The New Face of Rolex Is Barely 18

(Photo credit: João Fonseca/Instagram)

Brazilian tennis player João Fonseca, who turned 18 last week, received a nice gift — a white-dial Daytona but also a Rolex contract.

Rolex is signing more and more Testimonees while they’re young and before their first big win, as reported by Coronet.

The 18-year-old tennis pro is ranked 162nd in the world and didn't advance past the qualifiers at the U.S. Open last week.

Rolex could be playing the odds or have a knack for spotting talents early in their careers. The current No. 1 ATP and WTA ranked tennis players, Jannik Sinner and Iga Świątek, respectively, were signed by Rolex while in their teens.

But Rolex’s biggest ace could also be its director of communication and image, Arnaud Boetsch, as he is a former tennis pro himself.

Boetsch has been at Rolex for more than 20 years and, in 2006, convinced a young Roger Federer to quit his sponsorship with Maurice Lacroix and join Rolex.

Et Tu, Pink Chrono?

(Source: Chrono24)

Watch lovers seem to agree Tudor watches pack incredible value. But the brand owned by Rolex seems to always meet the same fate on the secondary market, a stark contrast from Rolex watches. Every single Tudor model inexplicably trades below retail, except for one: the Black Bay Chrono Pink.

Still, the Chrono Pink’s price trajectory on the preowned market is giving us pause. Despite the model’s perceived scarcity — and the brand’s guarantee only a few will be produced — there are currently more than 50 Black Bay Chrono Pink for sale on Chrono24, putting further pressure on the market.

Tudor, these past few years, has been drawing design cues from Rolex’s hard-to-get watches, as if the Crown tried to keep frustrating clients inside the World of Rolex and away from homage brands. The Tudor Chrono Pink coincides with a rumored off-catalog pink Daytona.

When asked, a Rolex representative in Geneva agreed Rolex and Tudor seemed to be coordinating their releases though she stopped short of confirming it. “We have the same CEO, so I imagine there has to be some small coordination,” she said.

At Sponsored Event, Rolex Awards a 1908 for the First Time

(Photo credit: Craft and Tailored)

Rolex on Sunday awarded for the first time a Perpetual 1908. The prize was for the winner of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a classic car show with some of the rarest and most valuable vehicles ever made.

It was also the first time a European won the yearly competition taking place at Pebble Beach, Calif. Cameron Barr reported the 1908 on Instagram.

The Concours d'Elegance, which celebrates a “glorious step back in time,” according to Rolex, is unlike any automobile competition presented by the brand. The 1908 in yellow gold retailing for $23,000 as prize for Best in Show is a record for Rolex.

The 1908 was presented to winner Fritz Burkard of Zug, Switzerland, whose storied 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports was among 214 cars from 16 countries and 29 states to compete.

In past years, a two-tone Datejust on Jubilee was awarded to the Pebble Beach winner. The switch to the 1908 is likely helping Rolex put a spotlight on the new Classic line it launched in 2023.

Rolex Readies Release of New U.S. Open Video

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex is getting ready to drop a new video before the final Grand Slam of the year, the U.S. Open, which begins on Aug. 26. The flagship watch for the tennis tournament will be the steel Datejust, blue dial, a change from the two-tone Datejust, champagne dial, of past years.

The 30-second Rolex video will be released on the brand’s social media channels and is currently unlisted on YouTube.

“Feel the energy, feel it in the air,” says the voice-over in the clip’s opening. That’s because the New York tournament with its ultra-charged atmosphere stands in contrast with another Rolex event last month: the hushed experience at Wimbledon.

Still, the tournament has done well for the brand's Testimonees, including last year's winner Coco Gauff, who is featured in the video lifting the trophy in her maiden U.S. Open title, sporting the Oyster Perpetual, grape dial, now discontinued.

The Oyster Perpetual is Coco's favorite Rolex line, the tennis player has said during an interview with the brand: “It was my first Rolex. It is elegant yet casual so I feel like I can wear it every day.”

In Bizarre Arrest, Woman Hid Stolen Rolexes Inside Vagina

(Images: Policía Nacional)

A Rolex watch has been to space, on Mount Everest and in the ocean's greatest depths. Now, it has also “explored” the most intimate part of a female body.

Multiple reports from Spain this week, including from a TV channel, say a woman was arrested at Madrid Airport when she was trying to flee to Italy with three Rolexes inside her vagina. She was part of a larger gang from Naples which smuggles stolen watches from tourist spots.

Stories on luxury-watch thefts in Europe are not new. But it's rare to learn how they’re smuggled across borders using human “mules,” similar to drug trafficking.

The watches recovered were a Day-Date, a Sky-Dweller and a Daytona, all in precious metals, according to the Policía Nacional.

The joint operation between the Spanish National Police, the Civil Guard and the Italian police tracked the woman on social media, where they found several images of her she posted at the beach. In one of them, she wrote: “Delicate but powerful.”

A King Wears the Crown... On a NATO

King Frederik X of Denmark. (Photo credit: Kongehuset)

Heavy lies the crown: Summer break is ending in Denmark, and King Frederik X is back at work after attending the Olympics in Paris.

On Monday, His Majesty held a public audience at Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen. In this picture posted on the royal Instagram account, he glances at the list of today's audience seekers totaling 44 Danes, we’ve been told.

A monarch rocking a Rolex is not unusual. But King Frederik is wearing his Sky-Dweller on a NATO strap, dressing down the 42mm watch from Rolex’s Classic line while giving it a military look. Jason Heaton, an American author and podcaster, was first to point to His Majesty’s wrist wear of choice.

The Sky-Dweller features a GMT disc, a complication King Frederik seems to favor; he sported an all-black Omega Seamaster with a GMT complication while at the Olympics.

Still, the succession to the Crown is assured: Frederik’s oldest son, Prince Christian, wore a Datejust on Jubilee with a Wimbledon dial at his high school graduation in June.

Prince Christian (Photo credit: Kongehuset)

Rolex Waitlists Shrink, but With a Catch

(Photo credit: Rolex)

The good news is you can buy a Rolex sooner than expected. The bad news is it might not be the one you want.

Rolex authorized dealers are shifting strategy, according to several reports, as their inventory continues to build, and the preowned market has been dropping for the past nine quarters.

With shorter waitlists, dealers are now asking clients to purchase baseline Rolex references to be considered for a Daytona, GMT, Sky-Dweller or other hard-to-get models, according to reports.

Baseline references, such as the Air-King, Datejust, Explorer and the Yacht-Master — but also any full-gold Rolex — are references difficult to resell on the preowned market without incurring a loss.

To be sure, this not part of any official policy by the brand, as Rolex S.A. doesn't own its authorized dealers except for Bucherer. A public relations official for Rolex in Geneva told Coronet the brand doesn't condone any pay-to-play strategy employed by dealers but relies on an independently run network.

“Rolex's biggest problem is not to sell watches, as it sells every watch,” the representative said. “Rolex's problem is to find the right clients for those watches.”

Rolex's Major Bienne Expansion Nearly Finished, Photos Show

(Photo credit: Time Files)

Rolex's multi-year expansion project in Bienne, whose plans were first filed with the city before the pandemic, are coming to an end, photos of the near-completed building taken Saturday reveal, the last part of a multiple-building expansion. The project was first detailed by Bienne-based publication Time Files.

All eyes are on the new manufacture slated to open in 2029, in Bulle, and the two temporary Rolex sites planned within the same canton. But the massive expansion of the Bienne manufacture is already likely contributing to Rolex’s inventory bump and the steady decline of the brand’s premium on the secondary market.

It is in Bienne, after all, that the components of a Rolex movement — from 200 to nearly 400 for the most complex calibres, according to Rolex — are manufactured, then assembled by hand and checked, a sure bottleneck in the production process.

The photos taken Saturday and sent to Coronet show the latest and final addition of what has been Rolex's biggest project in years.

Though the opening of the extension has been formerly inaugurated by the brand in 2022, it hasn't been fully complete. Production figures are hard to come by, but the Bienne project could boost movement production from 15% to 20%, based on the expansion size.

A Rolex Dress Watch Trading (Way) Above Retail

The Perpetual 1908 with an ice-blue dial is emerging on the watch market in the U.S., and its aggressive retail pricing could make this a game changer for a brand that has struggled with its non-Oyster classic line.

Until now, the ice-blue color was reserved for just two models at Rolex: the platinum Day-Date and the platinum Daytona, both priced more than double the 1908. Watches in platinum represent the most exclusive material within the collection, a metal that’s more expensive and more difficult to work with than gold. The 1908 is priced at $30,900, lower than Cartier's and Omega's platinum timepieces.

When asked via video call about the pricing of the 1908, a representative at Rolex in Geneva agreed the brand’s latest dress watch was being listed competitively though she stopped short of saying so.

“For a watch in platinum with a movement that is visible, displayed, honestly, compared to what other brands are doing and what we've seen at [Watches and Wonders]… voilà,” the representative told Coronet.

The platinum 1908 is hard to come by; Chrono24 and eBay have none listed. Jaztime says it has one in stock: it’s $20,000 above retail.

Rolex Restructuring: Jewelers Face Closure Amid Network Changes

It turns out high demand for Rolex watches can also mean the death knell for authorized dealers, as Rolex restructures its network to better manage inventory.

More and more reports are coming in from jewelers around the world who said Rolex had cancelled their agreement even though they didn’t break any rules.

In the latest example, a Stuttgart-based jeweler, who had been in business for 50 years, said losing the Rolex authorization to carry the brand was “the final decision” for him to close his doors, according to an article published Sunday in a prominent German daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Coronet reached out to Rolex but the brand said it had no comment.

Still, by paring down the number of dealers in its network, Rolex can manage the scarcity more effectively and thus its reputation, as clients grow frustrated when facing empty display cases at too many locations. Fewer but better-stocked Rolex boutiques could help the brand provide a better overall shopping experience.

Rolex Wallpapers Now Available on Coronet

For a refresh of your phone lock screen, please enjoy these new Rolex wallpapers, which are accessible by going to coron.et/wallpaper. They’re free to download.

If you haven’t looked at Coronet’s menu in a while, please check out my long-form articles published monthly about Rolex, including recent details on the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, an interview with a dial maker at Rolex, and the unexpected finding Rolex is financially connected to a daily newspaper.

Finally, you might be interested in my unique coverage of this year’s new releases; I feel fortunate to have received direct quotes from the brand during Watches and Wonders 2024.

Vintage Cars Events Stand Out Among Rolex's Sponsorships

2023 Pebble Beach Best of Show: 1937 Mercedes. (Credit: Rolex)

Rolex said it sponsors events which share a set of strong founding values with the brand, such as the perpetual quest for excellence, the desire for technical precision and passion for innovation.

But the yearly vintage cars gathering taking place mid-August in Monterey, Calif., will include none of the values typically linking golf, tennis, equitation, yachting and car races.

Participants compete for “automotive elegance,” Rolex said. The winner — last year, the owner of a 1937 Mercedes — will earn a two-tone Datejust.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance by Rolex, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering, are all Rolex-sponsored sports events. But they celebrate a “glorious step back in time,” Rolex said.

They tie the brand uniquely to the past, a marketing message Rolex uses more and more. In contrast, Rolex is abandoning Formula 1, Coronet was first to report, the peak innovation in motor sports.

The Rolex Market Is Still High Compared to Pre-Pandemic

(Data: WatchCharts)

WatchCharts and ChronoPulse agree: The Rolex overall market has been dropping for the last nine quarters, having peaked in May 2022 alongside crypto, which was likely not coincidental.

In WatchCharts' most recent report, which looks at the top 30 models within the brand, Rolex value dropped 7.2% year over year. Will Rolex availability soon be back to normal?

As the Rolex market continues to drop and watch flippers exit the market, watch media are predicting the waiting lists are next. But reports of their deaths are greatly exaggerated.

The Rolex market is standing higher now than it was when the world entered a pandemic, in mid-March of 2020, and people had money to burn. Rolex display cases were empty then and had been since late 2018.

If you had bought a Rolex watch at market value on March 15, 2020, before the biggest market rally in Rolex’s history, you could still pocket a 18.9% profit today, after a staggering nine-quarters-in-a-row decline.

The Mystery of JFK Jr.'s Rolex Daytona Emerges in New Book

(Photo credit: Simon & Schuster)

Twenty-five years after the death of JFK Jr. in a plane he was piloting, a new book released last week includes a story about a mystery Rolex the former president John F. Kennedy’s son owned.

In “JFK Jr: An Intimate Oral Biography by Liz McNeil and RoseMarie Terenzio,” one friend, David Clarke, told the authors how John once traded his Rolex Daytona, exotic dial, for a Nikon photo lens Clarke owned.

Clarke had also told that story to Jake Ehrlich of RolexMagazine.com who was first to publish it.

“It was a stainless steel Rolex Daytona wristwatch. On the back it says, ‘To John, from Ari and Alex, 10/20/68.’ Alex is Aristotle Onassis’ son. Ari gave it to John when [his mother] Jackie married Aristotle Onassis,” Clarke said.

A few years later John told Clarke his mom wanted him to get the watch back, and they swapped again. “My mom says I have to get it back, only because it was a gift from my stepfather,” John told Clarke.

Clarke later wrote to John’s sister Caroline Kennedy, telling her the story, and asking her if she knew where the Rolex was. “She wrote back, ‘I didn’t know about it or ever see it. He probably lost it. He lost everything.' ”

Geneva Building Bought by Rolex to Aid Women

(Google Street View)

The Hans Wilsdorf foundation has acquired an imposing building in downtown Geneva that will be open 24 hours a day.

The foundation, which owns 100% of Rolex, plans to give the building for use to the Réseau Femmes, or the Women's Network, combining 11 Geneva non-profit organizations aiming to help women.

The Réseau Femmes said it had been a decade-long dream to have a place where material and human resources can both be pooled to defend women's rights.

More than acquiring the building, the Hans Wilsdorf foundation, which generates revenue from Rolex's sales, will provide up to 10 million francs for the building's renovation.

By 2026, the Maison des Femmes foundation will have access to a 3,500 sq m, or 38,000 sq ft, area located in the city center.

Maison des Femmes says it plans to build a 24-hour reception area, with apartments for victims of violence, housing for students and senior women, and a space dedicated to children. It will also include a workplace for women’s organizations, a café, library, coworking spaces and a second-hand clothing store.

Rolex Posts Job Listings for Temporary New Sites

(From carrieres-rolex.com)

Rolex has started to post job listings for the canton of Fribourg, where Bulle is located. While the Bulle manufacturing site is not scheduled to be up and running until 2029, Rolex is going ahead with plans to use temporary sites in the same canton, as reported by Coronet.

The two temporary sites, which will be operational as early as 2025, will likely put pressure further on Rolex’s secondary market. There are four times more preowned Rolex watches listed for sale today than in 2021.

On its employment page, Rolex has listed five job openings for the Fribourg site. Rolex plans to hire between 250 and 300 new employees, who will be trained at those locations before transferring to Bulle in 2029, when Rolex’s new CHF1 billion factory is operational.

Earlier this week, Glâne prefecture gave Rolex the green light to start renovating the defunct Tetra Pak site in Romont, in the Fribourg canton. Rolex's other temporary site will be in Villaz-Saint-Pierre.

Rolex-Bucherer Deal Would Pour Billions Into New Foundation

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Now that antitrust authorities have signed off on the deal that shook the watch industry almost a year ago, Rolex’s takeover of the largest watch and jewelry retailer in the world is scheduled to be finalized at the end of this month.

But the owner of the retailer, Jörg Bucherer, won't see the deal close, as he passed away a few months after penning the sale. Like Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf, Bucherer had no children; he died one of the richest men in the canton of Lucerne.

According to insiders, a windfall of at least 4 billion francs from Rolex should go to his estate after the deal closes, leaving an inheritance topping 6 billion francs.

The executor of Bucherer's will, a lawyer named Urs Mühlebach, said the money will go to a new foundation, the Bucherer Foundation. People familiar with the matter say the Lucerne region will “benefit greatly.”

Mühlebach said the foundation’s purpose will be “the promotion and support of music, fine arts and literature, quality tourism, scientific research and teaching, improving the availability of places in retirement and nursing homes, and the care of disabled children.”