Independents

Some time prior to 1968, a distinguished jewellery designer met a very lovely young lady.  She became his muse and his partner; he made jewellery which could not have looked any better than when it was worn by her:

They settled down and had children together. Theirs was a richly artistic, if somewhat ‘alternative’, extended family. Their second son was born in February 1970, and he enjoyed a carefree early life. Here he is on his mother’s hip at the family’s holiday home in 1972:

Their son inherited all of his father’s creative talent (but arguably not so much of his mother’s great beauty!).  As he grew the young lad, unafraid of working in metal (as his father did) and fascinated by mechanics, took an interest in restoring old cars and motorbikes.  Bikes seem to have won out over cars, and thus an enthusiastic young Viking Bikie (“Vikie”???) was born:

Fortunately for us, in 1989 our Viking Bikie commenced study at watchmaking school in Tapiola, Finland, and in 1994 furthered his studies at WOSTEP in Neuchatel whilst working in the Piaget service department. After completing the WOSTEP complicated watches study course in 1997 he worked on complicated watches for Parmigiani and from 2000 to 2004 spent time working with Vianney Halter, then Christophe Claret, meanwhile striking out on his own.  Initially he made watches in his home kitchen; in 2003 he took space in an artists’ community in the old cable factory in Helsinki and there he remains today.

He is, of course, Stepan Sarpaneva, and his watches are known under his eponymous brand ‘Sarpaneva Watches’ and S.U.F. (Sarpaneva Uhren Fabrik), the latter being the less exotic line.

Stepan’s first piece for himself was the ‘Time Tramp’, a pocket watch made in an edition of 6 customised pieces.  The case was cut from the kickstart pinion of his old Harley-Davidson motorcycle, combining two of his passions and creating an enduring signature: the pinion shape is echoed in the case of nearly every Sarpaneva watch since that first, perhaps none more so than the Loiste:

The Loiste was followed by the Supernova, each sporting a modified ETA 2824-2 movement.  “Loiste” is Finnish for ‘shine’, and Supernova is English for an exploding sun. A solar theme had begun to develop, but was soon cut short by Stepan’s musings about another planetary body, the moon.  It was courtesy of a bright moonlit night (and perhaps a couple of glasses of truth serum) that Stepan paid particular attention to the pattern of the grates surrounding the trees planted on his street.  He traced it, created a watch dial in the same pattern, and the Korona was born. It was also the first of Stepan’s watches to feature the Soprod A10 automatic movement, which has gone on to be the base for nearly all of his watches since.

[A gratuitous picture of a lunar corona by Stefano de Rosa. Given the palm fronds in the foreground, you can bet it was not taken in Finland]

It was the Korona series, particular the Korona K3, that saw the addition of the moonphase design which has gone on to become another Sarpaneva signature touch.  

Describing how he settled on the design, Stepan says: “ I realised that by putting the moon under this dial it would allow you to actually ‘see’ the moon approaching its phases, through the branches of a night-time forest perhaps".

“Everyone here in Finland floats around with an aura of slight melancholy, with a bit of indecision as to whether he is happy or sad in nature. The expression of the moon on the Korona K3 just ‘is’ – the same as the people here”.

Just how pleased is Stepan with the design of his moon’s ‘face’?

(It’s also depicted below the saddle of his custom 1982 Harley FLT!).

Last year someone else became equally smitten with Stepan’s moon design; so much so that Max Busser collaborated with Stepan to incorporate ‘that’ face into a version of the MB&F HM3, the ‘Moonmachine’:

But back to our story…  

Speaking personally, it was a limited series in the Korona K3 configuration which first demanded attention: the K3 ‘Black Moon’. Its appeal was two-fold: first, it had a quirky moonphase set to show the phases of the new moon rather than the ‘normal’ moon. Second, it featured a suitably stealthy black dial. Of course, it was presented together with a ripping yarn about ‘Lilith’, the demon temptress, and who isn’t a sucker for a good yarn? 

A little while later Stepan released the Kaamos, a limited re-edition of the discontinued K2 (‘kaamos’ being the Finnish word for that period when the sun isn’t seen in Finland for weeks on end: it’s also the name of a Swedish death metal band, but surely Stepan wouldn’t listen to that kind of music – would he???).  The appeal of the Kaamos was its black DLC case – darker and darker these watches became!

Around this time Stepan took his signature moon to its ultimate expression in the Korona Moonshine: 

From a personal perspective it is just a bit too much of a good thing, losing the ‘sweet spot’ in the tension between form and function. That balance was rediscovered in the Korona KO, Stepan’s first dive watch, and a real beauty at that: 

Most importantly, Stepan had the inspiration to add the moonphase complication to his diver (probably one of the few), and did so by a clever trimming of the full size moon from the moonshine.  To cap it all off, he presented a version in an all-black case, the ‘Wuoksi’, complete with another ripping yarn about a blacksmith designing a watch (!) to help him save his daughters from the clutches of the Näkki, a lake-dwelling monster of the dark.

Good yarn? Tick. Diver’s watch? Tick. Independent watchmaker? Tick. Simple design? Tick. Stealthy case and dial? Tick.  Still, it was a Northern Hemisphere moon, and that was a bit of an issue to a collector in the Southern Hemisphere. ‘Why should that be?’, you may ask.  Well, only a small percentage of the population, and apparently an even smaller percentage of watchmakers, appreciates that on any given day the moon appears quite differently in the Northern Hemisphere to how it appears in the Southern Hemisphere.

A few watchmakers have tried to accommodate the Southern Hemisphere watch enthusiast, notably IWC and JLC.  Would Stepan? After a few emails back and forth, it became clear that a Southern Hemisphere moonphase diver’s watch would be possible; the placement of the crown stem, however, would render it a difficult exercise. It was originally intended that the watch would display phases of the new and old moon as they waxed and waned in the Southern hemisphere: more of that later. What would be possible, though, was a watch with a moonphase for both hemispheres: a very agreeable compromise! So began the construction of a ‘piece unique’ Sarpaneva KO Wuoksi.

Stepan could not possibly have been more accommodating. He would regularly send photo updates of progress: he kindly fitted different dials, different colour moonphases, different hand sets, all in different combinations, and then photographed them for decisions to be made in the comfort of an armchair on the other side of the globe. 

The modified Soprod movement beats at 28,800 VPH and has a power reserve of 42 hours. Here it is fitted with its signature rotor:

Trying out the ‘shutters’ which will eclipse the moons from different directions:

The moon ring prior to finishing:

Reaming out the moon ring:

A pared-down face fitted to the moon ring:

The double faces ready for trialling:

Time to get the colours right:

Choosing the right curtains for the new moon aperture:

Which dial? It was a no-brainer to be honest, but then it doesn’t hurt to be sure. Notice the great act of generosity on Stepan’s part: to permit the watch to be fully featured and yet uncluttered he suggested that his name-plate be removed from the dial:

Looking at different coloured hands:

Casing up the movement; the DLC case is 46mm diameter and 10.5mm high:

The final result? The Korona Wuoksi ‘Uniikki’:

This particular Wuoksi was fitted with a Hirsch rubber strap which is remarkably flexible and comfortable.  Two straps are provided and there was quite a range of colour and materials from which to select, including these few:

Being ever-wary of CITES issues, we agreed that the second strap would be frogskin. Here it is, fitted with an alternative buckle. Yes, the tang is bright steel: Stepan felt that it would be less abrasive on the rubber straps.  Hmmmmm.

The watch is delivered in a pleasingly functional box, a welcome change from the heavy, lacquered, over-the-top boxes which are becoming increasingly the norm:

Within the packaging Stepan also added some ‘merchandise’; a catalogue in the form of a newspaper and a set of drink coasters relating the tale of the Wuoksi:

From the kernel of an idea to delivery of a ‘Finnished’ watch took only six moons; apparently it would have been two moons less without the customisation required for the piece, and all of this whilst Stepan was preparing novelties for Basel. Indeed, it is an honour to see that Stepan has now incorporated the North/South moonphase in his catalogue, available in the standard Korona line:

Shall we go out with a couple of regulation wristshots?

Oh, what became of that cherubic little boy sitting on his mother’s hip?  Well, most of the time he can be found in his workshop or bouncing around the world showing his line.  When ‘Lilith’ comes out to play in the dark of the new moon, however, it’s a very different story…

If you have read this far, thank you for your patience and your interest.

Cheers,

pplater.

[As usual, photo credits are embedded in the URL for each picture. To view, right-click on the pictures.  All ‘in progress’ shots are courtesy of Stepan and used with his permission. Family shots are from his newspaper catalogue. Stepan's tattoo is by the legendary (and our own) Mo Coppoletta of 'The Family Business" in London and the photo of the newly finished 'ink' was taken by one of the brothers Gronefeld. The photo of the moon pendant is by 'aptronym' and used with permission. Francois Xavier took and posted the shot of the Loiste.]

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