Vetehinen

Video

 

S.U.F’s first diving watch, Vetehinen, brings both Finland’s mythological water spirit and a legendary WWII submarine back to life.

 

To be the captain of a submarine patrolling freezing Finnish waters during World War II takes certain guts. But to be a captain who’s willing to conserve his torpedoes and instead order a steep, fast dive to ram his underwater adversary takes something else. Which is precisely what happened one night in 1942, on board Finland’s formidable “Vetehinen” vessel.

 

This is just another tale of hard-bitten, but enterprising “sisu” to which S.U.F’s latest creation pays tribute. Water-resistant to 300 metres, the Vetehinen watch is a tiny submarine for your wrist, crafted with high-grade Supra 316L/4435 stainless steel from Finland’s world-renowned steel giant, Outokumpu – forged in Helsinki, impregnated with anti-corrosive nickel mined from the Finnish ground.

 

Even the chrome is mined in Finland, outside the remote coastal town of Kemi. Which also happens to be the birthplace of world-renowned independent watchmakers, Kari Voutilainen mentor to S.U.F’s very own Stepan Sarpaneva during his early years, and manufacturer of Vetehinen’s enigmatically coloured dials.

 

The S.U.F Vetehinen doesn’t just get its name from the 500-tonne WWII submarine. The vessels, both horological and naval, get their names from Finnish mythology’s legendary “Näkki”, or water spirit. Sometimes portrayed as a magical, bearded man with the tail of a fish, the Vetehinen appears on Midsummer’s Night to cure illnesses, lift curses and brew potions. But also cause unintended harm by becoming too curious about human.

 

The diving watch embodies the whole, mercurial spectrum of “Finnishness”, while evolving S.U.F itself more dramatically than ever: new harpoon, or “devil-tail” hands, the easy-to-grip crenellated rotating bezel, even a new movement Eterna’s versatile new Calibre 39. Swiss mechanics, yes, but also relating back to S.U.F heartland, as Eterna was the first to recruit Finnish watchmakers, back in the sixties.

 

Each of the four colourways blue, copper, grey and silver are limited to 26 pieces. The NATO strap that comes with Vetehinen is made from the Finnish burbot and reindeer leather, in the spirit of Finland's 100th anniversary.