One of the few remaining family-owned independent watchmaking brands, Raymond Weil, has presented a new piece dedicated to its founder. The novel piece is supplied with the founder’s complication of choice and has its precision guaranteed with the COSC chronometer certification. Maestro Tribute to Raymond Weil, as the watch is named, has a refined overall styling and includes alternating guilloche patterns on its face. It is an automatic chronograph set in a round pink gold housing and launched in a limited edition of 100 pieces.
Raymond Veil Maestro Tribute to Raymond Weil Watch
Nowadays, most of the renowned watchmakers are owned by one of luxury power-houses, such as Richemont, Swatch Group or LVMH. These groups have gradually taken over most of the famous brands that were once privately owned. Naturally, there are still quite a few exceptions to the rule. One of these is Raymond Weil which is owned by the family of the brand’s founder. Even though, it has to be said that the company’s products have never been the very cream of the crop of watchmaking industry. Nor does the company have an especially long-lasting tradition since it was established in 1976. Currently, the brand is headed by Elie Berheim who took the helm this spring and who is a grandson of the man who originally established the company. In order to commemorate his grandfather, Bernheim decided to launch a special tribute piece which is supplied with the complication that his descendent liked the most. This is why the novel piece is an automatic chronograph.
Raymond Veil Maestro Tribute to Mr. Raymond Weil Limited Edition is a refined and sophisticated looking piece. However, there is nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking about it. It runs on a thin self-winding caliber with 61 jewels whose thickness measures to 6.9 mm. The manufacturer is quite stingy when it comes to information about the caliber and only other thing that is unveiled is that it has a power reserve of 42 hours. Based on its previous models, it is fair to say that it is a modified ETA caliber. Apart from the chronograph feature with three counters, its only other complication is a date display.
Raymond Veil Maestro Tribute to Raymond Weil Watch Back
The newcomer with the reference number 14845 GC5 65001 bases most of its appeal on its looks. It features a round casing with polished finish. The case made of pink gold is 45 mm wide and 11.85 mm thick. Such a substantial case in a noble material will undoubtedly raise the price of the timekeeper. It features sapphire crystals on both sides and features water resistance of 50 meters. Moreover, the watch has a lovely looking silver-colored dial with a sunburst guilloche pattern in the middle which is surrounded with a circular grained motif. It also displays the hand-performed signature of the brand’s owner, as well as three sub-counters encircled with red gold colored borders.
The same color is used for its hour and minute hands, applied hour markers and the small seconds pointer. On the contrary, the central chrono hand and two other chrono pointers inside the sub-counters are blue. The very end of the dial which has a raised chapter ring is encircled with a tachymetric scale.
Raymond Veil Maestro Tribute to Raymond Weil Watch Dial
More of the distinguished decorations of the watch from the Maestro collection can be seen on the watch’s movement through the transparent case-back. It sports the Geneva striping, a hobnail pattern, as well as a golden open-worked rotor with the brand’s monogram. Finally, the attachment of the timepiece is a brown Louisiana alligator strap which locks with a deployment buckle made in the same material as the case. The novel tribute watch is launched in a restricted series of 100 pieces, while its exact price is still unspecified.
