They reached for the crown. (Credit: Hodinkee)
Two week after going on a charm offensive at the White House, Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour went on a charm offensive with the rest of the world. He spoke publicly on Wednesday in a live-streamed session at Dubai Watch Week, and for many watch collectors and journalists, it was the first time they had ever heard his voice. “We are a very silent brand,” Dufour said. “We love journalists. Even if we don’t talk to you at Rolex, we love you.”
But it was on the sidelines, just moments after his keynote, that Dufour offered a glimpse into his decision to visit President Donald J. Trump. He told a reporter from Hodinkee that the meeting had been a necessary intervention to confront Switzerland’s economic pain, especially in watchmaking. It remains Dufour’s only recorded comment about the visit.
“We had to do it,” Dufour said. The shock 39% tariffs had hit the industry so hard that “people were frozen,” he said in brief remarks.
Dufour didn’t specify whether he meant the country’s leadership or the watch industry specifically when he said people had “frozen” under the tariff shock. But he seemed to view the visit as unavoidable rather than optional; that it was less a diplomatic gesture and more a last-resort effort to break the deadlock and confront a threat to Swiss manufacturing.