This Fast-Rising Affordable Swiss Watch Brand Puts Patek Vibes on Your Wrist for a Fraction of the Cost

This watchmaker’s hot streak continues.

Silver watch with a rounded square case, blue sunburst dial, and blue leather strap.

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By Johnny Brayson

Published 4 hours ago

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Raymond Weil is officially on a roll.

The entry-level Swiss luxury brand, which was founded in Geneva 49 years ago, wasn’t on the radar of many enthusiasts for the bulk of its history. But that all changed in 2023 when the brand’s Millesime surprisingly won the GPHG Challenge Award for the best watch under $2,000.

Suddenly, Raymond Weil had a lot of eyes on it, and the brand has taken advantage of its newfound fame by launching increasingly tempting watches, like a stunning chronograph version of the Millesime, the classy Freelancer Complete Calendar, and a ridiculously good-looking Japan-exclusive moonphase that just launched earlier this month.

The brand’s latest is an old-school manual-wind dress watch called the Toccata Heritage, and it bears a strong resemblance to a classic model from Patek Philippe — but is available for a tiny fraction of the cost.

Rose gold square watch with sunburst dial and gray leather strap. — Raymond Weil has another hit on its hands.

Read my Ellipse

Let’s get this out of the way up front: the Toccata Heritage looks a lot like the Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse.

It has a very similar polished oval-shaped case, a sunburst dial, a diminutive crown, applied baton indices, a two-hand setup with no seconds hand and the strap’s buckle emulates the case’s shape, just like on the Patek. Even the minimalist two lines of dial text under 12:00 of “Raymond Weil/Geneve” closely mimics the Golden Ellipse’s “Patek Philippe/Geneve” in the same spot.

Blue dial Patek Philippe wristwatch with silver hour markers and black leather strap. — The Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse appears to have provided some inspiration for RW’s latest.

But let’s get something else out of the way: this is no copy. Although there are clear visual similarities, there are plenty of differences, too.

For one, the case of the Toccata Heritage has traditional lugs, meaning you can easily swap in another strap. The hands are dauphine rather than sticks, and the applied baton indices are thinner, with a double baton at 12:00. There’s also a printed minute track, which the Patek lacks.

Square rose gold wristwatch with a light pink dial and black leather strap worn on a wrist. — With a case height of just 6.95mm, the Toccata Heritage is decidedly elegant.

The Toccata Heritage is made of stainless steel — plain or with rose gold PVD coating — whereas the Patek is only available in platinum or gold. This, obviously, is one reason why the RW is so much more affordable, with no references even reaching $2,000. Any Golden Ellipse reference, meanwhile, costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Another big difference is the movement. While previous Golden Ellipses had hand-wound movements, the modern style is powered by an automatic movement with a micro-rotor, which is unfortunately hidden behind a closed caseback.

The Toccata Heritage is not only powered by a hand-cranker — the Sellita-based Cal. RW4100 — but it’s fully visible behind a sapphire caseback. It even features some nice decoration, like blued screws and sunburst finishing on some of the gears. This helps keep the case of the Toccata Heritage extremely thin at just 6.95mm, though it can’t quite match the minuscule 5.9mm thickness of the Patek.

Silver Raymond Weil wristwatch with a square case, grey leather strap, and visible mechanical movement on the back. — The watch’s Sellita-based manually wound movement is visible behind a sapphire display caseback.

Pricing and availability

There are four versions of the new Toccata Heritage (plus five smaller, quartz-powered references that I don’t find as interesting).

If you really want to drive home the unabashed Patek vibes, then your best bet is to go with the blue version. It’s almost a dead ringer for the platinum Golden Ellipse and comes on a blue croc-stamped calf leather strap. That one, along with a gray version on gray leather, is priced at $1,675. You can also get the blue version on a five-row steel bracelet for $100 more, but I think it looks better on the strap.

My pick of the bunch, however, is the rose gold PVD version. It’s paired with a copper dial and gray leather strap and has a decidedly retro and comforting warmth to it. It’s a stunner, but it’s also the priciest of the quartet at $1,825, which, to be fair, is still a serious bargain.

Raymond Weil wristwatch with a blue sunburst dial, silver markers, and a blue leather strap.

Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage

Specs

Case Size	33mm x 38mm
Movement	Raymond Weil Cal. RW4100 manual-wind
Water Resistance	30m

$1,675 at Raymond Weil

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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