Last Updated on September, 2024
Rolex watches are made with the highest quality standards. The Swiss watch brand is highly renowned for its commitment to timeless design and top-notch craftsmanship.
But surprisingly, these watches aren’t made in a single location and each of the components of these exquisite timepieces is meticulously crafted and rigorously tested in different specialised facilities located throughout Switzerland.
Quick Summary
- Rolex watches are meticulously crafted in various specialized facilities across Switzerland, including Geneva (headquarters), Plan-les-Ouates (cases and bracelets), Bienne (movements), and Chêne-Bourg (dials and gem settings).
- Rolex watches are made with a focus on high-quality standards, involving complex hand-crafting processes and rigorous testing to ensure precision, durability, and luxury. Each watch undergoes extensive quality control, including deep-sea tests, shock tests, and water resistance checks.
- Rolex is renowned for its luxury, class, and quality, with over 500 registered patents. The brand is highly regarded in the luxury watch industry and maintains strict confidentiality over its innovations.
Who Makes Rolex Watches?
The Swiss watchmaker dates back to the early 20th Century, when Hans Wilsdorf, a remarkable watchmaker, started his career in the early 1900s by working for different Swiss watchmaking firms.
By 1905, Hans set out with Alfred Davis to start their own watchmaking company in London by the name Wilsdorf & Davis. They focused on the distribution of timepieces and soon from Bienne, Switzerland, they began creating their timepieces featuring accurate Rolex movement.
And in 1908, they registered their own company by the name Rolex as the brand of their watches. With Hans’ death in 1960, Rolex was passed to Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which was a private family trust.
With detailed planning and meticulous foresight, Hans made sure that his life’s work continued to endure for decades to come and Rolex came into existence.
Rolex Watch Company Production Locations
In 1919, with the First World War ending, Rolex relocated its headquarters to Geneva.
The Rolex Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
The current Rolex HQ with eleven stories was built back in 1965 in Les Acacias and it supports the renowned Rolex Green. Rolex has registered more than 500 patents by its watchmakers and scientists since its existence.
The Rolex World Headquarters in Les Acacias, Geneva is among the four locations where these exquisite watches are made.
All Rolex watches are assembled and tested in this location, while some other production steps take place in the rest of the three out of the total four sites, which we’ll detail in a bit.
The company is looking to construct a fifth site in Fribourg, Bulle and it has made sure to centralise everything to control every aspect of its watchmaking process.
Watch Cases & Bracelets Come From Plan les Ouates
The Plan les Ouates site is the largest facility that the company owns and it produces quality cases and durable bracelets. The entire Rolex gold foundry is present at this facility. This facility is also home to a cutting-edge lab with all the robotic inventory protected with iris scanners.
In the Plan les Ouates facility, they make their 18k gold materials that are used in the luxury timepieces, in three different blends, including everose gold, white gold, yellow gold, and rose gold alloy.
Rolex also manufactures 904L stainless steel which is called Oystersteel. They form the raw materials and cast the gold, as well as match and polish the finished components before sending them to the Rolex HQ.
Movements are Settled in Bienne
All precise movements are made in-house at Rolex and they have been doing so since 1903. Rolex uses COSC-certified calibres, which means they are tested for accuracy for +/-2 seconds daily and meet exacting standards.
The company made all high-quality calibres until Rolex acquired a company named Aeglar in 2004. Now this facility is owned by Rolex and more than 2000 people are involved in producing high-quality Rolex movements.
Now, this facility makes calibres, patented Parachrom balance springs, and patented Paraflex shock absorbers. Rolex movements involve hundreds of components and they’re all made at this facility.
Rolex has to stay compliant with the criteria that it has set for itself and made it earn the Official Certification from the Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute certification.
Geneva Chêne Bourg is Responsible for Dials & Gem Setting
The gems and dials are all made in Chêne Bourg Geneva dial and gem setting development, which is a town that is a section of the watchmaking district located in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The highly trained professionals involved in the development of these components are exactly the reason why these Rolex watches are of such high quality.
The company’s watchmakers use conventional methods involving handcrafting each dial and then putting it through robust testing to ensure that they meet high standards.
The gemstones used here and the gem setting in this facility are also guaranteed to be flawless. Moreover, the dial markers are crafted meticulously using solid gold and all the items are hand-polished before they leave.
How Long Does it Take to Make a Rolex Watch?
In one of Rolex’s ads about a decade ago, the company mentioned that it takes approximately a year to make a single Rolex watch. Rolex creates around a million watches each year and each of these watches goes through a complex hand-crafting process.
The company understood early that the human eye is much more reliable when spotting any issues in manufacturing and hence, each component is made using the human eye.
Each Rolex watch dial features hand-riveted markings that are tested by dropping to ensure they are fully set.
Hand-crafting all the parts including the case, the dial, the gems, the movements, and the bracelet, all take the majority of the production process that is supposedly an entire year long.
Once all the parts are completed, an estimation is that Rolex watchmakers require at least three and a half hours to assemble all the components and complete the building process of a Rolex watch.
Another one of the company’s claims is that a ceramic bezel takes around 40 hours to create.
Nevertheless, the consensus in the watch industry is that the company makes around a million watches each year. This can be broken down to 2700 watches daily or 82,000 watches a month.
Tested to Meet Highest Standards
Each Rolex watch goes through rigorous quality control testing which includes several inspections conducted by highly skilled watchmakers. Each Rolex watch is tested for various processes, including precision, waterproof capabilities, and self winding functionality.
The process of testing makes sure that each Rolex watch is truly worthy of becoming part of the iconic Rolex family. This makes every Rolex timepiece a true luxury watch and therefore, it leaves the facility with a Green Rolex Seal, which is a five year guarantee.
Chronometric Precision
Quality tests are done to ensure that all movements maintain the guaranteed precision, power reserve, and self-winding function that the company is known for.
Deep Sea Test
The Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea divers’ watches are guaranteed to death at 3900 metres or 12,800 feet. To give such a guarantee, each waterproof watch goes under a high-performance tank.
Each Deepsea timepiece that Rolex produces is exposed to 4.5 tons of force, which is equivalent to diving in such depths. Any flaw in the watch will be destructive and each Sea-Dweller Deepsea watch that goes on sale in the market has survived that test.
Oysterlock System
The Rolex’s hermetically sealed oyster case took inspiration from an oyster that can remain underwater for a long time without ramifications.
This Oysterlock system or oyster case was patented back in 1926, which was a significant moment in watchmaking history when Hans developed a waterproof case.
The modern system that features in Rolex timepieces to ensure damage protection, water protection as well as safety from regulated wear and tear, undergoes 26 different quality control tests before any watch goes out of the facility.
Each Oyster watch case, especially the ones on a Rolex Submariner, is submerged and subjected to pressure underwater that is 10% more than what would be at the depth experienced by all Rolex models. A diver’s waterproof watch is tested for 25% more.
Crash Test
The most severe of all tests that go down in one of the Rolex watch facilities is called the bellier and also the ram.
Their equipment used for shock testing recreates a 5000 G impact or an impact that is hundreds of times worse than a car crash. Under such pressure, the watch must remain unharmed as well as fully functional.
Clasp System
Each Rolex is submerged in a tank filled with chlorine and salt water. And if that’s not it, they add sand and then open and close the clasp tens of thousands of times to ensure that it continues to perform perfectly when locking/unlocking.
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Final Thoughts
With more than 500 registered patents and a reputation as a force to be reckoned with in luxury watchmaking, Rolex is highly regarded as one of the very best.
It’s natural for the company to maintain confidentiality and safeguard its innovations in the luxury watch industry. Rolex represents luxury, class and quality and it has been one of the leading global brands since its inception.
