Bucherer Employees to Get Bonus as Rolex Takeover Is Approved

Jörg Bucherer (Photo credit: Bucherer)

An internal letter sent to all 2,000 Bucherer employees on Wednesday confirmed the news reported by Coronet last week: The buyout by Rolex has been approved by all antitrust authorities.

Bucherer employees who were on the payroll by the end of 2023 will receive a bonus between half a month's salary and one and a half months' salary based on longevity. The letter, which was signed by Bucherer CEO Guido Zumbühl and Urs Mühlebach, also said the deal will be finalized at the end of July.

Dr. Mühlebach is a Bucherer board member and the executor of Jörg Bucherer's will. Mr. Bucherer, who died last November and was childless, is following in Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf’s footsteps by leaving his personal wealth to establish a foundation, the Bucherer Foundation.

Mr. Bucherer's wealth was estimated at CHF2 billion before the sale to Rolex. Sources in Lucerne estimate it is triple that now, making it one of the largest charitable institutions in Switzerland with the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation.

Bulle Residents Back Rolex's Arrival of New Manufacture

Rendering of Rolex’s planned new manufacture. (Credit: Rolex)

Another hurdle for Rolex’s planned new manufacture in Bulle has been removed, as the window for residents to voice their oppositions recently closed.

The City of Bulle said the residents had a month to review Rolex’s plans, and it gave itself 10 more days after the deadline of July 8 to review the public comments and release the results.

Out of 27,000 residents, only one opposition was submitted by an individual, according to the city. But that individual does not live in Bulle. “As the opponent withdrew his opposition, the Municipal Council did not have to consider it,” the city said.

Bulle is planning to build at least two new elementary schools, add one junior high school and is mulling revamping its recreation center. Banks, retailers, hotels, restaurants, construction and equipment companies — all are expecting a boom in business thanks to Rolex’s arrival.

To secure the financing for new schools, the Bulle Municipal Council plans to submit a bond request in December 2024, according to Council member David Seydoux. This will be the second bond request in three years, as the Bulle General Council already approved a bond of 1.6 million Swiss francs in 2021.

“We would like this growth to be slower, but we cannot control the pace,” Seydoux said. “Bulle is a bit of a victim of its success!”

Unique: A Submariner With Moon Phase and Meteorite Dial

(Photo credit: Artisans de Genève)

Swiss company Artisans de Genève, which specializes in bespoke modifications, connected the ocean to the universe last week, when it unveiled “The Heart of Namibia,” a Rolex Submariner 116610 it had customized with a genuine meteorite dial and a fully in-house developed moon phase complication displayed with a mother-of-pearl stone.

“At our client’s request, and for the first time, we created a large moon entirely made from precious stones,” Artisans de Genève said.

Bespoke-watch services have been controversial and argued in courts on both sides of the Atlantic. But the Supreme Court of Switzerland has ruled Artisans de Genève is not infringing on Rolex trademark as long as it sold customization services and not customized watches, as reported on Coronet.

This pièce unique features a dark blue ceramic bezel and a dial etched from a rare meteorite stone that was found in Namibia, giving the timepiece its name. The movement's rotor, which is displayed on the caseback, also features a Namibian meteorite insert.

Antitrust Authorities Sign off on Rolex's Acquisition of Bucherer

Antitrust authorities both in Europe and Switzerland have removed any hurdle to Rolex buying its largest retailer, Bucherer.

Bucherer last August had agreed to sell itself to Rolex, a choice made by owner Jörg Bucherer in the absence of direct descendants, according to a Rolex press release.

Following the approval of the European Competition Authorities, the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) said this week it had also green-lighted the Bucherer buyout. There is no stipulation to the approval, a spokesperson for COMCO said.

Jörg Bucherer passed away last November. He was the last businessman to personally know Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf and work with him.

The Birthplace of Rolex Watches Has Had No Authorized Dealer

(Photo credit: Time Files)

The city where Rolex watches were born doesn't have a Rolex authorized dealer. That's about to change on Friday, when watch retailer L'Art du Temps opens a Rolex boutique in Bienne, a Swiss city nestled near the Jura mountains.

It's not in Geneva but in Bienne that the first fully finished Rolex watches were assembled more than 100 years ago, according to the Bienne-based publication Time Files.

It's also where the first Rolex movements were built, and continue to be built today in Rolex’s 3,000-employee manufacture. “The heart of the watch starts beating in Bienne,” Rolex once said.

So it's highly unusual for such a historically significant city of 55,000 residents to find itself without a Rolex boutique when the previous retailer, Villiger, unexpectedly lost its dealership contract in 2022.

But starting Friday, L’Art du Temps hopes to quicken the pulse again of the heart of Rolex.

Digitized Directories Reveal Rolex Founder Personal Information

If you dialed 2 42 42 in the 1940s, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf would have likely answered the phone. His profession of directeur was also listed in the directory, next to his personal address of 41 Quai Wilson in Geneva. That’s according to a new tool available to the public since Tuesday.

The Switzerland of the 19th and 20th centuries is now at anybody’s fingertips thanks to historic.localsearch.ch, a new research tool developed in partnership with the PTT Archives and the University of Bern.

The site makes it possible to explore Swiss directories from 1880 to 1950, including the first “Wilsdorf et Davis” address in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It shows an evolution of Swiss society and horology over more than seven decades starting in 1880, when the first directory in Swiss history contained six pages for just 99 entries.

India's Rapid Growth Economy May Worsen Rolex Availability

As Rolex is poised to boost production to meet demand globally, clients of the brand are hopeful the supply situation will soon return to normal. But a study published last week by Deloitte tells a different story: an emerging market is likely to sap Rolex's availability further.

India's rapidly growing economy is driving an expansion of the middle class and a demand for aspirational products, like Swiss watches, the Deloitte report said. That potential has now been enhanced by a new trade agreement between Switzerland and India which will provide “a competitive advantage” for many years, according to Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin.

The new trade agreement will improve market access for Swiss watches by gradually reducing custom duties over seven years.

Last year, Coronet wrote an in-depth story about India, whose economy has now surpassed Britain’s. India is the home of only two dozen Rolex authorized dealers, while the U.K. has nearly 100 Rolex boutiques with less than 5% India's population.

When asked for comment, a Rolex press relations specialist in Geneva told Coronet the brand is monitoring the situation in India.

Rolex Increasingly Highlights History, Not Just Success, in Sports

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex more and more emphasizes history and tradition in its sports promotional videos, a sign the brand wants to be seen not just as a mark of success, but also one of enduring heritage.

Rolex will release next week a video on its social media channels about The Open, the British golf tournament played during the third week of July.

Rolex will include black-and-white clips from previous editions, exhorting us to not “break with tradition, enrich it. Don't yield before history, make it.”

This is a change from Rolex’s past videos about The Open which highlighted the sometimes challenging weather conditions that came with holding a golf tournament by the sea — and won only “by those who embrace their ruggedness,” the Rolex ad said.

Earlier this month, Rolex released a video about Wimbledon which urged us to “respect heritage” and “honor the legend.” It released another Wimbledon video a week later titled “Timeless tradition and glorious history.”

Rolex in Movies: Still a Positive for the Brand?

(Photo credit: Netflix)

Netflix’s “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” the fourth installment in the iconic 1980s action-comedy franchise, was released Wednesday, and a shiny Rolex Daytona makes a cameo.

Being an old-school cop from Detroit, Axel Foley played by Eddie Murphy wears a Shinola, a brand from Foley's hometown. But Beverly Hills police Captain Cade Grant, played by Kevin Bacon, sports a gold Daytona.

Is the captain’s choice of wristwatch enough to suspect corruption? Foley wonders.

A Rolex watch used in a movie plot to underscore potential corruption is the latest sign that Rolex’s branding of success is also shorthand for something more negative in the public’s minds, an association Rolex deplores.

Earlier this year, the President of Peru was embroiled in a scandal called “Rolexgate” by the media after she was spotted wearing luxury watches at public events. The nickname stuck though most of the watches in her collection were not… Rolex.

Rolex to Cede Formula 1 Sponsorship to LVMH

(Photo credit: Rolex)

After 11 years as a Global Partner and the Official Timepiece of Formula One, Rolex will cede the sponsorship to LVMH, according to sources in Geneva.

In 2013, Rolex became associated with F1 in a contract valued at tens of millions of dollars annually. According to sources, the LVMH group will be the official chronometer next season, beginning in Jan. 2025. The new annual contract is reportedly worth $150 million.

Rolex has not given a reason why it’s walking away from F1, a sport whose audience has doubled in the past decade, reaching 1.5 billion viewers in 2023, the fourth-most-watched sport worldwide.

Still, LVMH’s financial wherewithal — 86 billion euros in yearly revenue — is difficult to match. The LVMH group owns 75 brands, including TAG Heuer and Hublot.

F1’s carbon footprint has continued to garner attention, another reason Rolex could have bowed out: 24 races, 10 teams and thousands of workers travel around the world in the name of entertainment — a carbon footprint estimated at 223,031 tCO2e per season, 49% of that coming from travel logistics alone, according to F1’s most recent report.

Rolex Reveals It Does Not Import Gold From Africa

(Source: Rolex)

Switzerland is the biggest importer of gold in the world. The Swiss luxury industry has been rattled recently by reports that large quantities of gold were extracted under questionable conditions in Africa — and that Swiss refineries are reluctant to indicate their true origin.

Though Switzerland is the second largest importer of African gold, Rolex said it doesn’t import gold from Africa. The brand also said it has put measures in place for monitoring its supply chains. These pages were the first to report Rolex had set up an alert system for anyone to register concerns regarding Rolex’s mineral or metal supply chain.

Rolex also disclosed that the management of its gold is overseen internally by the brand's Precious Materials Committee, as well as a Sourcing Committee for each refiner.

Rolex has created a closed-loop refining of its gold waste, a recycling system of sorts, in order to minimize how much Rolex needs to import from mines. Gold from Rolex production waste, for example, make up 70% of total sourcing while gold leftovers from the watchmaking and electronics industries account for 12%. Finally, just 18% of Rolex’s sourcing comes from actual gold mines, according to the brand.

11 Years Later, Justin Bieber Still Wears the Same Rolex Daytona

The man is definitely not a flipper. Justin Bieber is keeping the time of his life with a yellow-gold Rolex Daytona, champagne dial, his very first luxury-watch purchase.

Now a husband and a father-to-be, the 30-year-old singer and his pregnant wife, Hailey Bieber, were spotted attending a church service in Beverly Hills last week, pictured above, left.

Spotting a celeb rocking a luxury timepiece is not rare, but seeing one faithful to a Rolex model is worth writing about. And while the comparison might be amiss, we’re reminded of Paul Newman and Jack Nicklaus — giants in their fields — whose trusty Rolex would end up topping millions at auctions. After all, it’s not just the provenance, but the time spent on the wrist.

Bieber bought his Daytona 116528 when he was just 19.

New Rolex Magazine Lands At Retailers Across Network

(Photo credit: Rolex)

The 12th issue of Rolex Magazine is arriving at an authorized dealer near you. Like the previous edition, it contains 150 pages and is free.

In a design change, “THE ROLEX MAGAZINE” is now printed in bold across the front-cover, likely to emphasize its official nature, but also to show the publication is not a plain watch catalog.

Indeed, the magazine invites readers to “Explore The World Of Rolex” with articles ranging from the art of creating a dial to stories of brand ambassadors, as well as its recent Perpetual Planet initiatives.

Rolex usually displays the year’s flagship model on the front — it would have been the GMT-Master II — but the brand decided to go with the new Deepsea dial, the first time the magazine doesn’t feature a full watch. Rolex published a separate 38-page GMT-Master brochure also this year, and it likely wanted to keep the publications visually distinct.

'Moving Room' in New Rolex Boutique Goes to Private Viewing Areas

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Housed in an entire vertical section of a neo-Renaissance building in Milan, Italy, a Rolex boutique, which opened earlier this year, was designed with a unique feature.

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex has had a longstanding relationship with Milan, a city described by Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour as “the commercial and cultural heart of Italy.” Rolex Italia is headquartered in Milan.

As a first ever for Rolex, the architects created a 7-square-meter, or 75-square-foot, room that conceals an elevator. The “moving room” — Rolex’s term — is complete with the display cases and TV monitors typically seen in boutiques. But when activated with a button on the wall, the room travels up and down to private viewing areas located on the upper levels.

Rolex's Dufour to Step Down From Watches and Wonders Leadership

Cyrille Vigneron and Jean-Frédéric Dufour. (Photo credit: Cyril Zingaro)

When Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour gave a rare interview at the start of Watches and Wonders in April, it was because he is also Chairman of the foundation responsible for organizing the fair. The Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation was created in 2022 by Rolex, Richemont and Patek Philippe.

After two years as Chairman, Dufour will step down on July 1st and become the treasurer of WWGF. Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron will take the helm while Patek CEO Claude Peny will serve as Vice-Chairman. Three new brands — Chanel, Hermès and LVMH — are also joining the board of the non-profit organization.

Rolex will skip Watches and Wonders Shanghai in August, these pages reported. The next Watches and Wonders Geneva will run from April 1 – 7, 2025, the foundation announced on Tuesday.

The Cellini Collection Is Surprisingly Rolex's Best Performer

(Photo credit: Rolex)

In the past two years, the Cellini collection has performed better than any other Rolex collection on the secondary market — that's according to WatchCharts, which tracks the historical trends of 587 Rolex references among other watches.

(Source: WatchCharts)

The Rolex Index has dropped -21.3% in the past two years while the Cellini collection dropped “only” -7.2%, a sign the secondary market’s focus on sports watches has spared the Cellini from a boom-and-bust cycle.

Inside the collection, the Cellini Moonphase dropped -5.4% while the blue-dial Cellini Date 50519 rose +2.8% over two years.

To compare, the Daytona references have lost -26.8% of their value during the same period, with some models, like the “John Mayer” Daytona, losing over -30%.

Rolex Builds Up Sponsorship Portfolio Through Rolex Series

(Credit: Rolex)

In 2016, the European Tour — a string of golf tournaments that include the BMW Championship, the Irish Open and the Scottish Open — announced it had posted a loss of 8 million pounds in prize money for just three events. Rolex decided to step in, renamed the golf tour “Rolex Series” and promised to make up future shortfalls.

This strategy wasn’t new for the brand. In 2002, Rolex had taken over the Grand American Road Racing Championship, featuring three of its premier races at Daytona, Watkins Glen and Indianapolis, and changed the name to “Rolex Sports Car Series.”

Then in 2005, Rolex renamed the 40-year-old regatta at the most prestigious yacht club in San Francisco “The Rolex Big Boat Series.”

The brand followed the same blueprint last month, when it announced it will unite six of the most prestigious equestrian shows in the world under the Rolex Series, the latest sign of the brand’s financial wherewithal in the world of sponsorships and its commitment to be associated with elite sports.