Raymond Weil

Raymond Weil was founded in Geneva in 1976 by Raymond Weil, then aged 50, together with Simone Bédat, in the middle of the quartz crisis that was closing much of the Swiss industry. The company positioned itself between fashion watches and the established Geneva houses, selling thin gold-plated quartz and mechanical watches through an international retail network, and grew quickly in the 1980s. Music has provided the names of most collections: Parsifal, Tango, Toccata, Nabucco, Maestro and Freelancer refer to operas, dance or musical forms, and the company sponsors music events and releases limited editions with artists and labels.

Raymond Weil remains family-owned and independent. The founder's son-in-law Olivier Bernheim became president and chief executive in 1996; Raymond Weil retired in 2002 and died in 2014, the year his grandson Elie Bernheim took over as chief executive. In 2023 the Millesime Small Seconds won the Challenge prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.