After learning at Swiss workbenches, Stepan Sarpaneva came home to Helsinki to make his own watches, built around a moon with a face of slight melancholy.
How it began
Sarpaneva is the work of Stepan Sarpaneva. He came home to Helsinki determined to turn everything he had learned at the workbenches of Swiss watchmakers into his own creations. His mentors included the Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen and the Swiss masters Vianney Halter, Christophe Claret and Michel Parmigiani.
The earliest dated projects on the brand’s site go back to 2003. That year work began on the Moonbridge steel bracelet, and the first turbine design was drawn for the Sarpaneva Oiva.
The company behind the watches is Sarpaneva Watches Oy, registered in Finland, and the workshop is in Helsinki. The brand describes its watches as inspired by Finland’s unforgiving climate and a family lineage of creative people.
The Moonface
The moon is Stepan’s favourite complication. The brand says that two nights before a full moon, he is up all night.
His moon has a face, and it does not smile. According to Stepan, “everyone here in Finland floats around with an aura of slight melancholy,” so a traditional smiling moon seemed out of place.
Instead, the Moonface combines aristocratic melancholy with an almost indecisive emotion, somewhere between happiness and sadness. It has become his trademark. It appears on dials, on the crown and on the winding mass.
The case has its own signature. The Korona shape is cut from Finnish Outokumpu stainless steel, with the crown set at 4 o’clock.
The watches
The Korona K3 dates from 2008. The Supermoon, its tribute, is limited to 12 pieces and places a 12mm white gold moon beneath a skeleton dial. Stepan drew that dial from the ironwork of Helsinki’s pavements, so the moon seems to pass behind branches or clouds.
The Lunations is the first Sarpaneva with its own in-house calibre, the Moonment. The brand says it distils 30 years of Stepan’s professional watchmaking, and that its moon needs a one-day correction only once every 14,000 years.
Finnish folklore and the far North run through the limited editions. Näkki, 30 pieces with dial artwork by Ville Tietäväinen, tells of a marsh creature caught on a bridge of moonlight. The GPHG Academy nominated it in the Artistic Crafts category. Midnight Sun, 20 pieces, has a 24-hour hand for the endless summer light, and the Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas contributed to its design.
The house today
The Supernova, a name Stepan first gave a watch in 2006, has returned with a turbine-shaped case. In its latest prototypes, he is exploring stone dials for the first time.
The Stardust and Stardust Nostromo marked two decades since Stepan came home. One has a hand-flamed titanium base dial, and the other carries luminous paint applied by hand in the Helsinki workshop. The brand calls the pair a milestone for Finland’s independent watchmaker.
At a glance
- Founded: Not stated on the brand’s site; its earliest dated projects go back to 2003
- Founder: Stepan Sarpaneva, watchmaker
- Based in: Helsinki, Finland
- Known for: The melancholy Moonface; the Korona case; moon phases, including the in-house Lunations
- Independent: Yes, by its own account; the company is Sarpaneva Watches Oy
Sources: Sarpaneva’s own website, studiosarpaneva.com (home page, Contact, Terms and Conditions, and the Lunations, Supermoon, Moonbridge bracelet, Näkki, Midnight Sun, Supernova, Stardust and Stardust Nostromo pages).