The Elusive Executive Behind Rolex’s Golf Empire

Arnaud Laborde.

Rolex on Wednesday announced a sponsorship agreement with LIV Golf, the breakaway league launched in 2022 and backed by Saudi Arabia. For some in Rolex’s and golf’s inner circles, the news came as little surprise. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil was seen chatting with Arnaud Laborde last summer outside the Fownes Room at Oakmont Country Club. Laborde, largely unknown outside the sport, is an influential sponsorship manager at Rolex.

Much of the credit for Rolex’s dominance in golf is attributed to this Swiss executive. A graduate of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Laborde has overseen the brand’s golf sponsorships since he started working at Rolex more than two decades ago.

Rolex’s presence in golf today is extensive. Sponsoring all major men’s and women’s championships, the brand counts 56 golfers on its sponsorship roster, more than in any other sport.

Like many Rolex executives, Laborde maintains a low profile and no social media presence. He can occasionally be spotted in the Rolex suite at golf tournaments, moving easily among players, partners, officials and guests. A journalist at Golf.com who once had lunch with him said: “Some people just have it: true style, no statement hat necessary; a thick, no-fuss head of hair; a warm and unrushed manner; an ability to make easy, sustained eye contact; easy athleticism, too. C’est Arnaud.”

As Gold Tops $5,000, Rolex’s Recycling Bet Pays Off

Gold price, adjusted for inflation. (Sources: LBMA via FactSet; St. Louis Fed)

Rolex has developed a one-of-a-kind gold recycling system, which is now paying dividends more than ever as gold hits fresh records. Gold has risen 17% in 2026 alone and 83% over the past 12 months. Rolex's competitive advantage is now widening thanks to its investment in a powerful, yet little-known, “circular gold” system, which is unmatched in the industry.

Rolex has invested in machines specifically designed to minimize precious metal loss. From washing filings to incinerating polishing cloths, its gold tracking system applies strict limits on material loss through digital monitoring. The brand says it also uses tools without nooks or sharp angles where gold could accumulate, and that its machines feature automated cleaning programs.

“Circular gold aligns with our strategy to minimize the loss of precious metal during manufacturing processes,” Rolex said.

Today, a staggering 91% of the gold Rolex uses for its watches is recycled; just 9% is mined, according to Rolex. The precious metal entrusted to an operator is quantified at each workstation using a digital tool. While the brand still purchases some gold externally and is therefore exposed to market fluctuations, most of its recycled supply comes from its internal processes.

Reaching for the crown, again. (Credit: Rolex)

Rolex Money to Boost Academic Research in Switzerland

A helping hand. (Credit: Rolex)

As research funding comes under pressure elsewhere, including an estimated 22% federal cut at American universities, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, the sole owner of Rolex, is moving into academic research support.

The foundation has traditionally concentrated its philanthropy on a defined set of priorities: health and social, professional training, culture, humanitarian causes and environmental protection. It is now expanding into academic research through a newly created entity, the Fondation pour l’Université de Genève (FUNIGE).

The Wilsdorf Foundation said it will commit 25 million Swiss francs a year to research at the University of Geneva through FUNIGE. The foundation has opened its first call for applications, available to full, associate and assistant professors, with grants of up to 1 million francs per project per year, typically covering about 70% of total costs. Projects may target major scientific challenges or support innovative and exploratory research that falls outside traditional funding programs. The foundation said it will not intervene in research methods or results.

This is not the first time Rolex-linked funds have flowed into higher education in Geneva. As reported by Coronet in 2023, the foundation acquired a 200-million-franc, 14-story building, purchased from Swiss Life, that it plans to transfer to the University of Geneva in 2028. The building will bring together about 3,000 students and 500 faculty and staff and will house the Geneva School of Economics and Management as well as the university’s social sciences faculty.

A Rolex Conundrum in Motor Racing

Two clocks running. (Photo courtesy: Rolex)

Rolex announced Thursday it renewed its title sponsorship of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, preserving a relationship dating back to 1992.

Rolex’s sponsorship in motor sports is a balancing act for a brand placing greater emphasis than ever on protecting the planet, as 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.

At Daytona on Thursday, officials announced a “long-term” agreement though neither Rolex nor Daytona International Speedway disclosed its duration. Winners receive a specially engraved Daytona watch, a prize so famous that a Rolex exit is hard to imagine.

Still, motor racing is inherently resource-intensive, a reality at odds with Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, especially when done in the name of entertainment. Rolex could frame racing as a form of engineering exploration: The same innovations in motor racing that have improved road cars can be applied for cleaner fuels, longer-lasting tires and greater energy efficiency.

This year, for the first time, the race will award a new Sustainability in Racing Award at Daytona, measuring tire usage and energy consumption, including renewable biofuel and hybrid systems, against final rankings.

Rolex Adds Tennis Testimonee to an Already Large Roster

Advantage: Rolex. (Photo: Victoria Mboko via Instagram)

Rolex added this week another tennis player to its ever-growing roster of Testimonees, bringing the total to 32 in tennis alone, the latest sign of the brand’s wherewithal in sponsorship.

Victoria Mboko, the American-born, Canadian-raised 19-year-old whose parents emigrated from Congo, has joined the Rolex family after a meteoric rise last year that made it almost inevitable she would catch the brand’s attention.

Rolex watches are not worn during matches, so product visibility is largely limited to the moment a trophy is lifted at the conclusion of a tournament, and only if it is lifted by a Testimonee. Those images are then reused for Rolex’s communication, including in its boutiques.

The brand is able to sign a mix of top and emerging players, hedging its bets across a wide field of talents. The same approach applies in golf, where Rolex currently counts no fewer than 56 Testimonees. Rather than relying on exposure, which is minimal during the tournament, Rolex’s strategy is built on probabilities — and on funding a portfolio of athletes until one of them reaches for the crown.

As Rolex Consolidates Retail, a European Capital Gets Its First Boutique

Corner office. (Photo credit: Van Battel/Rolex)

Rolex opened on Wednesday its first brand-exclusive boutique in Luxembourg City. The move continues Rolex’s strategy of consolidating smaller points of sale at multi-brand jewelers in favor of large, flagship Rolex boutiques designed to offer a “Rolex experience.”

Wedged between France, Belgium, and Germany, Luxembourg is a financial powerhouse, home to the European Investment Bank and other key EU institutions. Its market-friendly regulations and tax system have helped make it one of the world’s richest countries. Rolex’s new boutique, at 1 Avenue de la Porte-Neuve, spans 220 square meters across two floors.

From Rodeo Drive to Bond Street to the Ginza district — and now Luxembourg City — Rolex is consolidating retail into larger, high-profile flagship stores that function almost as temples to the brand. Unlike traditional retailers, these boutiques go beyond displaying timepieces; they immerse visitors in Rolex’s storytelling, showcasing its heritage, innovations and expertise. The new Luxembourg boutique features an open workshop, where watchmakers work on site in full view of visitors, a sign of Rolex’s shift toward immersive, experience-driven retail.

In the Story of the Submariner, New Photos of Its ‘Father’ Emerge

Dimitri Rebikoff. (Nick Gould via Instagram)

New photographs of Dimitri Rebikoff, widely regarded as the “father of the Submariner,” have surfaced, adding rare, previously unseen images to the history of Rolex. Discovered by Nick Gould, a watch writer based in Australia, and published on his Instagram page on Saturday, the photographs come from an archive just digitized in 2025, he said. They show the pioneering diver on a beach in Cannes, France, demonstrating his torpedo-shaped underwater vehicle, the Pegasus.

Dimitri Rebikoff’s Rolex ref. 6200.

In the early 1950s, as Rolex developed its first dive watch, the brand had access to one of the world’s most experienced scuba divers, who was also a prolific engineer. From early sketches to more than 100 test dives in southern France, Rebikoff was involved at every stage of the Submariner’s development. Internally, before it was named the Submariner, the watch was referred to at Rolex as la pièce Rebikoff, a sign of how influential the diver was to its development.

The images are among the clearest known photographs of Rebikoff wearing an early Submariner, the Rolex reference 6200, with its oversized crown. Gould said he "was absolutely over the moon" when he came across them.

Dimitri Rebikoff. (Nick Gould via Instagram)

The Rolex Resale Market, Exactly Where It Should Be

(Data: WatchCharts.com)

The WatchCharts Rolex Market Index, which is an indicator of the secondary-market performance of Rolex watches, is composed of the top 30 models within the brand, sorted and weighted by transaction value.

Now that the Rolex pre-owned market has reversed its decline in 2025 and continued to climb into 2026, the most recent data on pre-owned Rolex prices tell an interesting story. When prices are extrapolated back to 2017, today’s market sits almost exactly where it is expected to be, and the surge between late 2020 and 2024 stands out as a clear outlier.

For most of Rolex pre-owned market’s history, prices have moved slowly and predictably, rising by only a few percentage points a year. That pattern was established well before 2017, when the WatchCharts index began, and it held in the years leading up to Covid.

From 2017 through early 2020, the trajectory shows a steady, almost linear climb. Extend that pre-Covid trend forward to 2026 and the market would be roughly where it is today. The boom and bust of the pandemic years did not permanently reprice Rolex watches.

In a New Sporting Move, Rolex Signs Its First Padel Player

A new court for the Crown. (Credit: Arturo Coello)

Rolex has signed 21-year-old Arturo Coello, the world No. 1 and the dominant figure in men’s padel today, marking the brand’s first official move into the sport. Rolex has not yet made the announcement or updated its website to list him as a new member of the Rolex family.

The brand’s deep roots in tennis give it a natural bridge into padel. The two sports share athletes, audiences and facilities. Many tennis clubs now feature padel courts. Many tennis fans now play padel recreationally. Coello is Rolex’s first signing in a fast-growing sport that is well behind tennis as a spectator sport, but in other ways is moving ahead of it.

Before padel, Rolex’s most recent expansion into a new sport came through alpine skiing, a category it began developing in 2009, when it signed athletes such as Lara Gut-Behrami and Lindsey Vonn.

An Engraved Daytona, as Tradition, Awaits the Rolex 24 Winners

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex has revealed the engraved Daytona that will be awarded to the winning drivers at the 2026 Rolex 24 At DAYTONA, which starts next Saturday. In the announcement, the brand noted that 2026 is a milestone year, marking the 100th anniversary of the Oyster case. It is the first time Rolex has acknowledged the Oyster’s centenary in an official press release.

Rolex rarely marks anniversaries with new pieces, but the Oyster holds a special place in the brand’s history. Founder Hans Wilsdorf once called it “the most important invention regarding watches of recent years,” believing it would “popularize the wearing of wristwatches with men more than anything else has done.”

Rolex also highlighted an early link between the Oyster and motorsport. In 1933, the watch was worn by Sir Malcolm Campbell when he set a land-speed record of 272 mph (438 km/h) on Daytona Beach in the Bluebird.

LPGA star and two-time Olympian Lexi Thompson, 30, will serve as honorary grand marshal for the race, on Jan. 24. A Rolex Testimonee since she was just 15, Thompson will deliver motorsport’s famous line: “Drivers, start your engines!”

The Watch Changes, but the Blue Remains, in Rolex’s New AO Video

(Photo credit: Rolex via YouTube)

Rolex, after two years, is replacing the blue-dial Datejust used in its Australian Open promotional video with a Rolex GMT-Master II featuring a black-and-blue bezel. The watch shown at the end of the new video — which has yet to be made public and is currently unlisted on YouTube — maintains a blue color theme in line with the tournament’s branding. In the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Australian Open, the featured Rolex was a blue Oyster Perpetual.

It is the first Australian Open promotional video by Rolex to use the brand’s new tagline, “Reach for the crown.” The message reflects Rolex’s new philosophy that it is not just about celebrating achievement, but also about highlighting the long road taken to get there, including the setbacks and the persistence along the way. It is not just about holding the crown, but about reaching for it. The 30-second promotional clip opens with the lines, “It is a very hot day,” and, “It’s going to be tough. No matter what.”

As Rolex Challenges the Grey Market, It Puts Pre-Owned on the Map

Charting a new route for Rolex CPO. (Rolex.com)

In the latest sign of Rolex’s deepening investment into certified pre-owned, the brand has added a dedicated CPO store locator to its website.

When Rolex’s CPO program was announced in late 2022, it was widely viewed as a way to appease customers unable to buy new pieces. Today, it’s looking increasingly like a move to undermine the grey market.

“The idea actually came from the United States,” Jean‑Frédéric Dufour revealed at a Dubai Watch Week forum in November. “We noticed that in some points of sale the number-one brand was Rolex, and the number-two brand was Rolex secondhand.”

The CPO store locator is part of Rolex’s interactive map, which also lists service centers and authorized dealers, officially branded as "Rolex Retailers" globally and "Rolex Jewelers" on the U.S. version of the site. By increasing the visibility of CPO alongside new retail, Rolex signals pre-owned is no longer a side project, but a core part of its business. Coronet reported last week that Rolex plans to upgrade its beige CPO presentation boxes to full-size boxes, narrowing the psychological gap between new and preowned.

The Rolex CPO map includes the newly opened CPO boutique in China, the first in mainland China, located in Nanjing. Managed by Oriental Watch, the boutique is a welcome addition in a market of more than 1.4 billion people. By comparison, the United Kingdom, with a population of 69 million, has around 50 Rolex CPO points of sale.

Rolex and Roger: How the Brand Now 'Humanizes' Model Launches

A different kind of shot. (Photo credit: Rolex)

When Rolex introduced the Perpetual 1908, its first new collection in a decade, the brand asked Roger Federer to be the model for the launch campaign. To “humanize” a launch was a departure for Rolex, which had historically introduced new watches without people. The storytelling instead came from the environment: mountains, the sky, the ocean, a racetrack.

Still, a dress watch like the 1908 offered little in the way of environmental storytelling, leaving Rolex to turn to Federer, who had just retired from tennis. For the release, the brand captioned a photograph of him in a grey sweater, wearing the 1908: “When excellence redefines tradition.”

A year later, in 2024, Rolex asked Federer to model the launch campaign of its steel GMT-Master II with a grey and black bezel. Rolex's narrative, this time, managed to link the former tennis pro to the GMT-Master’s identity: “From Melbourne to New York, Paris to London... travelling the globe has been a constant for the player.”

Most recently, Federer was again asked to front the campaign for Rolex's new collection, the Land-Dweller. He was no longer cast as a traveler, but as “an astute entrepreneur,” someone “reinventing his life to build for the future,” Rolex wrote, echoing the Land-Dweller’s ethos from its press materials.

Rolex predictions are hard to make, but one safe assumption for 2026 is Federer’s presence in the launch campaign. To be sure, women Testimonees have also appeared in Rolex launches, including Yuja Wang for the Land-Dweller. Still, no one has appeared as consistently as Federer, a sign of how central he has become to Rolex’s strategy of featuring people to model new releases.

Roger Federer. (Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex Plans Larger Boxes as Its CPO Business Continues to Grow

(Photo credit: Momentum)

Since Rolex launched its certified pre-owned program in late 2022, it has used beige boxes about half the size of its standard green presentation, a choice consistent with its sustainability messaging while stopping short of the experience associated with buying new.

Last year, Rolex introduced updated, eco-friendly boxes for its new watches, as first reported by Coronet. The brand now plans to apply a similar approach to its CPO presentation boxes, while also increasing their size, the latest sign of its commitment to a program that, by many metrics, has been a success.

Certified and climbing. (Data: WatchCharts)

Rolex’s CPO program has continued to grow in sales and participation despite a volatile economic backdrop marked by war on Europe’s borders, a strong Swiss franc, record gold prices and softening consumer sentiment. Today, CPO pieces are often prominently displayed at Rolex jewelers, occupying prime retail space.

By increasing the size of its CPO beige boxes to match its green ones, Rolex will reduce the psychological gap between new and preowned. CPO clients are often first-time buyers paying a sizable premium, not only over retail prices but also over non-CPO listings. According to WatchCharts, the global median CPO premium across all Rolex CPO listings stands at 28% compared with non-CPO pre-owned watches.

Rolex May Be Hulking Up — and Turning Green — in Hollywood

Going green, calmly. (Photo credit: Marvel)

In 2026, Rolex will likely add one or two more actors to its roster of Testimonees, as it looks to bring in more film talent. The brand signed Leonardo DiCaprio and Zendaya in 2025, surprisingly the first year film actors ever officially represented Rolex.

Mark Ruffalo could be Rolex's next brand ambassador. Known globally for his role in the Marvel franchise, the "Hulk" actor is one of Hollywood’s most outspoken environmental activists, counting 20 million followers on Instagram. Ruffalo co-founded The Solutions Project over a decade ago, which helps small communities switch to 100% renewable energy. He was recently invited on the Planet Visionaries podcast to talk about The Solutions Project. The podcast is sponsored by Rolex.

“I’m an actor and a climate activist, environmental activist,” Ruffalo said on the podcast.

Rolex’s decision to partner with DiCaprio was likely influenced by his well-known environmental advocacy. Zendaya has also been recognized for her sustainability work, including at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards. With Ruffalo, Rolex would be following a similar path, aligning itself with a popular actor whose activism is part of his public image.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Rolex Predictions in 2026

Crystal ball sold separately. (Photo credit: Rolex)

In the media, anniversaries are often overused to justify Rolex predictions. Based on Coronet’s interviews with the brand, Rolex appears to resist using anniversaries as a reason to introduce new watches. The brand even eschews any mention on its official site that the green-bezel Submariner began as an anniversary model.

The 80th anniversary of one of its most important collections, the Datejust, passed in 2025 without any anniversary release. The GMT-Master’s 70th anniversary did as well. When the Submariner turned 70 in 2023, Rolex made a minor hue adjustment to the green bezel, without a press release. The most recent anniversary marked by Rolex with a new model was not even its own, but the 100 years of the Le Mans race.

A more reliable way to make a Rolex prediction is to look at Tudor, as the two brands often move in parallel. Both introduced steel GMT models with Pepsi bezels in 2018. The opaline-dial Black Bay Pro with its orange hand is clearly inspired by the Explorer II. Tudor’s 1970s-style, integrated-bracelet Royal surfaced ahead of the Land-Dweller. Amazingly, this year, both brands released chronographs with pink and turquoise dials within months of each other. (The “Barbie Daytona” is an ultra-rare, off-catalog piece.)

Following Tudor’s release of the Ranger with a light dial just two months ago, a white-dial Explorer would be an easy addition for Rolex while renewing excitement for one of its entry-level watches. Similarly, offering the Daytona on a Jubilee bracelet, as Tudor already does with the Black Bay Chrono, would require minimal industrial change at a time when Rolex’s manufactures operate at full capacity. Finally, Tudor’s release of its first-ever moonphase watch last September also raises questions about the near-term plans for one of Rolex's newest collections, the 1908.

Rolex Comes to Sundance, as Redford’s Submariner Becomes Legacy

Robert Redford. (Photo credit: Warner Bros.)

Until just last year, Rolex did not sign actors as ambassadors of the brand, even though they did much to shape its image. This month, the legacy of Robert Redford and Rolex will intersect more closely than ever, as Rolex is partnering for the first time with Sundance, the world-renowned film festival founded by the late actor and held each January in Utah.

The Sundance Institute plans to honor Redford’s vision and legacy throughout the festival, which begins Jan. 22. Redford, who passed away on Sept. 16, was known to wear his personal Rolex Single-Red Submariner, reference 1680, both on and off screen, including in films such as “All the President’s Men.” The watch has never, to Coronet’s knowledge, appeared at auction, suggesting it remains part of Redford’s estate.

This year, Rolex could encourage Redford’s family to place the watch on display alongside Paul Newman’s Daytona at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, where the brand is a partner. If the family instead chooses to auction the Submariner, the sale would likely raise millions of dollars, potentially benefiting charitable causes, as Newman’s Daytona did.