WatchTime New York, America’s largest luxury watch show, is just over two weeks away! As we continue our countdown to the long-awaited collectors’ event, taking place at Manhattan’s Gotham Hall on October 26-27, we are highlighting new timepieces from each brand that guests will have the chance to see. Today, we’re taking a look at Kari Voutilainen’s latest: the 217QRS.
First seen back in January at SIHH, the in-house caliber at the heart of the 217QRS was directly influenced by Voutilainen’s previous Vingt-8 movement and is representative of Voutilainen at his absolute best. One of the major highlights here is the retrograde date that is integrated directly into the main plate. To set the date, all you have to do is press the crown down, moving the date hand a day. On the final day of the month, the date hand uses a special mechanism designed by Voutilainen to move the date hand back to day one without bouncing out of sync upon arrival.
Attached to the extra-large balance wheel is a balance spring that uses a Phillips overcoil on its exterior and a Grossmann curve on its interior. The escapement also boasts a world first by using two escapement wheels in this configuration. By using two wheels rather than one, it provides a direct impulse to the balance through the jewels. This utilizes much less energy than traditional lever escapements, which should allow for greater longevity between service intervals.
As with any Voutilainen timepiece, all the finishing here is done by hand and is unmatched in its quality.
The 39-mm wristwatch comes in a total series of 30 watches: 10 in platinum, 10 in white gold, and 10 in rose gold.
Interested in trying on the Voutilainen 217QRS and meeting Kari? You can go hands-on with it and hundreds of other timepieces from the other 30 brands at WatchTime New York 2018. Tickets are going fast; order yours now!
You can read our profile on Kari Voutilainen here.
What’s the difference between platinum & white gold.. I thought they are the same thing????