The Beatles and Their Watches - Part VIII - Raymond Weil

Shakespeare

1 year ago

When it came to official Beatles merchandise, the Beatles were late to the game. In 1963 when they and their manager, Brian Epstein, viewed the Beatles as a band rather than as a brand they produced sweaters and badges for their fan club members. In late 1963 Epstein’s company NEMS Enterprises established a subsidiary, Seltaeb (the word “Beatles” spelled backwards), to handle merchandising. Unaware of the potential market that existed for Beatles merchandise, Epstein handed over Seltaeb entirely to a man named Nicky Byrne who set up a company in the US called Stramsact (an anagram of “smart acts”) and another version of Seltaeb States side.

The arrangement reached was that Byrne’s companies would take 90% of the profit and the remaining 10% would be split between Epstein’s company, NEMS Enterprises and the Beatles themselves. It was one of the worst deals in music history and probably cost the Beatles over $100,000,000 in revenues! The arrangement also resulted in many years of litigation, the stress of which is said to have contributed to Epstein’s depression and eventual death by an accidental overdose in August 1967. He was 32.

A school friend of The Beatles, Neil Aspinall, who started off as the band’s roadie, eventually became the chief executive of the Beatles’ company, Apple Corps. Over time, control over the band’s image and legacy was wrestled back to their company and from the mid 1980s or so, licensing of that image was handled by Apple. The Beatles likenesses and brand has appeared on everything from kitschy junk to … you guessed it … Swiss watches!

In 2016 Swiss watch manufacturer, Raymond Weil, released the maestro-ST-BEAT1. Sporting a silver dial marked with 12 of the Beatles’ 13 album titles positioned around the hour track. At the four o’clock position the images of the Beatles in their poses from the cover of the album Help! stand in place of the title of that album. The album references are arranged chronologically and in a clockwise direction from Please Please Me to Let It Be. The famous “drop T” logo from Ringo Starr’s drumkit featured on the dial of the watch. The watch was limited to 3000 pieces.

In 2017, Raymond Weil released another limited edition watch (3000 pieces) featuring The Beatles drop T logo on a black dial designed to replicate the look of a vinyl record. This time at the 4 o’clock position were the silhouettes of all four Beatles crossing Abbey Road which was also the name of their last recorded album.

Next up for the Raymond Weil treatment was the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In 2019 another version of the maestro was launched – this time in gold PVD. The watch also featured a “vegan leather strap” (which presumably is a watch strap that doesn’t eat meat). At 40mm, the black dial featured a monochrome version of the Sgt. Pepper bass drum from the album cover with gold accents and a gold apply Beatles drop T logo at the 6 o’clock position. Once again the black dial seemed to emulate a black vinyl record. Once again the piece was limited to 3000.

The Sgt. Pepper watch came in a box that looked far more Peppery than the watch itself!

Finally in 2022 Raymond Weil released a fourth limited edition version of the maestro – the Let It Be version. This version featured an open-worked dial revealing the regulating organ, spring barrel and other parts of the watch usually hidden behind the dial. There was no logo referencing Let It Be but the Beatles logo appears at the 9 o’clock position and also over the display case back of smoked sapphire crystal. If website drivel is anything to go by, apparently the watch “symbolizes the timelessness of a band.”

All four watches were also made available in a limited edition box set which sold for $20,000 and helped the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity which “uses the power of music to enrich the lives of people affected by life-limiting physical and mental illness, disabilities or feelings of isolation.”