Raymond Weil Unveils “The Fifty” with a Restored Valjoux Movement

Coming up for its 50^th anniversary, Raymond Weil marks the occasion with The Fifty, a handsome chronograph powered by a restored Valjoux 23-6 column-wheel chronograph from 1976, its year of birth. Donning a neo-vintage sector dial, inspired by the Millesime Small Seconds and the Millesime Chronograph, this accomplished limited edition is poised to captivate a new generation of neo-vintage fans.

Now in the hands of the third generation, Raymond Weil founded his eponymous watch brand in Geneva in 1976. Determined to offer quality timepieces at fair prices, the brand didn’t really attract the attention of connoisseurs until 2023, when it released its Millesime Small Seconds model, the first in line of what has become the brand’s best-selling collection. Standing out with its elegant 1930s-1940s neo-vintage sector dials, the Millesime is a well-designed contemporary creation powered by customised Sellita movements and priced affordably. No doubt buoyed by the success of its Millesime collection, Raymond Weil has upped the ante with The Fifty.

Respecting the historical proportions of vintage manual-wound chronographs, the stainless steel case has a compact 37mm diameter, a height of 10.75mm and features an 18k white gold bezel. Decorated with alternating brushed and polished finishes, the 50m water-resistant case has piston-style pushers, a large fluted crown and curved screwed lugs. Underscoring its vintage personality, the dial is protected by a glass-box sapphire crystal.

The silvery-grey sector dial is clearly inspired by the rest of the Raymond Weil Millesime family, with a series of tracks, scales and counters decorated with different finishes to provide precision readings, a fundamental aspect of a chronograph. Composed of four distinct parts, the dial’s architecture has depth, relief, and visual richness.

The flange with the tachymeter scale is snailed and has a black precision track. Stepping down a level is the wider chapter ring with a grained finish and bold black baton indices treated with green emission Super-LumiNova. Moving down another level, the central area is divided into quarters, each one with alternating horizontal or vertical gadroons. Intersecting the centre are two recessed and snailed sub-dials. Produced separately, the sub-dial at 9 o’clock is for the running seconds and the one at 3 o’clock for the 30-minute chronograph counter. The blued and polished hands of the sub-dials match the central chronograph seconds hand, while the obelisk-shaped hour and minute hands are treated with an inlay of Super-LumiNova.

The most exciting news is undoubtedly the Valjoux calibre 23-6 powering the watch, an evolution of the classic Valjoux 23. The movement inside The Fifty was produced in 1976, the same year as the brand’s foundation. Completely restored and hand-decorated, the vintage chronograph with classic architecture – column wheel and horizontal clutch – operates at 21,600 vibrations/hour, delivers a 40-hour power reserve and can be admired through the caseback. The bridges and balance cock are decorated with Côtes de Genève and treated in black ruthenium, contrasting vividly with the blued screws. The anglage is executed by hand, as are the sinks surrounding the screws, and you can clearly pick out the nine columns of the wheel.

This new and handsome Raymond Weil watch is delivered with a grey calfskin strap and prong buckle. A limited edition of 50 pieces, The Fifty retails for CHF 8,650. More information at raymond-weil.com.