Built with a remarkably simple concept in mind, the decimal repeater sounds the hours, 10-minute segments and then the additional minutes. In other words, the decimal repeater strikes the time the way it's conventionally read. A traditional minute repeater, on the other hand, chimes the hours, the quarter hours, then the minutes, which makes little sense since time is not measured in quarter hours in the modern age.

Now, a year later, Kari has unveiled Masterpiece No 7, as well as the Masterpiece Chronograph. Although the use of the word 'masterpiece' can be misused, all of Kari's creations are eminently worthy of the title. Like the No 6, the No 7 is a unique decimal repeater. The difference is that it features a second time zone indicator in place of the power reserve display in No 6.

As for the Masterpiece chronograph, it is a 10-piece limited edition, yet nothing at all like your run-of-the-mill chronograph. The watch looks deceptively simple, but it took eight months from drawing board to prototype.

Inside lies a traditionally constructed movement with a column wheel and black polished steel parts. But, at the same time, the movement uses some of the most cutting edge technology available today, in the form of the revolutionary 'Carbontime' escapement. This consists of a monofilament carbon fibre balance spring and transparent ceramic balance wheel with adjustable weights.

The escapement was invented by Gideon Levingston, a British watchmaker and goldsmith, who also created the case of the chronograph, using a special white gold alloy with a high palladium content, giving the watch a lustrous white sheen normally only seen in platinum.

Along with Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen is leading the charge in the renaissance of traditional Swiss watchmaking. His watches are distinctly Swiss in style and spirit, and of a quality that is rarely seen in modern production. In fact, repeaters 6 and 7 use vintage ebauches (raw movements) from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fittingly, the Voutilainen atelier is in the heartland of Swiss watchmaking, in the quiet village of Mtiers within the canton of Neuchtel.

The 44-year-old hails from Finland, and arrived in Switzerland only in 1989. But his fascination with things mechanical started at a very young age. 'I always did a lot of things with my hands,' he told us, 'playing with motorbikes, cars and dismantling engines.'

Yet it was only when he started at the Tapiola watchmaking school in Finland that he found his true calling. 'It was really the first time in my life that I felt - yes! That's for me!' After completing his initial watchmaker training in Finland, Kari arrived in Switzerland to attend the WOSTEP complications course, which taught the restoration and repair of complicated timepieces, the equivalent of a postgraduate degree for watchmakers. After graduation, he was talent spotted by Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps, a leader in watch restoration and a starting point for several talents in the industry today. Some of the most complicated and rare vintage timepieces have reportedly been restored at Parmigiani, including an original Breguet Sympathique from 1820.

'That was one of the best periods (of my life),' Kari says. 'At the time I was 30 years old and I was sitting next to a man who was 70 years old' - referring to Charles Meylan, a fifth generation watchmaker from the Vallee de Joux. According to Kari, Mr Meylan had a vast store of knowledge because he had studied watchmaking when it was taught in a manner vastly different from today. Back then, it was truly a watch-making school, with the course taking five years, Saturdays included. Trainee watchmakers made chronographs and even minute repeaters as school projects, something students today do not get to do.

As Kari's decimal repeaters are based on vintage LeCoultre and Piguet movements, we asked if his choice of vintage movements may have been influenced by his long experience with restoration? No, he told us. In fact, he already possessed those movements. 'I had been doing a lot of work on my own, doing restoration and investing my money in movements and tools; to find such a high quality movement from that era is difficult, if not impossible today.

'Such old ebauches are very well done, they were made with the philosophy that they should last forever, all the posts and tubes are screwed in, so you can finish the movement and screw the parts back.

'Modern construction is not like that (he notes diplomatically), contemporary movements use riveting, permanently fixing parts. So the modern watch works when it's not worn out, but once it's worn out, you need a skilled watchmaker to be able to repair it.'

Despite using an existing ebauche, however, it was still an arduous task to create the movements for the decimal repeaters. Kari had to fabricate more than a hundred new components for each decimal repeater movement, as well as finish all the parts - old and new - to his exceptional standards. Those exacting standards extend to the dials and hands, all of which are hand-made using traditional methods. The engine-turned dials are 18ct gold and made by Vaucher, a sister company of Parmigiani. As for the hands, Kari painstakingly fabricates them himself.

'They are complicated to do, the body of the hand is gold, while the rings are in blue steel,' he says, referring to the hands used in the Masterpiece Chronograph.

Each set of five hands for the chronograph takes an entire week to complete. And when it comes to conceptualising new timepieces, Kari similarly brooks no compromise.

'The concept comes first, then the budget, though of course I try to do something within the concept that is priced reasonably.'

Not surprisingly, Kari is just as careful with the design of the timepiece.

'I always want a legible design, and the first thing is the dial - the movement is important but we look at the dial. It must be pleasing to look at, so both these things (movement and design) are very important.'

In accordance with that, the Masterpiece Chronograph dial is done in an unconventional but elegantly legible regulator style, with the time displayed on a subsidiary dial. Although the design may appear odd at first glance, it is actually very attractive and subtle, especially in the metal.

So why did Kari choose to make a chronograph?

'I don't want to follow fashion, what everyone is doing,' he says, referring to the growing popularity of tourbillons, 'and I had the idea for a long time for the chronograph.' Although the chronograph movement is completely new and designed by Kari, he did draw inspiration from a vintage Patek Philippe rattrapante chronograph wristwatch that he restored. 'It is really like a time machine (from a different age),' he says of the rattrapante movement. 'It's one of the best pieces ever.'

Those with an eye for technical detail will note that the Masterpiece Chronograph lacks a polished steel cap on the column wheel, a feature found in several top end Swiss chronographs, including some popular timepieces that bear the Geneva Seal.

Quizzed about that apparent missing part, Kari responds: 'The cap doesn't have a function. If it is functional, it means there is too much play with the coupling lever so the cap is to ensure the lever doesn't jump out (when activated). 'It gives you more problems when making the watch, as you have to put the pieces in, then the cap.'

Here he explains that he tries to keep the mechanics simple and thus easy to repair and service, so that clients need not worry about servicing any of Kari's masterpieces - especially given the recently formed Time Aeon alliance, which consists of Kari himself and other Swiss watch greats like Philippe Dufour, Vianney Halter and Greubel Forsey.

In fact, he explains, one of the aims of the group is to ensure that each of its members is able to fix any watch the other partners create. 'We are able to repair each other's watches, so if something happens such that I cannot work anymore, they can take care of my watches. That's an important part of the alliance.'

When asked if he would consider making something more affordable than his current Masterpiece watches, he lets on that he would love to. 'I think I will. I will take my time to do it, and it will be different and original.'

And what, in his view, was the most outstanding timepiece he ever made? He says it was a marine chronometer with a tourbillon and constant force escapement, a challenge that took him four years to complete. 'The constant force was a nightmare,' says Kari with some pride.

It may have even cost him more money to make than what he was paid, but he was well-compensated by the experience and knowledge gained. 'I have accepted restoration jobs for little money, for the challenge,' says Kari. 'With a historical or very special piece, it's an excellent experience. Money is not everything.'

And what special piece might he be working on now, that would challenge him even more? He would only let on: 'It is very special, historical, it's so complicated with so much history.'

But for someone so talented, his aspirations appear modest. 'I have no ambitions to be a big company and produce 200 chronographs,' he says. 'I'd rather do exclusive small series. I have no marketing machine; the only marketing is my work, the quality of what I do. That's the most important thing.'

'I'm not a salesman or businessman, I can't sell something if I feel it is not so good,' he adds. 'It would be impossible to have a watch shop, I can't sell watches.'

Turning to the topic of today's watch industry, Kari continues to be candid, and provides an unvarnished opinion that few others dare voice, such as a concern that restoration skills are being neglected in the drive to make bigger timepieces every year.

Even some of the most famous names in the business today may only have one man doing restoration, he points out, adding: 'The tendency is to be able to produce the watch as efficiently as possible. All the work is done as much as possible with machines. Even finishing is done with machines with as little handwork as possible.'

'Very often it's a question of price; to lower the production cost and set the selling price high, and make the maximum. Companies forget that when they use machines, it is possible to do it elsewhere. We can do it in China, in Japan, in Finland. Anyone can buy machines and do the same work.' Warns Kari: 'The value is in doing something with (our) hands, we can't transport that. You can pay the people in the Vallee de Joux millions, but they won't go elsewhere.'

Asked who he admires most in the industry, Kari replies without hesitation, 'Philippe Dufour'.

'When you look at his career, how he started, what troubles he had, and where he is today, it's great. And he's still a modest person.' Kari himself is slightly uncomfortable conversing with the press, perhaps because English is not his native tongue, yet he is charmingly frank and amiable; a refreshing contrast to some of the 'superstar' watchmakers who can be brusque at best.

'My favourite job is at the bench, making and creating, but many independent watchmakers are giving the work out (to outside contractors). Sometimes 'independent' watchmakers don't do any practical work at all, only administrative work,' he notes.

Each of his repeaters and what he considers piece unique creations are completely created by his own hands - each decimal repeater took nearly a year to craft from start to finish. 'In my workshop I do everything,' Kari says. 'I do creative work, and I realise the pieces by myself. I do the finishing, assembling and adjustments.'

The proof is indeed in the pudding. See it for yourself here, with the help of some exceptional close-up photography contributed by local watch lover and ace shutterbug Harry Tan.

Su Jiaxian has just started his Economics course at SMU here, but has been smitten by a wonderful passion for the finest that high horology has to offer since his early teens.

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