Rolex

A lot of sales people at Rolex dealers have said "A Rolex Takes A Year To Make" or some derivation near that. I remember first hearing that statement when I was an eight year old kid and found it dubious. I suppose with EXTREMELY LOOSE definitions, like w...  

A couple weeks ago I got a survey request from them and the last question was "do you trust Hodinkee?" Guess what my answer was... 😉

Everybody makes mistakes, but that one was an extremely appalling one. And she stated multiple assumptions and incorrect facts. For instance, at the very end she claimed the ladies' two tone is the most popular reference ever made. Not true!

An expensive watch, it sounds good to their ears. The WIS are probably few and far between so many of these sales people take their chances or odds? Don’t know, just spitballing.

But I remember I was a very young kid, under ten, when I first heard this and I thought that couldn't make sense. It just couldn't. GDP per capita in Switzerland being what it is, then the watch would have to cost a lot more money than the $8,000 they cha... 

Honestly, she knows/or should know quite a few WISs go on Hodinkee. Misleading may not be the proper term.

"So much for expert witnesses," common lawyer quote.

Candidness concerning this.

I remember I was eight years old at a Ben Bridge Jeweler when I first heard this statement that "a Rolex takes a year to make" and I was thinking it was a salesperson's rhetoric. But for an editor at Hodinkee... That was a big shock. Also, 2.3 million vie... 

The way information gets around, especially with today’s technology, more so for its falsity, is scary. As you plainly laid out. I don’t know sometimes, what to do about all this, yeah, but it is wrong.

Hardly anything is accurate on their site: ...  

Imagine how many employees/watchmakers they would need to produce 1,000,000 watches a year.

And they'd have to charge a lot. Geneva is an expensive place to live!

Say 8000 for the Rolex Ave 2000 working hrs in a year Hmm ... $4 per hour? Don’t think so. More realistic guess might be Say $1000 overhead/equipment etc And $500 materials With $1500 labor @ $50/hr = 30 hrs = one person/week And $1500 profit Thus $3500 f... 

I was better at basic mental math when I was a child than I am even now. So just doing some multiplications in my mind, it didn't make sense.

Philippe Dufour ought to charge millions for his work since he's only able to make one or two pieces in his lifetime!

So yes, the one year to make a Rolex is BS so is the “Hand made” term used on high horology. While very part is supplied by robots, the assembly is still done by watchmakers at Rolex. The videos we see, e.g. AP, Lange, Patek, Kari, depicting a watchmaker ... 

It's just sad that a supposed expert from a horology/watch news outlet is so misinformed and in a position to misinform the public. Supposedly, 2.3 million people viewed that video according to YouTube!

It would be strange for her to say that the production time of a Rolex watch is a "couple of months". Then everyone will reasonably ask: why is there a shortage of mass product, where are of Submariners, GMT, Daytona...?

That's actually incorrect in my experience. In the USA I've met many Rolex account executives, managers, and trainers. They actually dispel these myths and ask the sales professionals to not make these erroneous statements. They also instruct their sales ... 

However, I judge by my experience working with brand managers. My view from Russia) Personally, I don't believe that miss Cara is so out of touch with reality, and this phrase is a figment of her imagination. After all, her boss visited the Rolex factory.... 

Your assumption that she got the incorrect information from her boss or someone else is plausible. I doubt any of her bosses are going to admit to that they fed her this inaccurate information though. We will never know.

To mine the gold? To mine the iron? For the sun the sea and the wind to make silicone for gaskets. Or even to grow rubber trees? For carbon to be pressurized into diamonds? How long to make the tools to make the tools to make the robots that make the case... 

I agree, I think I put in above that they're counting the time the alligator is an egg till the alligator strap is produced! And they're counting the thousands of years it took for dinosaurs to turn into oil. They must be counting those years too, but the... 

A watch might take a day or less to be assembled and finished but those one year old parts would qualify the one year time frame... Just my 2 cents..

I'm not being sarcastic. But I am taking her word somewhat literally. But it's just so misleading.

this is only talking about watches. Most of us probably realise, that not the smallest part of what we read and hear everyday on internet, TV, Radio, newspapers etc. is far away from truth and reality. What makes me wonder is, how many people take all tha... 

Anyone with this simple logical thought, the labor cost alone is many times more than $5000, the price of a new Rolex Oyster Perpetual. Unless Rolexes are made in a country with extremely low labor costs. But Rolexes are made in Switzerland, which has fai... 

But I get what you mean!

No message body

...it's the 40-60 years of built-up wabi that makes Sports Rolex so expensive! Kind regards, Dan

So there's the possibility that millions of people have absorbed this message and assume it to be factual!

she said it with a straight face...almost

Maybe she was like me, I first heard that "a Rolex takes a year to make" statement when I was eight years old. Maybe she heard it when she was very young, assumed it to be true, and has propagated it as fact. Someone should inform her she's very mistaken....