After launching its eco-friendly presentation boxes last year, Rolex is launching a new green packaging initiative, this time inside its manufactures. Rolex's latest plan is not customer-facing but focuses on the polypropylene packaging used to transport watch dials between Rolex's production sites, a process invisible to customers. Rolex said it used about 20.2 tonnes of polypropylene, a fossil-based plastic, each year.
At a time when much of the luxury industry promotes its green efforts, Rolex is spending money in production changes customers will never learn about. Coronet has previously reported on the company's painstaking efforts to recycle gold scrap, reducing both mining and cost. Rolex is also investing in new manufacturing equipment that consumes less electricity and is currently testing alternatives to fossil-based materials. At its new manufacture in Bulle, scheduled to open in 2029, 98% of heating will come from renewable energy recovered through industrial heat-recovery systems.
At a more micro level, Rolex is targeting dial packaging. The brand plans to reuse some containers up to four times where production flows allow, it says, replacing the current single-use system for transporting dials between sites. Over a full year, Rolex estimates the initiative will cut annual packaging consumption to about one-third of current levels. The brand is also studying the use of recycled polypropylene, sourced inside Rolex or from suppliers, for future dial packaging.