While subtle, the brand did try to imbue the Raymond Weil Freelancer Piper pilot watch dial with some plane-inspired elements. There are, for instance, the propeller-type tips to the hour and minute hands, the frame with the screw around the subsidiary seconds dial, the graphics inside of the subsidiary second dial, and some of the other dial graphics. I am not actually a huge fan of the hour and minute hand tips, but they do make their point clearly enough. Again, the “plane theme” of the Raymond Weil Freelancer Piper dial is subtle, which is something more conservative aviation enthusiasts will appreciate.
Other than that, very little, if anything, in the watch says “aviation.” Some people will desire more pilot themes in the watch, and others will like the clearly sporty looks with just a touch of “pilot genre” thrown in. In many ways, it is a “light pilot watch” that is certainly aviation-inspired. Raymond Weil perhaps has some future plans with Piper Aircraft to do more – and that might offer a bit more personality to the timepiece.
One area which I think Raymond Weil should improve upon is the finishing on the dial – the most important are the blue hands for the chronograph. Not only are these slightly glossy, but they are often extremely difficult to read on the dial. There is literally no reason anything on a dial should have polish on it – save for maybe the edges of the hour markers. The Arabic numeral hour markers and properly sized hands are a definite plus, but the finishing on the hands could make them dramatically better. It has also been said by some people that the dial (even though it has some raised elements) could appear “less flat.”
I was not entirely correct that there is no overt Piper Aircraft reference with the watch. If you buy one of these limited edition Raymond Weil Freelancer Piper pilot watches, you get a small model of a Raymond Weil-branded Piper plane. Apparently, Mr. Raymond Weil himself was an owner of a Piper plane.
Attached to the watch is a perforated soft black leather strap attached to a titanium deployant clasp. The strap, while nice, has a confusing design because you mostly associated straps like this with racing, and not aviation watches. At least Raymond Weil is keeping you on your toes. It is a worthy first entrant into the pilot watch arena that will find takers, but I am excited to see where Raymond Weil goes next with their sport watch collection. If successful, it could mean more relatively affordable Swiss sport watches – and, in my opinion, you can never have enough of those. The Raymond Weil Freelancer Piper reference 7754 – TIC – 05209 watch is limited to 1,500 pieces and has a retail price of $3,495. raymond-weil.com
Necessary Data
>Brand: Raymond Weil
>Model: Freelancer Piper
>Price: $3,495
>Size: 45mm
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Sometimes.
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Pilot watches are a very crowded market, but variety is the spice of life. People who fall in love with this piece will have only minor quirks to deal with.
>Best characteristic of watch: Simple and relatively restrained design. Unique elements thrown in together.
>Worst characteristic of watch: Lots of minor refinement and design consistency issues. Unclear relationship to Piper even though the company name is in the title of the watch.
