In December, Rolex opened a recruitment center on the 1st floor of the Bulle train station for its new manufacture slated to open in 2029. Rolex's pay and benefits are attractive with higher-than-average pay and pension plans in the canton of Fribourg.
Still, students say Rolex is their third choice among employers, behind Google and UBS, because of the commute to Bulle, a 25-minute drive from the canton’s capital.
Bulle, a small municipality in the district of Gruyère, is gearing up for Rolex's arrival. “Traffic and infrastructure are the two biggest challenges for local government, especially since 2029 is already tomorrow,” Vincent Bosson, the prefect of Gruyère, told the Swiss local newspaper Bilan.
In Bulle, Rolex’s plans will create 2,400 jobs for its fifth factory. The brand will also create a Rolex training center, a welcome news in the watchmaking industry, as not all apprentices end up working for the Crown, and the industry is facing a shortage of watchmakers.
Bulle is planning to build at least two new elementary schools, add one junior high school and is mulling revamping its recreation center. Banks, retailers, hotels, restaurants, construction and equipment companies — all are expecting a boom in business thanks to Rolex’s arrival.
The construction of the new factory, estimated at one billion Swiss francs, will benefit some of the major players in the area, including JPF, Grisoni-Zaugg, and Sottas Building which are expected to bid for the work. Sottas Building was involved in the construction at Rolex-Acacias, Rolex-Genex and Rolex-Plan-les-Ouates and will likely be a favorite.
New neighborhoods will emerge in Bulle as the town is getting ready to build more housing that will accomodate future Rolex employees and their families. The new housing plans were announced, by happenstance, before Rolex picked Bulle as its new location in Dec. 2022.
Still, Rolex's arrival worry some of the local employers, who will have to compete for the workforce and possibly bump employees’ salaries. Rolex, after all, will need more than watchmakers. Logisticians, computer engineers, automation engineers are all expected to be needed at the new manufacture. The District of Gruyère is already experiencing the strongest employment growth in the country over the last decade behind Mesolcina, an Italian-speaking valley in Graubünden, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
In a rare comment, the Crown said it does not seek to “suck up the workforce” but rather be a key player in the local economy.
“Rolex's sole aim is to meet the growing demand for its watches and to maintain its production facilities at the cutting edge of technology,” Rolex said. “The brand does not seek to ‘suck up the workforce.’ On the contrary, it is delighted to be involved in the development of the local economic fabric and to make it one of the new major transmission-of-knowledge centers for future generations.”