Independent Watchmaker Kari Voutilainen takes the Helm of Urban Jürgensen

Urban Jürgensen has announced that a team of investors, headed by watchmaker Kari Voutilainen, has acquired the historic Danish brand founded in 1773. Effective immediately, CEO Voutilainen will lead the brand while his daughter, Venla Voutilainen, will be in charge of after-sales service.

Just shy of its 250^th anniversary, Urban Jürgensen was a family-run business until the last member of the Jürgensen watchmaker dynasty died in 1912. Rescued by Peter Baumberger in 1979 with Derek Pratt as technical director, following Baumberger’s death Urban Jürgensen was acquired by close friend and industry veteran Dr Helmut Crott in 2011. In 2015, a Danish private investment group led by Soren Jenry Petersen bought the brand. A former executive manager of Nokia, Petersen described the brand as a “sleeping beauty” and relocated the headquarters to a historic villa in the centre of Bienne.

Finnish master watchmaker Kari Voutilainen collaborated in the development of the first detent escapement (P8) made for a wristwatch at Urban Jürgensen, an exciting initiative spearheaded by Peter Baumberger and completed by Crott in 2011.

According to the official announcement, Voutilainen “brings a deep passion and knowledge back to the company, along with all of the things he’s learned as a leader in contemporary independent watchmaking”.

Urban Jürgensen will be celebrating its 250^th anniversary in 2023, a tight schedule for the new CEO and his team to produce new collections and reveal the full potential of this Haute Horlogerie brand.