Raymond Weil, owned and operated by the Bernheim family, is one of the very few remaining family-owned watch companies, alongside prestigious maisons like Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe. Up until very recently, it remained a member of another diminishing breed in the luxury watch industry ? a manufacturer that used solely outsourced movements to power its watches and did not produce at least one proprietary movement of its own. That changed in 2017, when Raymond Weil launched its Calibre RW1212, which made its commercial debut in the brand?s popular Freelancer model. What makes this movement notable" Let?s find out.

Calibre RW1212 derives its alphanumeric moniker from the postal code (1212) of Raymond Weil?s headquarters in the Geneva suburb of Grand-Lancy. While it is not produced entirely in-house per se, the caliber is the result of an 18-month collaboration between Raymond Weil’s R&D department and the designers at Sellita, the large Swiss movement manufacturer that provides movements for a slew of brands. This one, which is self-winding and holds a 38-hour power reserve, is exclusive to Raymond Weil, and distinguished by the dial-side positioning of its regulating organ, whose balance-and-spring construction is positioned above the mainplate and held by two bridges. Peeking out from a large aperture at 6 o?clock on the watch?s partially openworked dial, the balance, beating at 28,800 vph, resembles a tourbillon at first glance. All the elements rela...