Ilmari

The name Ilmari- connects directly to Andreas Prepula’s family history.

Ilmari Prepula was born in 1906 in Lapua and spent his childhood in Ostrobothnia.
As a young man, Ilmari toured Finland on various construction sites, working as a blacksmith and riveter.

Construction sites were often taken far from home and often lasted for months, if not years at a time. Life was hard than today, earnings were made by doing hard labor.

The joy of life pulsed with Ilmari in the form of telling constantly many funny stories. Ilmari also was known as a very tough pipe tobacco smoker, like many workers at the time, he could even get him in the middle of the night to burn a pipe or a couple.

Finland was involved in the Winter War of 1939, and Ilmari’s part was to fight in the harsh frozen forests in the northern Salla cavalry troops.
The war ended in March 1940. Ilmari returned home, it was time for a truce.
Ilmari found his future wife Aili Marja Erkkilä from Kokkola and they were married in the spring of 1941.

In many ways, 1941 was a time of turmoil in Finland. Aili and Ilmari, who got married in the spring of 1941, had their first children that summer, Seppo Ilmari Prepula. Unfortunately, Seppo’s twin sister died in childbirth.
Three weeks later, the new father had to go back to the frontline again when the Finnish Continuation War began.

The path of war progressed towards the east, the Finns took back the areas lost in the Winter War. Deeply patriotic Ilmari Prepula fell two months later on the Karelian Isthmus in Sotjärvi in ​​fierce battles against Soviet forces.
Young Aili became a widow, and she settled in Kokkola with her son Seppo Ilmari.

The time of the upheaval in 1941, it lasted only for just a few weeks.
Above all, this watch honors the memory of Ilmari Prepula, Andreas’ grandfather.

The symbolism of the Ilmari 39 watch tells the story of the war path of Ilmari Prepula, the grandfather of the watch designer, Andreas Prepula, which began in late 1939. The Winter War broke out in Finland on November 30, 1939, when the Soviet Red Army invaded Finland. Part of the young Ilmari Prepula was to travel far from his homeland to northern Finland.

The bezel of this watch is exceptionally made of glass. Glass as a material depicts the situation of Finns in hard places in battles in the 40-degree frost wilderness. In Lapland, the Red Army on the Salla-Petsamo front had 72,000 soldiers in attack equipment. The Finns had 15,000 soldiers fighting with insufficient equipment in their defense. Most of the Finns were residents of local areas who knew the wilderness well. Skillful use of terrain compensated for the crying shortage of equipment and also compensated for the enemy’s crushing quantitative superiority. At the start of the war, Rovaniemi had 2,000 Finnish soldiers completely unarmed. The enemy was able to penetrate the ground in the Pelkosenniemi terrain in a short time, about 180 km, further than anywhere. The reason was, for example, that the Finns did not have anti-tank weapons in the north at the beginning of the war. The Finns also completely lacked anti-aircraft weapons and air force equipment. The war was fought with an ever-increasing amount of snow in the desert, which hampered the operation of the enemy’s motorized forces. The Ilmari watch face is blue, and the face depicts cold conditions in Finnish Lapland at the time. As a result of the 105-day winter war, Finland was not finally cut in two at Tornio, as planned by the Russians. However, the fight against the victory was not obtained free of charge, the Finns lost e.g. 30% of his fighting strength in the direction of Salla. There has been little talk of the battles in the direction of Salla since the wars. Their significance for the birth of the miracle of the Winter War is obvious.

We offer an automatic watch called Ilmari39, designed by Andreas Prepula. The watch has a K1 hardened crystal, a Miyota 8215 automatic movement, and a stainless steel body.
Crown with turntable, and water tightness at 100 meters. The watch has a 3-year limited warranty.
The Ilmari watch comes with rubber strap.