The watchmaker has recently updated its Jasmine collection with several new models. Powered by quartz and mechanical movements, they all look great and desirable. But it was the new Raymond Weil Jasmine in Rose Gold PVD (Ref. 2935 PCS 00659) that grabbed our attention.
Although different sorts of gold-plating are not particularly popular among people that can afford to buy the real thing, the technology still offers those worse off an affordable way of making a good impression at a wedding or at some important corporate event.
Being in fact a hard PVD ceramic coating, the “rose gold” layer on the steel case, bezel, and other parts is extremely resistant to wear and will probably last for years if you won’t ruin the watch with an extremely nasty scratch or dent that will reveal the other metal below the hard titanium nitride skin.
To make the watch look even more impressive, Raymond Weil has equipped the timepiece with 29 diamonds neatly set on its round bezel, as well as a blue sapphire cabochon that adores its notched setting crown.
The diamonds stay in perfect harmony with the shiny silver dial that features nice-looking snailed central decor and is decorated with bold-looking black transferred Roman numerals.
If the design of the dial looks somewhat familiar to you, there is nothing wrong with it: the new watch indeed does resemble the recent timekeepers from Cartier that, too, emphasized the round date window at 3 o’clock with a curved minute track that is printed on the minute track of the dial.
The leaf-shaped and blued hour and minute hands are perfectly visible on such a brilliant background, so I can’t foresee any troubles with the legibility.
Like many other Raymond Weil watches, the 2935 PCS 00659 sports a Sellita-base caliber. In this particular case it is an RW4200 job, which is in fact a modified Sellita SW 200 self-winding ebauche.
Being a well-executed clone of the well-known ETA 2824 movement, the caliber is reliable and robust and is worth every penny the manufacturer asks for it.
As for the price itself, there is still no official information, but I assume that the trinket will go on sale at a price of around $3500*.
We’ll keep an eye on the watch and will let you know when the price tag is officially announced.
* UPDATE ON PRICE: The MSRP is, in fact, $4550 USD, which is a bit too high from where I stand.
See also: Armand Nicolet SL5 for Ladies (9613C-AG-G9615B)
Photos: Raymond Weil
Raymond Weil Jasmine in Rose Gold PVD 2935 PCS 00659 specification
Price: $4550 (MSRP)
Movement: Automatic, RW4200, based on Sellita SW200 caliber, 26 jewels, 28,800 vph, Swiss Made
Movement decoration: Branded oscillating weight with vertical Geneva stripes
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Power reserve: 38 hours
Case: Steel, rose gold PVD treatment
Bezel: Set with 29 diamonds
Crown: Steel, rose gold PVD treatment, and a blue sapphire cabochon
Shape: Round
Size: 35.00 mm
Case height: 9.70 mm
Dial: Silver
Numerals: Roman, transferred
Hour markers: Black railway minute track
Hands: Leaf-shaped, blued
Water resistance: 50 meters
Strap: Black saddle-stitched alligator leather strap with a rose gold PVD 5N folding Raymond Weil clasp with a double push-piece security system
Crystal: Sapphire, antireflective
Back: Sapphire