(Photo credit: Time Files)
The city where Rolex watches were born doesn't have a Rolex authorized dealer. That's about to change on Friday, when watch retailer L'Art du Temps opens a Rolex boutique in Bienne, a Swiss city nestled near the Jura mountains.
It's not in Geneva but in Bienne that the first fully finished Rolex watches were assembled more than 100 years ago, according to the Bienne-based publication Time Files.
It's also where the first Rolex movements were built, and continue to be built today in Rolex’s 3,000-employee manufacture. “The heart of the watch starts beating in Bienne,” Rolex once said.
So it's highly unusual for such a historically significant city of 55,000 residents to find itself without a Rolex boutique when the previous retailer, Villiger, unexpectedly lost its dealership contract in 2022.
But starting Friday, L’Art du Temps hopes to quicken the pulse again of the heart of Rolex.