Rolex, Out of Formula 1, Still Bets on Its Drivers

Nyck de Vries. (Photo credit: Formula 1)

Nyck de Vries is Rolex’s newest Testimonee, a fact he hasn’t disclosed on his social accounts yet, though his signing is confirmed by the brand. It is the latest sign that, while Rolex may have exited Formula 1 as a series sponsor, it continues to sponsor Formula 1 drivers.

This is an interesting strategy for Rolex, as its motor-sports sponsorship has become a balancing act for a brand placing greater emphasis than ever on protecting the planet, and concerns grow over the sport’s carbon footprint. It exited Formula 1 in 2024 following a dispute over contract length, as first reported by Coronet, with F1 seeking a 10-year renewal and Rolex unwilling to commit beyond five.

Nearly 60 years later, Rolex still sponsors F1 legend Jackie Stewart. A Rolex brand ambassador since 1968, Sir Stewart is Rolex’s longest-standing relationship in motor sports. More recent names in Formula 1 include Mark Webber, a Rolex Testimonee since 2017; and Jenson Button, since 2022.

De Vries, a 31-year-old from the Netherlands, is the first driver signed by Rolex since the brand left Formula 1. He made a points-scoring debut with Williams at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix and then competed for the AlphaTauri team the following season. Beyond Formula 1, he has also competed in the electric series, winning the Formula E world title in 2020–21. By sponsoring a Formula E champion, the Perpetual Planet brand maintains ties across categories, particularly in clean energy.

Beyer, a Historic Rolex Partner in Zurich, Is Sold to Patek Philippe

Time moves on. (Photo credit: Beyer)

Rolex will soon lose one of its closest partners, Beyer Chronometrie. The Zurich retailer, in business for 266 years, is being sold to Patek Philippe following the death last year of René Beyer, the eighth generation of the family-run boutique founded in 1760. Beyer’s ties to Patek date to 1842, making it one of the longest relationships in the watch retail industry. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung was first to report the news.

Widely regarded as the world’s oldest authorized watch and jewelry retailer, Beyer has worked closely with Rolex since 1932. In the 1950s, founder Hans Wilsdorf gifted a yellow-gold Day-Date to René Beyer’s grandfather in recognition of his support. For Beyer’s 250th anniversary in 2010, Rolex created a special platinum Day-Date sold exclusively through the store. René Beyer died unexpectedly in April 2025; neither he nor his sister, Muriel Zahn-Beyer, had heirs.

Rolex could have been a buyer but is unlikely to pursue the deal after acquiring Bucherer, which already operates on Bahnhofstrasse. Chief executive Jean-Frédéric Dufour has said the company does not plan further retail acquisitions.

Patek Philippe will secure a prime location on the famous Bahnhofstrasse when the deal closes in about nine months, acquiring a three-floor boutique — which includes a museum whose collection will remain with the Beyer family.

A Way to Invest in Rolex Without Buying a Watch

Watches of Switzerland Group share price (GBX), last 6 months. (Data: LSEG)

Watches should not be considered an investment, so the saying goes. Jean-Frédéric Dufour has said he did not like when people compare watches to stocks. “Nous fabriquons des produits, pas des investissements,” he said in 2024.

But if investors want to reap the benefits of Rolex’s incredible performance today — including its CPO program, whose success has exceeded expectations — they could do worse than looking at Rolex's biggest partner, Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG). With over 200 showrooms, the publicly traded retailer accounts for roughly half of Rolex sales in the U.K.

While WOSG’s stock fell in 2023 on fears that Rolex would favor its newly acquired retailer, Bucherer, that has not materialized. For Rolex, harming its century-old partnership with the largest luxury watch retailer in the U.K. would be self-defeating, as Rolex doesn’t want to expand its retail footprint further. In general, Rolex has been consolidating distribution toward large, well-capitalized partners that can invest in multi-million-dollar flagship boutiques, like the new Bond Street location run by WOSG. In the U.S., the same pattern is emerging, as more mom-and-pop retailers are closing and supply is shifting toward preferred partners that have the wherewithal to build larger Rolex boutiques.

The U.S. market remains highly fragmented, and WOSG is one of the few retailers with the financial resources to consolidate some of the Rolex network, a model favored by the brand. It expanded Mayors from 17 stores to more than 30 after acquiring the U.S. retailer in 2017. The purchase of Betteridge added four Rolex doors in Greenwich, Aspen and Florida in 2022. Earlier this year, WOSG expanded in Texas through Deutsch & Deutsch, adding four more showrooms.

WOSG will likely expand its U.S. foothold through further acquisitions, with Rolex favoring more multi-level experience boutiques. These boutiques now include a CPO floor, as the pre-owned market is growing multiple times faster than primary sales, a program where WOSG has already surpassed Bucherer.

Rolex Tidies Up Its Website, and Its Message, in Time for the Big Reveal

(From Rolex.com)

Less than three weeks before Watches and Wonders, Rolex gave its official website a fresh coat of paint.

The changes are mostly cosmetic. The brand removed the green banner atop its webpages in favor of white, a cleaner look that competes less with dial and bezel colors and pushes the imagery forward. Navigation is a bit simpler, too, with subsections appearing within the menu, allowing visitors to go directly to specific areas without leaving the page. A new “Featured” section highlights both watches and technical elements, such as the bidirectional rotatable bezel of the Yacht-Master, alongside members of the Rolex family.

The menu also reflects a shift in how Rolex frames its sponsorships. It now groups “Sports, Arts and Planet” under a single heading, essentially bringing performance, culture and responsibility under one umbrella. Previously, “Rolex and sports” and “Perpetual Initiatives” were separate links.

Rolex typically uploads its new collection at 8:30 a.m. Geneva time on the first day of Watches and Wonders, which begins this year on April 14. But in 2025, Rolex surprised everyone by uploading the collection at exactly 12:01 a.m. The change came not from Rolex, but from Watches and Wonders, responding to requests from several brands aiming to hit the printing press before deadline while capturing both the U.S. market (late in their day) and the Asian market (just starting theirs).

(From Rolex.com)

The Milgauss at 70, and What We Now Know About Rolex’s Magnetism

(Photo credit: Jake’s Rolex World)

Many online have tried to imagine what a new Milgauss would look like, as Watches and Wonders approaches and speculation builds around its 70th anniversary. Introduced in 1956, the Milgauss was made for scientists working in power plants, hospitals and research labs. Its name combined the French word for thousand with the unit of a magnetic field.

But since 2005, when the blue Parachrom hairspring was introduced, Rolex’s movements have been largely insensitive to magnetism beyond 1,000 gauss, putting a question mark on the model’s raison d’être. The line was discontinued just three years ago.

Rolex does not disclose its watches’ anti-magnetic properties. But for the first time, a clue may be found during the Land-Dweller’s development, when Rolex engineers compared its anti-magnetic properties with the rest of the collection. The Land-Dweller’s balance wheel is made from a lead-free copper-zinc alloy with silicon. Switching to this material raises resistance to about 40,000 gauss, up from roughly 25,000 gauss with the typical balance wheel used in current models, made of copper, beryllium and iron. All that according to Rolex engineers who conducted the testing, marking the first time modern Rolex watches’ anti-magnetic properties have been revealed. The findings were published in a patent filed four years ago.

At Watches and Wonders, Rolex is unlikely to treat the 70th anniversary as a reason to reintroduce the Milgauss. Still, the Land-Dweller gave us a glimpse into the resistance of Rolex watches today, which the brand does not publicize, though it is about 10,000 gauss higher than Omega’s.

Excerpt from a 2022 Rolex patent in French revealing the anti-magnetic properties of modern Rolex movements.

At the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a Longtime Family Voice Steps Down

(Photo credit: Fondation H.W.)

One of the eight board members who oversee Rolex’s dividends and decide how roughly half a billion francs in annual donations is distributed among nearly 10,000 applicants has stepped down. More importantly, he was appointed by an heir to the Hans Wilsdorf family.

La fondation Hans Wilsdorf has traditionally reserved two seats for family representatives, giving the family essentially a quarter of the power over how Rolex’s capital is managed. Hans Wilsdorf, who had no children, named the family of his nephews, Diether Kübel and Hans-Helmut Kübel, as his heirs.

Kurt Weissen, a professor at the University of Heidelberg, was appointed by the family to represent its interests on the foundation’s board. He is stepping down after 26 years. He is affiliated with the university’s Center for European History and Cultural Studies and has written extensively on 15th-century Florence. Mr. Weissen held a seat that has historically gone to a German-speaking academic chosen by the family. His predecessor was Professor Wolfgang Stromer von Reichenbach, also a specialist in the Renaissance.

The other family-designated seat remains held by a descendant. Following the two Kübels, who served consecutively until 1996, the role passed to Heinrich Ulrich Martin Kübel and later to Anita Kübel, who still serves today.

The Two Pricing Systems Inside Rolex

Retail and resale. (Photo credit: Rolex)

Recent rumors of a Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi discontinuation, which sent prices up by several thousand dollars in a matter of days, are a stark reminder of the two distinct paths to pricing chez Rolex. One is set by the brand through official retail prices, typically based on production costs, positioning and material value. The other is set solely by buyers and sellers, in a market where supply and demand dictate value.

That second path operates completely independently of retail pricing and material cost. In one example, a stainless steel Daytona retails for $16,900 but trades near $30,000 preowned. Its Rolesor version retails $24,000 but resells for roughly the same price, despite its higher intrinsic value. A Rolesor Daytona commands no premium, while a steel Daytona’s MSRP increase would have almost no effect on its secondary value.

Few industries are like Rolex, where watches with entirely different pricing dynamics can sit just feet from each other at official retailers. Prices in one display case are set by Rolex; in the other, by supply and demand, regardless of intrinsic value. At the whim of the brand, production can stop even if a model is in high demand. Conversely, the brand can reintroduce a line, putting pressure on prices for models thought to be discontinued. This process will play out again next month, as it does each year, when Rolex reveals its new catalog.

Now that Rolex benefits from secondary-market price swings through its wholly owned Bucherer’s CPO program, it stands to gain by playing the market. The brand could release a new Pepsi this year without discontinuation. But it may be better off discontinuing the model, then reintroducing it two years later to capitalize on the hype created by both moves, something it did with the yellow-gold Daytona with a green dial.

Thank you to Sébastien Page for the idea for the story. Follow him here.

As Rolex Integrates Bucherer, Early Signs of Change Appear

Crown control. (Photo credit: Expedia)

Someone inside Bucherer is speaking to Inside Paradeplatz, and it makes for fascinating reading. Inside Paradeplatz is a fairly large blog fed by business rumors from Switzerland’s finance world. It is run by former business reporter Lukas Hässig, whose prose is reminiscent of yellow journalism. And though Bucherer, the Rolex-owned retailer, is based in Lucerne rather than Zurich’s Paradeplatz, Mr. Hässig has written two stories about it just this past week.

In his latest story, published Friday and already viewed nearly 30,000 times, Mr. Hässig said Bucherer has cut 20 positions at its headquarters, “including senior executives on the sales front, in marketing, and in the design and social media departments,” he wrote, speculating Bucherer's CEO Guido Zumbühl might be next, according to another inside source.

While his sources are unnamed and reader’s caution is advised, it is not far-fetched to think Rolex’s integration of Bucherer brings its own challenges and has entered a more disciplined phase. The report said Rolex is frustrated with Bucherer’s difficulty upgrading its IT system, an investment expected to reach 15 million francs.

Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour said at Dubai Watch Week last November he is not interested in buying another retailer, describing the experience as a learning curve for the brand. “We have no intention of growing further than that. It was an opportunity, and we had to do it. Now we are maybe understanding the retail business a little better, and that is a good thing,” he said.

Mr. Hässig in his report claims the layoffs are because of tepid sales at Bucherer. When the most successful luxury watch company in history acquires a retailer with more than 2,000 employees, cuts at the top may be because of brand control as much as sales. Rolex’s image today is its most valuable asset, and Bucherer’s reputation reflects on the watchmaker.

With more than 60 locations worldwide, Bucherer is now a public-facing extension of Rolex. Whether the cuts are driven by sales or strategy, we won’t know. But if Inside Paradeplatz's reports are accurate, Rolex is shaping Bucherer in its own image, which is ultimately a win for the client.

A Rolex Patent Offers a New Vision for the Yacht-Master II

Rolex said the Dynapulse escapement was the result of nearly 10 years of development. It would be interesting to know what the brand has been working on over the past five years that we will see in the next five.

Meanwhile, in the shorter term, a patent published in 2023 for a new kind of countdown chronograph, after several years of research and development, has yet to surface, even as Rolex’s only countdown watch, the Yacht-Master II, has been discontinued. Coronet first reported on the patent in 2023.

While the Yacht-Master II required the wearer to use multiple parts of the watch, such as the Ring Command bezel and even unscrewing the crown to program the countdown, this new design simplifies the process by relying only on the pushers.

Unlike standard chronographs where pushers have unique roles, this movement uses a sequence-based logic of presses to cycle through modes, switching from programming to starting, stopping and resetting. The movement relies on a column wheel and a series of levers to determine whether the pusher resets the timer or adjusts the duration, eliminating the need for a Ring Command bezel.

Coronet has advocated for the relaunch of the Yacht-Master II as the brand has strengthened its ties with SailGP since leaving Formula 1, with a new design capable of generating the same excitement the Rolex Daytona does on land.

Rolex Makes No Money From CPO, Even as It Competes With Rolex

(Photo credit: Rolex)

There is no reason to doubt Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour when he said Rolex does not plan to acquire more retailers beyond Bucherer. After all, mergers and acquisitions are complex and expensive, and the culture of an acquired company can be difficult to change. Still, Rolex should grow Bucherer’s footprint, as the brand is increasingly facing a new competitor: itself.

Rolex CPO may be the only competitor capable of weakening Rolex, since the brand earns no money from those sales, a fact confirmed recently by Rémi Corpataux, managing director of Rolex Germany. Yet the program, which was created to protect Rolex’s image, has become successful because it sells authentic Rolex watches certified by the brand. Rolex focuses on new watches, while the margin on CPO pieces stays with the retailer. Rolex says it will continue to let retailers keep 100% of the profit from CPO sales, even as the program has grown almost into a brand of its own, with sales estimated at about $500 million in 2025, up 60% from the year before.

The only way for Rolex to recoup more of that windfall is by expanding Bucherer’s footprint. Between Bucherer and its owned Tourneau stores, Rolex controls about 21% of global CPO inventory, slightly behind Watches of Switzerland, according to the latest WatchCharts estimates.

It is hard to overstate how the program has expanded Rolex’s secondary market rather than replacing grey dealers, as customers increasingly buy CPO watches when they visit Rolex boutiques instead of new models. Here are more staggering numbers: In the last three months of 2025 alone, CPO sales reached an estimated $172 million, which is roughly what Breguet generated in the entire year, according to Morgan Stanley.

Rolex Prepares for a Big Night at the Oscars With DiCaprio in the Spotlight

One crown after another. (Photo credit: Rolex)

When Rolex decorated the Greenroom at the Oscars for the first time, it was the year Leonardo DiCaprio won his first and only Best Actor Oscar. At the time, the Greenroom, the large lounge where presenters, nominees and winners relax during the show, was styled like a Hollywood Hills home.

Now the story may come full circle, as DiCaprio, the first actor to become a Rolex Testimonee, is a leading contender for Best Actor when the Academy Awards air Sunday. The Oscars remain the most-watched primetime entertainment broadcast in the U.S. and is one of Rolex’s biggest nights of the year, with CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour likely in attendance.

Rolex updated DiCaprio’s page on its official website today with images from his latest film, One Battle After Another, and released a one-minute clip about the actor that ends with a shot of the Land-Dweller 40, a watch he has often been seen wearing since its debut last year.

Rolex said a Daytona in yellow gold with a green dial will be displayed in the Greenroom on Sunday, as it “perfectly echoes the elegant space designed by the brand to welcome the world’s leading actors and filmmakers,” the company said.

When Rolex first met in 2017 with Bill Kramer, chief executive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the discussion went beyond the Oscars. The goal, Rolex said, was also to inspire the next generation of filmmakers, the next Scorsese or DiCaprio. If DiCaprio wins Sunday, Rolex will once again be tied to the kind of moment an aspirational brand lives for, with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars reaching for the crown.

The new greenroom. (Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex Built an Icon on Racing. Now It Is Steering Away From Cars.

From track to tack. (Photo credit: Rolex)

One of Rolex’s most famous watches, the Daytona, conjures images of high-octane racing. Now the brand itself embraces a philosophy at odds with driving.

Rolex said it is designing its new manufacturing campus in Bulle around access to the train station, the Mobul bus network and nearby cycling paths. The site will have 0.3 parking spaces per employee, about three spots for every 10 workers, an unusually low ratio that assumes most employees will not drive. Rolex said the design is meant to encourage workers to use alternatives to private cars.

Separately, in the canton of Geneva, a foundation financed by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, the sole owner of Rolex, is offering money to residents who agree not to drive. The program aims to reduce car use by offering a 500-franc incentive per participant to rely on public transportation, as well as access to bicycle rentals and shared vehicles from Mobility. Earlier this week, an initial group of 130 participants signed up to go one month without a car.

Rolex’s shift away from driving is not new. In 2024, it ended its Formula 1 partnership amid a dispute over the length of the contract, as the sport’s carbon footprint continues to garner attention. A few months later, Rolex announced it would strengthen its ties with SailGP, often called the “F1 of sailing.” Rolex is now the title sponsor of a sport it says is “geared toward delivering climate-positive events.” The series, which involves state-of-the-art catamarans reaching 50 knots, will return to Rolex’s capital of Geneva this September for the second year in a row.

As Rolex shifts from the gasoline-fueled racetrack to the sailing racecourse, it could do worse than revive the Yacht-Master II with a new design capable of generating the same excitement the Daytona does on land.

If the Rolex Pepsi Is Gone, What Happens to Superman?

Earthbound. (Photo credit: Rolex)

As rumors of the Pepsi discontinuation persist, the more intriguing story is the white-gold version with a meteorite dial, sometimes nicknamed the “Superman” because part of the watch comes from outer space. Despite its rare dial and the soaring price of gold, the watch has essentially flatlined on the secondary market, even after rumors of its discontinuation.

To hear the luxury media say it, it’s all but official that Rolex is axing the GMT-Master II “Pepsi.” The reason is unclear, but the headlines all point to a single Watchpro report saying that “Rolex has informed its authorised dealers there will be no more deliveries of the steel GMT-Master II with red and blue Pepsi bezel.”

Rolex could simply be upgrading its best-selling dual-time watch. The bezel could be made from a new material that is more complex to produce but has fewer failures, along with a new caliber featuring a quick date set, eliminating the need to turn the hour hand repeatedly. If it exists, such a version could prove kryptonite for current Pepsi prices.

While the steel version today commands a 95% premium, based on Chrono24 data reflecting sold prices on the platform, the meteorite dial barely hovers above retail at 3%. Granted, the retail prices are not in the same league, but that 92-point gap is still hard to explain. By comparison, the white-gold Daytona with a meteorite dial commands a 131% premium despite its already high MSRP and no rumor of discontinuation.

Still, the Watchpro report refers specifically to “steel,” raising the question of whether precious-metal versions remain. Asked to clarify, Rob Corder, editor-at-large at Watchpro, said the information he received referred only to the steel version. “The AD who told me there would be no more deliveries of the Pepsi was referring to the steel edition. Regrettably, we did not discuss the white gold,” he said.

If the Pepsi were truly discontinued in all metals, prices for the meteorite version should rise. But the market, at least for now, seems unsure about Superman’s fate.

Rolex Adds ‘2026 Winners’ Page, Putting the Focus on Victory

Keeping score. (From Rolex.com)

Rolex has added a new filter to “The Rolex Family” section of its website called “2026 Winners.” The page groups together for the first time artists and athletes associated with the brand who have already won a competition this year. Their images appear near the tagline “This crown is yours,” highlighting champions rather than simply Testimonees.

The change is interesting because it places the focus on victory, not just the effort. Coronet has reported on Rolex’s new philosophy associated with the tagline “Reach for the crown,” which debuted last year, a departure from its earlier slogans. A trophy matters when it reflects the long road taken to reach it, including the setbacks along the way. For Rolex, it’s not just about holding the crown, but reaching for it. Still, the new filter singles out those who have actually won in 2026 so far, turning the section into a running display of champions, a sign Rolex wants to be closely associated with triumph, not just attempts.

This is the first year Rolex has added a “Winners” filter on its website. The timing couldn’t be better, with the Oscars less than two weeks away and one of Rolex’s most prominent Testimonees nominated for Best Actor. If Leo wins, the new page will have a high-profile addition.

On Morgan Stanley Report, Rolex Has No Comment, but Tudor Pushes Back

House of Tudor. (Photo credit: Tudor)

Montres TUDOR SA, the sister brand of Rolex, has joined Swatch Group in questioning the accuracy of a report by Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult on the Swiss watch industry, which compiles annual estimates of watch brand sales and production volumes.

A Tudor spokesperson said the gap between the bank’s estimates and the brand’s actual performance raises doubts about the study’s methodology. “The difference between the assumptions in the Morgan Stanley study on watchmaking and the reality of Tudor’s business performance is such, year after year, that we question the relevance of the methodology and the seriousness of the authors of this report,” the spokesperson said. The Swiss daily Le Temps first reported the comment.

Among the inconsistencies cited by Tudor is the report’s estimate of the brand’s revenue growth between 2024 and 2025, which it said does not correspond to the percentage increase reported in the same study. The spokesperson also pointed to confusion about Tudor’s distribution model. Morgan Stanley’s reports often attribute about 70% of Tudor’s sales to wholesale channels, even though the brand has relied exclusively on wholesale distribution since its founding a century ago, the spokesperson said.

Rolex had no comment on the report, which claimed the company’s sales topped 11 billion Swiss francs while it reduced production, or allocations to retailers, by about 2%.

Rolex Prepares Wider Use of ‘Superlative Certified’

Adjective flex. (Credit: Rolex)

Just two weeks after the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres introduced its new “Excellence Chronometer Certified” designation, Rolex has filed a trademark for the phrase “Superlative Certified.” The filing covers watches and watch components, as well as retail services and quality control, certification and authentication services.

The wording itself is not new. Rolex has used “Superlative Certified” on its green seal hang tag since 2015, while watch dials have retained the full designation “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified.” The filing spans not only Class 14 goods but also retail presentation and formal inspection services, suggesting Rolex may use “Superlative Certified” more prominently in its boutiques, reinforcing it as a visible certification distinct from other Swiss standards.

The standalone “Superlative” trademark beneath Rolex’s crown logo is more intriguing because it separates the word from chronometry and suggests Rolex wants to make its own standard clearer to the public, distinct from COSC’s “Excellence” and METAS’s “Master Chronometer.”