Independents To Watch: A Week on The Wrist With Torsti Laine
Torsti Laine is a one man show who is creating incredible works of art at a seemingly impossible price.
Torsti Laine is not your typical watchmaker. He does not come from a family of watchmakers, nor is he from any of the great watchmaking countries. Watchmaking was not even his first profession. Laine, whose background is in computer science, became frustrated with the constant “updates” in his world, one day decided to take on a study, a craft, a trade, that has largely remained unchanged for the last 200 years.
How it all started
I knew I wanted to write a “wrist check” article but instead of choosing something well known I wanted to showcase a possibly overlooked timepiece. After pulling out a Ming, a Moritz Grossman and a Laine from our vault, I returned to my desk and scanned the dials, looked up the movements, and did a cursory dive into each. Within 30 minutes of rough middle school-level research, I knew which watch I wanted to take home on a journey with me.
It was the Laine. The G3 with its “iced” guilloche dial and stunningly decorated Unitas-based movement captivated my attention for an unknown reason. Well, it wasn’t unknown, with one look at the movement finishing you can’t help but be enamored and perplexed all at the same time.
The watch in question, the G3 or Gelidus 3 was launched in 2021. Gelidus is Latin for icy or chilly. It features a base Unitas 6498 movement with 50 hours of power reserve, 40.5mm diameter, with custom-made bridges and a guilloche dial and beautifully decorated movement.
As Tim Mosso said in a “Watches Tonight” episode, Torsti Laine is a “laconic” man and rarely does interviews. I quickly hit Google to find out more and could only find two interviews, one with Revolution and another on Quill and Pad. Surely more people have spoken to Torsti Laine to find out what makes him tick, right?
A week on the wrist
It was the ticking that first got my attention. It echoed in the silence with its slow, laborious heartbeat. The manually wound LA18.1 movement beating at 18,000 bph mimicked the tapping of my fingers across the keys as I recorded the emotional connection to the timepiece.
The blued steel sword hands and indices turn from black to blue to silver with the outer ring of the dial becoming almost an opal color depending on the light in the room. The light played tricks off the face of the watch as it subtly slipped in and out of my shirt cuff in the dimly lit coffee shop I was using as my office for the day. The dial design is complex – there is a sunken inner dial engraved with guilloche, as well as a second sunken subdial for the small second, engraved with a different guilloche pattern. The outer chapter ring has a frosted, grained finish with contrasting raised Breguet-style numerals.
As someone who has had the privilege of handling some of the most exquisite watches in the world, I feel compelled to say that wearing this watch felt different. I wore it while traveling, walking my dog, cooking dinner, and going out. Through each of my daily tasks, the watch slowly felt like it became part of my person. It was as if an extension of myself grew, and I felt more connected to the world around me.
And when I turned the watch over the movement finishing made words feel inadequate. The base caliber Unitas has been completely transformed – the mainplate is elaborately decorated, with mirror polished bevels, and an elaborate floral motive engraving. The ratchet wheel and crown wheel are finished with snailing, and the balance cock has been extensively reworked and black polished, as has the cock for the escape wheel. Jewels and screws are set in deep, mirror polished countersinks and the first impression I had was of a watch that should cost tens of thousands of dollars, not the under-$10,000 price that Laine is asking.
The story continues
Over the course of the week, what came to light was that my intrigue was less about the watch, which was incredible in its own right, but more about the man behind it. I wanted to know how he was able to create a beautifully finished, beautifully designed watch – and, just as importantly, how he was able to do it at such a reasonable price. The longer I looked at the Gelidus 3, the more incredible it seemed that Laine could offer such fantastic finishing, and such complex dials and hands, at such an approachable cost. And I wanted to know more about Laine himself.
This is what I find beautiful about the growth of independent watchmakers. When you buy an IWC, you are buying the company. When you buy an AP, you are buying an AP. No one generally cares about the watchmaker behind an IWC or AP. But when you buy a Voutilainen, a Dufour, a De Bethune, an F.P. Journe, an R.W. Smith, you are buying the artisan, the artist, the watchmaker. You are investing in the person who actually created your watch. So when I came across Laine, I felt compelled to know more about the man.
I sent a quick WhatsApp message to Torsti Laine. Within a few hours, I received a response and an invite to jump on a call with the watchmaker the following week.
The Interview. The man. The workshop
It was a brisk Monday morning when I hit the call button and heard Laine (pronounced Line-ah) on the other side. His excitement came through the phone when I explained I wore his watch for a week and was enamored by it. As I started running through my prepared questions, he interrupted and said, “I would love to give you a tour of our new workshop when we are done.”
Of course I agreed immediately.
But before we got to the workshop, I asked him to start where all stories should start unless you are Quentin Tarantino, at the beginning.
He said that this career, his company, all started with a serendipitous conversation with a friend when he was looking to buy his first watch. What started as a curiosity, slowly grew into an obsession. And after religiously pursuing the online watch blogs and magazines, Laine knew simply purchasing a watch would not scratch the itch he developed.
“At first, [when I started researching watches] I knew absolutely nothing about Voutilainen and Sarpaneva. [I realized] these guys are quite successful and they are making beautiful stuff.” Laine said. And essentially, on a whim he applied to the famed Kelloseppäkoulu watchmaking school. This is the very same school where Kari Voutilainen received his education.
Describing the application process for the school and his time there Laine recalled, “The school was 15 minutes from where I live. They have applications to get in and two day-long tests to get in. The tests were almost like games, we used tweezers to collect very small parts — there were long psychological tests. I thought even the tests would be so much fun. It’s harder to get into Finnish watchmaking schools than Switzerland.”
Out of 200 applicants, he was one of roughly 30 students who were accepted.
“I started to study without any major expectations or plans. I just wanted to do something mechanical and with my hands. With computers, all the work is inside your head. No physical product. Nothing lasting. [But now] I could study a subject that [essentially had] absolutely nothing new invented in 200 years.”
It is in this confluence of thought and style where Laine truly separates himself from contemporaries and allows his watches, with their extreme technical expertise and ornate decoration, to shine.
“My selling point is not that I do traditional work by hand. It’s too slow and boring. [My] designs are done with a computer. Working with CNC. I like lasers and new technologies. How can I combine the latest lasers with a 100-year-old guilloche machine? I don’t [always] know but there must be a way. 1 out of 100 [watches] may actually be great. I love mixing modern and old techniques.”
Despite there being a massive trend of classic design, time-only, guilloche watches, Laine’s dials and movements designs have a very clear inspiration.
“Design-wise — it’s been quite classic stuff recently (referring to the classic 40’s chronometer design of his current lineup). Voutilainen obviously had an impact on me design-wise. Sometimes old books, 200-year-old watches can be as much a source for ideas as other watchmakers.”
It surprised me that as much detail clearly goes into design, colors and decoration that his watches but Laine truly embodies the idea that form and function are inextricably tied.
“I am more of a technical mindset. In Finnish watchmaking school, there is a watchmaker [line] and micromechanic line. In Switzerland, they are very separated, and in Finland, they are quite close. Watchmaking is a nice field to be in because there is a need in independent watchmaking where you don’t need to just make high-quality parts but also beautiful parts. You have to combine both skill sets and elements. Not just technical but also aesthetics must always be taken into account.”
What can’t be overlooked is that despite his finishing being absolutely stunning, his watches come in at a price point almost unheard of for the category of watches Laine occupies. I cannot think of another independent watchmaking outfit that is producing this type of individualized products with modified and decorated versions of the 6498 and 5401, at such an approachable price.
Laine explained that there are two major factors that allow him to price his watches between $10 and $20K, an incredible value proposition. First is that he keeps everything in house, and second each process from conception to creation is carefully mapped out for no wasted movement.
“We don’t buy any services. It’s faster than and more cost-efficient for us to do everything. The process is [also] very important for me. It has been thought out. It is much easier to make one extremely beautiful $100K movement than to make one thousand $100 movements. You need to have a deep understanding of the process and what is most logical. I don’t make anything before I can make it with a good flow and process. Often I have to say no to customers if they have ideas that don’t match what I do. We cannot change the bridge shape, but I can change the decoration because the process is prepared for that.”
One of the areas that separates Laine from many peers is his bespoke ordering process that allows customers to customize their watches based on a predetermined list of options from a myriad of colors and guilloche patterns.
With all the customization that Laine does for his customers is a bit of a double-edged sword.
“There are good and bad sides to customization. Currently, I have way too many dials on the list. It’s chaos when you try to organize the process [for all the options I provide]. It is complicated and it is slow. There are benefits because there aren’t too many makers that offer this service and customers want something different and special. It gives me so many different types of watches for Instagram [as well]. If I only have only 1 nice model it gets boring. It challenges yourself because there is always something new coming.”
Currently Laine produces between 80-90 watches a year, but this output may change as Laine is constantly looking to the future and embracing new challenges.
“Ten months ago we moved to a bigger location that will allow us to potentially produce more. The biggest thing I am working on is an in-house movement. It is possible production numbers will go down [when it comes out]. Next winter should have it [ready]. I will probably start posting some progress videos on Instagram soon.”
I started to wrap up the interview, thanking Laine for his time when suddenly the camera turned on my screen and there he was. The watch nerd in me, the kid who fell in love with this hobby of mine over a decade ago was now video-chatting with one of the best young independent watchmakers in the world. And there aren’t many. In the horological space this man occupies you can’t count on one hand his contemporaries.
His workshop had every watchmaking station needed to make a watch from beginning to end. From his own photography/video station (which he is teaching himself) to the guilloche room to the dial making and galvanizing room, it was all in one place. He showed me his new CNC machines with a smile stating “if they are good enough for Voutilainen they’re good enough for me.” The highlight, however, was his straight-line guilloche machine from 1914 that he recently acquired from California.
I was once told that you know someone who truly reads and not just a casual purveyor when you can see the spines on their books are broken. The same can be said about the tidiness of a watchmaker’s shop. I would be hard-pressed to describe it as orderly, which to me is a good thing. It was the home to creation, to expression, to art taking shape in watchmaking. Outside of the clean room, of course, there was not a surface untouched, everywhere there were tools, lights, books, scraps of paper, all products of one man’s brain and obsession to create beautiful little machines.
Putting it all together
What Laine is doing is remarkable as is his system of working via direct, in person contact with his clients. This is one of the most interesting differences between working with an independent watchmaker and working with a brand. The entire thing feels akin to when Myspace music first came out and people had a true platform to post their music and get discovered, interact with fans directly, and give a more personalized and different view into their music making, their world, and their lifestyle. That moment ushered in a new wave of musicians and artists. Adele, Kid Cudi, Calvin Harris, Avicii, Arctic Monkeys, Sean Kingston all were discovered that way.
Laine is paving a new path for independent watchmakers everywhere. He honors the art of traditional watchmaking but wants to push it forward by exploring modern technical solutions.
There may be those who feel this approach undermines classic hand-finishing. But the way Laine goes about it is not a slap in the face to tradition – instead, I think it’s a window into a new world of possibilities where a bespoke product can be produced that is both sound mechanically and interesting artistically.
Torsti Laine is a man who you can root for. Sure, his name across a dial may not bring the attention of the bigger watch houses, or more widely recognized independents (yet), but the notoriety that some timepieces can represent is not why I love the horological world or the ever-changing challenges of collecting watches. It is about the artists, the innovation, the stories they tell through their creations. In today’s world where some argue innovation and originality are dead, Laine stands out as a true purveyor of horological art and I am beyond excited to see what this watchmaker has in store for us in the future.
For more info visit Laine Watches