Rolex’s competitive advantage was always its brand recognition. Increasingly, it is becoming its retail properties, with flagships and prestigious addresses on a scale never seen before in the history of the Swiss watch industry. Through Bucherer, Rolex is reaching investment records few brands can match, opening multistory, full-experience flagships while renovating existing ones and ending contracts with smaller independent retailers. The latest example is a planned CHF30 million overhaul of Bucherer’s landmark store at Schwanenplatz in Lucerne.
In August, Coronet reported that Bucherer had around 40 boutique openings and renovations in its pipeline. In October alone, it inaugurated major Rolex boutiques in Paris, Hong Kong and Bellevue, Wash. A few months earlier, it opened boutiques in Shanghai, Munich, Stuttgart and on Mount Titlis, 9,908 feet above sea level. On Jan. 1, it plans to take over an established Rolex boutique from an independent retailer at a luxury mall in Honolulu. All while preparing for its biggest opening of 2027 by far: Rolex’s 28-story tower on Fifth Avenue in New York.
In Switzerland, the CHF30 million renovation of Bucherer's most prominent address, the century-old flagship at Schwanenplatz, will create a new atrium connecting the ground floor through the third floor, add staircases and an additional elevator, publicly filed plans reveal. Bucherer also wants to replace and enlarge some windows, move the famous Rolex clock, revamp the facades facing Schwanenplatz and Grendel, and give the building a new color scheme. Surprisingly, the famous Rolex projecting sign will be removed, but the “Bucherer” lettering on the roof will remain.