Introducing: The Fifty From Raymond Weil Celebrates The Brand’s Semicentennial By Offering A Piece Of The Past

What We Know

Back in 2023, Raymond Weil found itself with a hit that was the Millesime series, making a prominent statement when the Millesime Small Seconds won the GPHG award in the Challenge category. It was certainly deserving, as the design felt completely different from any Raymond Weil you might have imagined, offering a classy, well-executed modern take on the classic sector-dial dress watch. Since its original small-seconds and central-seconds time-only models, the Millesime has fully fleshed out into a surprisingly large collection, with additional sizes and complications such as moonphases and chronographs.

This year marks Raymond Weil’s 50th anniversary, all while remaining a family-owned company, a milestone year that all brands try to capitalize on to the fullest extent. For this celebration, the brand has decided to use the Millesime for a horologically nerdy project—a limited-edition series of 50 chronographs called The Fifty. It is, from a high level, a Millesime Chronograph on steroids. Set in a 37mm steel case with a white gold bezel and a thickness of 10.75mm, it’s apparent that the sizing is targeted for watch enthusiasts; hard to complain about these dimensions for a mechanical chronograph. 

The front of the watch takes the form of a sector dial filled with a flurry of visual details. The matte white dial shows off pronounced depth thanks to its multi-piece construction, from the beveled rehaut to a grained ring surrounding the black Super-LumiNova hour markers to a groove-stamped center dial, and finally to two sunken subdials at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock. Touches of color lie in the blue chronograph seconds and subdial hands.

What’s most interesting is the caliber within. Rather than a Sellita-based architecture, these fifty pieces utilize original Valjoux Caliber 23-6 chronograph movements from 1976, deliberately coinciding with Raymond Weil’s founding year. The hand-wound chronograph movement with a column wheel and lateral clutch beats away at 21,600 VpH and has a power reserve of 48 hours. Raymond Weil is restoring and hand-decorating each caliber to impart a unique twist—the balance cock and one of the chronograph bridges are treated in black ruthenium. Anglage is done by hand on the bridges and the screw sinks, though the lines of the bridges are quite curved with no sharp angles, if you’re the type to try to count interior angles on any movement.

The Raymond Weil Millesime “The Fifty” is limited to 50 pieces and priced at CHF 8,650.

What We Think

All in all, this is a very interesting project from Raymond Weil. With the design language of the Millesime offering a compelling interpretation of vintage sector dial watches, it does make quite some sense to pair this styling with an actual vintage caliber, a supremely iconic one at that. Now, the resurrection of such a caliber isn’t necessarily new—Nivada Grenchen comes to mind as a brand that’s been producing small runs of chronographs at higher price points with new-old-stock Valjoux calibers like this 23-6, while Singer offers restored Valjoux 23-6 calibers in a higher-end product.

But Raymond Weil’s entry here certainly feels right for the brand, as its offering stands out as a dressier chronograph, and the tie-in of the year of founding is a nice touch. The pricing, though, is literally double that of Nivada’s past Valjoux 236 offerings (that gold bezel is for sure a big part of the reason). Almost eleven thousand dollars is very ambitious, but a modern watch with a vintage caliber is still quite a rare proposition nowadays. With only 50 pieces, there might just be enough buyers willing to take the plunge.

The Basics

Brand: Raymond Weil
Model: The Fifty
Reference Number: 1976-STC-65001

Diameter: 37mm
Thickness: 10.75mm
Case Material: Stainless steel with white gold bezel
Dial Color: White
Indexes: Printed
Lume: Super-LumiNova
Water Resistance: 50 meters (CHECK)
Strap/Bracelet: Anthracite leather strap

The Movement

Caliber: Valjoux 23-6
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph
Power Reserve: 40 hours
Winding: Manual
Frequency: 21,600 VpH
Jewels: 17
Chronometer Certified: No
Additional Details: Movements dated to 1976

Pricing & Availability

Price: CHF 8,650
Availability: Now
Limited Edition: Yes, 50 pieces.

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