dial with blue and red dial treatment options; Hours, minutes, seconds on the reverse. In-house Voutilainen movement with reversed architecture operating at 18,000 beats per hour with 60 hours of power reserve. Textile and calfskin hand-sewn strap. Price: CHF 118,800 in steel, CHF 121,600 in rose gold, and CHF 124,800 in white gold, platinum, and titanium.

​Hodinkee 

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