Raymond Weil Freelancer Expands with New Complication and New Case

Family-owned, Geneva-based Raymond Weil has been riding a wave of renewed enthusiast interest lately, thanks largely to the success, and critical acclaim, of its GPHG-winning Millesime collection. Perhaps, the brand and its third-generation owner and CEO Elie Bernheim reasons, now is the perfect time to re-acquaint the watch community with its flagship Freelancer series — the first collection Bernheim designed upon joining the brand, with its original models debuting way back in 2007. This year at Watches & Wonders, Raymond Weil led off its new offerings with the first complete calendar in the Freelancer collection and a limited edition featuring the brand’s skeletonized Caliber RW1212 in an all-new case shape for the family.

The Freelancer Complete Calendar is offered in a rose-gold PVD-coated steel case on a leather strap and a stainless steel case on a five-link steel bracelet. The former model (Ref. 2766-PC5-64001) has a sandblasted sandy-white dial that Raymond Weil calls “dune,” while the latter (Ref. 2766-ST-50001) complements its gleaming steel chassis with a sun-brushed blue dial. The cases measure 40mm in diameter, downsized from the 42mm dimensions of the original Freelancer, with curved lugs and polished and brushed finishes designed to catch light from all angles. A relief-engraved RW monogram adorns the fluted crown, which joins a pair of integrated correctors to adjust the calendar displays. 

Those displays are arranged harmoniously on the symmetrically oriented dial: the day and month appear in windows just below the Raymond Weil logo at 12 o’clock, while the date is indicated by a small hand on a numbered scale around the 6 o’clock subdial. Inside that subdial is an aperture for the moon-phase, with a moon disk and star field inspired by an actual NASA image. On the rose-gold-PVD model, the hands and indexes are gold-plated; on the steel model, they’re nickel-plated.

Behind a sapphire window in the press-fit caseback beats the mechanical, self-winding movement, Caliber RW 3281, which is built on a Sellita SW-300-1 base and includes a module for the calendar functions; it packs a power reserve of 56 hours. Both the brown calfskin leather strap on the rose-gold-PVD watch and the metal bracelet on the steel model fasten to the wrist with an “RW”-shaped, double-push-button folding clasp. The price (in Swiss francs) on both models is CHF 3,450, or about $4,020 in the U.S.

The other new Freelancer model houses Raymond Weil’s proprietary RW1212 skeletonized caliber, which was developed in collaboration with Sellita and made its debut in 2017. The movement, which has previously been installed only in the traditionally round, 42mm Freelancer case, is notable for its openworked traversing bridge and the exposed, large balance wheel placed unconventionally at 6 o’clock on the dial side of the movement. This new timepiece (Ref. 2795-BKC-20000) introduces a new cushion-shaped case in black PVD-coated stainless steel, measuring 40mm x 40mm wide and 10.5mm thick. The openworked dial continues the “stealth” aesthetic, with its black galvanic treatment and black nickel-plated hands, coated with white Super-Luminova for nighttime legibility.

Water-resistant to 100 meters despite its square shape, thanks in part to a screw-down crown, the case attaches to a matching black calfskin leather strap. A double-push-button safety clasp, in the same black PVD-coated steel as the case, secures the watch to the wrist. The Freelancer Skeleton Cushion is a limited edition of 500 pieces, priced at CHF 3,450 (approximately $4,020). While it’s too early at this point to speculate whether the cushion case shape will start making its way into more mainstream versions of the Freelancer, its introduction makes clear that Bernheim has no intention of letting the series rest on its laurels as it approaches the end of its second decade on the market.