Official renderings of new billion-dollar Rolex factory expected to skyrocket production
- Rolex is hoping to expand production with a new Rolex factory in Bulle, Switzerland
- The brand is best known for its rare and desirable watches
- The facility is set to cost billions
Published on Jun 10, 2024 at 8:33 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jun 11, 2024 at 11:39 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
Perhaps previously best known for the rare and desirable watched, Rolex is hoping to expand production with a new Rolex factory in Bulle, Switzerland, set to cost billions.
Official renderings have already been revealed, with The Crown announcing their expansion back in 2022.
And the images look almost as good as the brand’s iconic timepieces.
READ MORE! Sylvester Stallone owned the most complicated watch in the world and sold it for $5.4 million
Why is Rolex building a factory now?
Rolex produced 1.24 million timepieces in 2023 – here are some of its most stunning timepieces for 2024.
Its 2023 production amounted to 10.1 billion Swiss francs, roughly $11.5 billion, according to Bloomberg and Morgan Stanley’s annual report.
Far further back in time, this classic watch was made and more recently rediscovered in the Mojave desert.
When will it start making watches?
Looking into the future, the factory is projected to get cogs turning in 2029.
The facility in Bulle, near Gruyère, Freiburg, has already received a building permit per the Feuille officielle du canton de Fribourg.
Rolex is one of the most integrated Swiss watch manufacturers – a company renowned for its luxury timepieces.
Its components are largely produced internally, with 9,000 of its 14,000 entire workforce located in Switzerland.
In fact, it’s headquartered with watches developed and put together in Acacias, Geneva.
Intricate movements are manufactured in Bienne, and cases and bracelets, dials, Cerachrom bezels, and Cerachrom bezel inserts are produced in Plan-les-Ouates.
Last but certainly not least, the brand’s gemmology and gem-setting take place in Chêne-Bourg.
The new location in Bulle will produce 20 percent of that work, employing 2,000 workers across its four production buildings connected by a central building.
This means the factory equates to 100,000 square meters.
With being kinder to the climate firmly in mind, Rolex is aiming to reduce its factory buildings’ energy consumption by 10 percent compared to a conventional building.
It hopes to attain the highest level of Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification – a first for a Swiss industrial building, per NZZ.
It will cost the luxury company upwards of one billion Swiss francs.
Rolex has built three temporary factories in Romont and Villaz-Saint-Pierre to amp up production before then.
A shift for the watch company specializing in rare timepieces, like one of the rarest Rolex watches in the world that sold for $3.5 million at auction
Each with 250 to 300 Rolex employees, it’s set to be a gradual shift to Bulle over six years.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
