The European Commission publicly released its report for the first time on Friday, outlining its July approval of Rolex's acquisition of Bucherer while examining competition concerns under EU merger regulations.
The 30-page report provides an insight into the Commission's analysis of the buyout’s impact on the watch market, particularly in the €10,000–€49,999 segment, where Rolex already commands a 50–60% market share.
The Commission questioned whether Rolex might prioritize its own products at Bucherer outlets. But it concluded that Rolex lacked the incentive to do so without harming its own broader distribution network.
The Commission also raised concerns that Rolex could gain access to competitors' strategies, given that Bucherer sells products from various brands and holds valuable data on sales performance, inventory levels, marketing strategies and customer preferences. But Rolex pledged to enforce safeguards, including limiting employee access to sensitive information, maintaining completely separate IT systems and restricting Rolex to aggregated data, with detailed data only accessible to non-strategic staff.