The Voutilainen journey

[lapince]

Hi all, following a small demand I will take you on my journey.

As a rule, I will not discuss any prices.
I want to thank my good friend Dimitry aka de66, who is a great guy, and has been on the project from day one and has been a huge help in every decision, thanks buddy :

As well Martinr who posted a pic of the watch which was a revelation when I saw it and had he not posted it, I would clearly not have commissioned this watch, thanks Martin

For some time I was in between 3 watches, a RM 035, the first edition, a Lange datograph perpetual in WG, and the Vouti.
After many posts about the Lange an other things, I eliminated the RM, mainly because the one I really love is the black 055, but they were around 100-110K, and it kinda bothered me to put so much money in a watch which isn't super exclusive, and also I have sports or sporty watches, between what I have now and what I am getting in a few months, my collection will be:
Patek 5712, 5711 and 5167R
AP ceramic diver
Rolex Daytona C white dial.
So after a long while of thinking about it, I decided if to put this kind of cash, I wanted a totally unique one, and also to be different enough from my other watches.

So to give you an idea, the base is a Vingt-8, like the one posted here, but there will be Arabic numerals on the whole dial to give it a more sporty feel, the outer dial will be very dark blue with guilloche, for the enamel I haven't decided yet how it will be exactly, color wise that is.

The movement will be ruthenium with geneva stripes.

The case and caseback will be WG, wanted Pt at first, and had settled on PT, but that was before I decided getting the caseback with engraving, first that made the bill go much higher, and was too much in PT, and second I think the weight would have been too much in PT.

The most interesting part of the watch will be the officer's caseback, it will have
a unique engraving, in the style of the caseback of his Masterpiece 7, you can see pucs on his site, but just the style, this is why I am going there on November 28th, to meet with Kari and the engraver, I have different ideas but they will tell me which one will look best considering the size, this should be very interesting.

I will start posting pics from the first meeting with Kari, if you have questions or opinions will love to hear them.

Thanks guys

Ok can't download the pic for the dial, it's the blue dial Vingt-8 on his site. Here you have the movement in ruthenium but without the geneva stripes that mine will have, and the engraving will be in the style of this one but quite different




If you have some ideas for the engraving I would love to hear them.
The idea is one or a few warrior women, of course beautiful ones, so either 1-2, either like on the engraving here, need to lnow which pluses and minuses each possibility has, plus some things like what is in the center here, and other elements, Kari and the engraver will help put my ideas on paper and how to make the end result the most perfect possible, will take into consideration your ideas.

[lapince]

No it works... So same movement just I will have Geneva stripes.
Oh and of course the watch will be signed "unique piece"

[texex91]

Glad you took me up on the thread suggestion.

Looking forward to it and LOVE that blue dial!

For engraving maybe "At least it's not one of those non-super exclusive RMs"

What kind of servicing times on these niche players?

US Vout AD (who is also one of my RM ADs) said about 4 months on special order (w/engraving, etc), is there some reason Europe is twice as long?

Enjoy the journey...

[lapince]

No idea what service time is.
From moment of order to delivery 12 months, will get it May 17, my Bday is June 9th.
Thanks Paul I should enjoy it

[texex91]

Originally Posted by lapince

No idea what service time is.
From moment of order to delivery 12 months, will get it May 17, my Bday is June 9th.

Hmmm, interesting. I'll check back with AD as I must have misunderstood (even through he sent me a text).

So if you need service do you send it back to them direct? Honest question, as I don't know how these custom shops work.

Great choice on blue dial

[lapince]

Originally Posted by texex91

Hmmm, interesting. I'll check back with AD as I must have misunderstood (even through he sent me a text).

So if you need service do you send it back to them direct? Honest question, as I don't know how these custom shops work.

Great choice on blue dial

Thanks Paul, knew you would like it, maybe one day a RM, who knows, seriously considered it...

He does very simple movements, any good watchmaker can do it, I need to see with him about this

[texex91]

Originally Posted by lapince

Thanks Paul.
He does very simple movements, any good watchmaker can do it, I need to see with him about this

I wouldn't let 'any good watchmaker' deal with it as I assume it probably has a 5 year warranty?

Sorry for the questions, maybe I should space them out

[conkers]

Congrats Arnaud will be awesome.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by texex91

I wouldn't let 'any good watchmaker' deal with it as I assume it probably has a 5 year warranty?

Sorry for the questions, maybe I should space them out

Of course I wouldn't as well, but in theory it's very simple and easy to service, to be honest we didn't even get to warranty yet, about servicing as I understand it's possible to do it every 7-8 years.
No problem I like threads where there are questions and a discussion, the more the better

Originally Posted by conkers

Congrats Arnaud will be awesome.

Thanks Roger, coming from a guy like you who has and had unbelievable watches it means a lot.

To be clear from day 1 there was Dimitry, then after a certain time I asked for advice to Roger and Karl, thanks guys

[mps354]

Congrats in advance, can't wait to see how it turns out

[lapince]

Need you guys' help.

Would you want the "unique piece" to be discreetly engraved on the back of the case, or like on this one to be part of the engraved caseback?

On this I haven't decided yet, on this caseback it looks awesome, do you think it would look as good on the type of caseback mine will have?

[incontrol]

Congrats Arnaud! Very exciting, I will be following this thread closely. I had a custom RGM made and thoroughly enjoyed the customization process. Having a Voultanian is on another level.


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[lapince]

Originally Posted by texex91

For engraving maybe "At least it's not one of those non-super exclusive RMs"
Enjoy the journey...

of course good idea, I mean nowadays everybody wears a RM of some sort, almost like Rolex

I really did hesitate between the Lange, RM 035 and this, the Lange was the first one out when I realized I could barely make out the dial, and with age it wouldn't have gotten any better, so it was between RM and Vouti, but the officer caseback, unique engraving and dial, and totally unique piece won the show, oh and the blue as well, I love the 5712 blue, but this is just something else

Originally Posted by incontrol

Congrats Arnaud! Very exciting, I will be following this thread closely. I had a custom RGM made and thoroughly enjoyed the customization process. Having a Voultanian is on another

Thanks Kevin

[droptopman]

Way out of my league but will definitely follow this thread. That blue dial in the first pic is a thing of beauty. What a gorgeous time piece.
Very interested to see the process of your journey. That is going to be one special piece!

[lapince]

Today another of our respected members, Karl, is meeting with Kari, what's funny is that both incomings will be super close, mine in May, his in June.
For those who are interested by this, it is not so hard or expensive to do, ok it's not 20 or 50K, but for the work done and exclusivity, the price, IMHO, is quite reasonable, for that price there are a bunch of watches I could have gotten, but getting one made to fit your every desire is really special.

At first I was going for this watch, in PT, with just engine turned outer dial, and arabic numerals on the whole dial, then figured why not officers caseback, the. Unique engraving, then ruthenium movement with geneva stripes, it really is something to have a unique piece,mbut IMO, even more when every detail of it was made to your tastes and specifications, it's a real game changer

So if you like this and have a certain sum of money, I think the vingt-8 retail price in WG or RG is 56.000 euros, in PT 62.000, and after that the rest is extra, so the best way is to contact Kari, he is very nice and will answer your inquiry, one piece of advice, the man is an artist, don't talk prices on your first mail, talk watches, delays and other things, but not prices.
Even if you don't order a unique piece like me, with a production of 40-50 pieces a year, a Voutilainen is still ultra exclusive.

Would love seeing more Voutis around here, for me he is like Dufour, except Dufour is the king of the ultra boring dress watch sector, Kari is king of the ky dress watch sector, before seeing it in pics I never would have imagined getting a dress watch, even if it doesn't strictly apply to this particular watch...

I am really excited to imagine how stunning it will be in reality, all people say that pics are far away from the reality, a huge part of the amazing disappears on pictures.

[texex91]

Originally Posted by lapince

As a rule, I will not discuss any prices.

Originally Posted by lapince

I think the vingt-8 retail price in WG or RG is 56.000 euros, in PT 62.000,

BTW, if PT is only 6k more it's the only way to go IMHO.

It's a 39mm watch on strap, won't make too much difference in weight.

[GB-man]

Congrats arnaud. The Vingt-8 is such a good looking piece. Officers case back sounds like a fun add on as well

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[Marciano490]

Where do you meet him/where is he based?

You have a lovely wife, she should be the model for any warrior woman on the back. And that'd clearly make the watch more personal and special.

[Marciano490]

Oh and do you pay everything upfront?

[dchang81]

i remember you saying you had to sell some watches for an investment opportunity. seems like it paid off pretty well. i still love the maitres chapter 3.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Marciano490

Where do you meet him/where is he based?

You have a lovely wife, she should be the model for any warrior woman on the back. And that'd clearly make the watch more personal and special.

Of course she is going to be the model it is obvious

Originally Posted by Marciano490

Oh and do you pay everything upfront?

30% and 70 on delivery

Originally Posted by dchang81

i remember you saying you had to sell some watches for an investment opportunity. seems like it paid off pretty well. i still love the maitres chapter 3.

Totally different, I sold a flat in Paris not long ago

[KarlS]

Originally Posted by texex91

BTW, if PT is only 6k more it's the only way to go IMHO.

It's a 39mm watch on strap, won't make too much difference in weight.

Which I did. At AUD and I chose similar dials so I need to work out how to make it a bit more different so that we don't have 2 of thecsamevwatchws. I am moving the bpvoutilainen to the 12:00 position in the curve and will probably guilt he the outside or go for a grey. My decision was between RWS and VT (which I think could have been picked up by earlier threads of mine) and it was a. Tuff choice but congrats Arnaud we will see yours a month earlier than mine.

[KarlS]

If there are any questions I am seeing him in 4 hours

[lapince]

Originally Posted by texex91

BTW, if PT is only 6k more it's the only way to go IMHO.

It's a 39mm watch on strap, won't make too much difference in weight.

Lol what I meant was I won't talk about the price of mine. Yes PT is 6-8k more for the normal one, with officers caseback it isn't 6-8k more, in fact he had a WG case with officers back ready, none in PT, the difference was huge so took the WG on which he did an exceptional price, had the difference been consequent but not huge would have gone PT, in this case it would have been stupid to go PT.

[KarlS]

Originally Posted by texex91

I wouldn't let 'any good watchmaker' deal with it as I assume it probably has a 5 year warranty?

Sorry for the questions, maybe I should space them out

There are some boring horological facts around certain parts of the movement which are designed so that they can be easily replaced versus acing to commission new ones (soldering versus glue etc) and the fact that round edges allow for the polishing to take place over generations without spoiling the shapes. I could cover most of this later

We worry about who will service Journe post FPJ and here its a real issue

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Marciano490

Where do you meet him/where is he based?

You have a lovely wife, she should be the model for any warrior woman on the back. And that'd clearly make the watch more personal and special.

Sorry forgot to answer, he is based in Môtiers, it seems lovely, looking forward to seeing him, heard only excellent things about him

[lapince]

Originally Posted by KarlS

Which I did. At AUD and I chose similar dials so I need to work out how to make it a bit more different so that we don't have 2 of thecsamevwatchws. I am moving the bpvoutilainen to the 12:00 position in the curve and will probably guilt he the outside or go for a grey. My decision was between RWS and VT (which I think could have been picked up by earlier threads of mine) and it was a. Tuff choice but congrats Arnaud we will see yours a month earlier than mine.

In fact the base dial design for Karl and me will be the same, but we are going to do them different enough. It's good we told each other what we were getting, can imagine we both get one, and at the first incoming the other guy yells "crap they are almost alike"
For the color I am probably going blue on blue, already told Kari, very dark outer dial and for the enamel I want a unique blue, I saw a few pics of maybe 2-3 watches, each has the enamel of the same color, so I want a different one.
Anyways once you have met Kari we will see where both of us is going.
In fact I had already decided to get it at the start of June, so before you, I think it's great you're getting it and not the RWS, which are great but to classical in a way, Kari is way more funky IMO

Have a great day my friend

[lapince]

No one said what he thought about putting or not on the back "unique piece" or just discreetly on the case near the back crystal? No opinions about this no one?

[KarlS]

Will let u know. Waiting for the train

[lapince]

Have a great day Karl, will be interesting to see what he proposes us, pretty sure he has a ton of ideas. Don't forget about movement decoration, or not, many people seem not to do anything special, I really like ruthenium, and with geneva stripes it should be amazing, seems it will be the first one like this, but could be wrong