Raymond Weil’s 2018 launch, Freelancer Calibre RW1212 Skeleton, has seemingly catapulted the brand into the big league. The Swiss house of horology debuts at WatchTime New York 2018, on October 26 and 27, with this timepiece, said to be one of the most complex and expensive of all its watches.

This is the first time for the Swiss watchmaker at America’s annual luxury watch show. And Freelancer Calibre RW1212 Skeleton could well be a game changer for the maison, helping the premium watch brand to break into the tightly knit uber-luxury club.

The fact that a storied event such as WatchTime has invited Raymond Weil to participate this year with a brand new iteration speaks reams about the watchmaker’s innovation on both, sophisticated movement and skeleton watch fronts.

With Olivier Bernheim at the helm as president (Raymond’s son-in-law), and Elie Bernheim (his grandson) as CEO, the brand has innovated with its first in-house movement: the Calibre RW1212. It is an automatic movement that evolved from the company’s long-term collaboration with movement manufacturer Sellita.

Olivier Bernheim

The inner workings of the new movement have been installed in their striking new wristwatch, The Freelancer Skeleton, named for the founder’s desire to remain independent rather than sell out to a luxury group.

Unlike other Swiss watch brands such as Omega or Breitling, Raymond Weil continues to be a family-owned maison. The Swiss watchmaker traces its history back to 1976 and has largely concentrated on finely crafted timepieces at accessible prices. The independent house of horology has often innovated to stay ahead of the game and produced quality timepieces in a larger volume. Weil, a patron of arts, believes that his inspirations come from the worlds of music and art.

Freelancer Calibre RW1212 Skeleton

While the Freelancer range was launched last year, it was rather simple in design and mechanics. It is the 2018 Freelancer Calibre RW1212, designed to flaunt the maison’s new movement, that ensures one of the top spots in the best of the 2018 lists for it.

Raymond Weil Freelancer

First, the aesthetic and the movement. The Calibre RW1212 is far more elegant than its earlier Calibre 1212 movement. The Raymond Weil engraving on the oscillating weight, which has been skeletonised, looks striking. The Freelancer CalibreRW1212 movement beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour and boasts a 38-hour power reserve.

Named for the postal code (1212) of the watchmaker’s headquarters in Geneva suburb, the Swiss horologist will unveil three timepieces containing the next evolution of the movement, but with skeletonised plates, bridges, a wide open-worked dial and a 44-mm round case.

The collaboration with Sellita has resulted in the creation of the watch’s two-arm dial that displays the beautiful mechanics and interiors of the watch. The balance wheel sits at the 6 o’clock position and resembles a tourbillon.

The ‘skeleton’ movement parts offer an unobstructed view of the telltale front-mounted balance as well as the rest of mechanism. Two-barrel shaped hands indicate the time on an hours-and-minutes ring, beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph, and carries a power reserve of 38 hours. The oscillating weight has also been skeletonised on the rear side of the movement and is visible through a sapphire caseback. The Freelance RW1212 is water-resistant to 100metres.

Taking us through the process of crafting the timepiece, Bernheim says, “The open-worked dial exposes the manufacturing beauty and highlights the richness of its watchmaking expertise, whilst infusing it with its distinctive free-spirited attitude. While working on the initial design of the Calibre RW1212, the team redesigned and pared down all the elements closely related to the exquisite mechanism, so as to endow this in-house movement with even more depth and character. Framed by a 42mm steel case, the movement’s assembly and open-worked details are key to the final horological aesthetic of this timepiece. The distinctive characteristic remains the 6 o’clock front dial positioning of its visible balance wheel. The Freelancer Calibre RW1212 Skeleton is a two-hand model providing an understated display of the hours and minutes.”

The watch is available in three colours: an elegant rose gold and stainless two-toned case with brown leather; a modern stainless steel case with bracelet and blue indexes and hands; and the black PVD plated version, with matching black leather, an ultra-modern iteration that will be at the centre of their display at WatchTime New York. It will be available in India almost around the same time and is priced at $4,150 in the global market.

Ariel Adams, who founded aBlogtoWatch, an influential American blog on luxury watches and has tracked every single watch trend and timepiece since 2007, calls Freelancer Calibre RS1212 Skeleton watch an “enthusiast-oriented” timepiece or a collector’s watch. “Raymond Weil has launched a completely mainstream package in terms of dial and price. I think for a lot of watch lovers, Raymond Weil has nailed it with this one. The brand has used the skeletonised framework beautifully to create a watch that has great dial balance and symmetry, represents luxury, and is a tribute to the brand’s love for craftsmanship,” says Adams.

Raymond Weil Freelancers Skeleton

As a category, the uncommon openworked or skeletonised watches have gained immense popularity over the past few years. A more rudimentary version of skeleton watches was first made in France, back in the 18th century by André-Charles Caron, who realised he could grab a customers’ attention faster by revealing more of the mechanism. The watchmaker stripped the watch’s dial to bare minimum essentials, revealing as much of its complex interiors as possible and exposing its inner workings.

The clients at the time were Parisian courtiers. Skeleton watches were revived in the 1960s by Swiss watchmakers. Vacheron Constatin’s historical archives reveal that the watchmaker’s first skeleton was created in 1964. Since then, the mechanics have got more and more complex and the openworked framework far more striking.

Deepali Nandwani is a journalist who keeps a close watch on the world of luxury.

First Published:Oct 12, 2018 7:00 AM IST