Where is rolex produced

Suffice to mention that it is not only the movement and cases that go through the final control stage. The complete watch goes through this process.

Now, you might ask, what do they test in the watch? Well, the core focus of the tests centers on the three goals of the watchmaker. The test checks the self-winding, waterproofness, and precision of the watch.

For the Oyster test, they submerge each watch into real-life water scenarios. Also, they use a simulated environment like pressurized tanks that guarantees the level of depth for each model. It is also important to mention that less than 0.

This explains the depth of work that has gone into the production of a single Rolex wristwatch. This facility is located in the northeast of Plan-Les-Ouates. It is amazing to know that Rolex produces every component of its watch in-house. This is one of the major reasons why the brand has remained formidable for years. Additionally, they print and set it with indexes as well as other components. The facility is a ten-story building, with five hidden underground.

Note that they produce the dial in the underground part of the facility. But they do the gem setting and numeral application in bright-lit white rooms with sunlight aboveground.

There are about a hundred people that work on the dial setting at every specific time. In total, the facility houses about people working on dials and gem setting on Rolex watches. Let us mention here that the company produces its dial markers with solid gold and the dials with brass. Additionally, there are more than 60 operations that work on a dial until it gets to its completion stage. Now, the high quality of the setting and gemstone that Rolex uses is exceptional.

The attention to detail on all the dials is unbelievable. Let us point out that Rolex only uses flawless gemstones. You will find only a few diamond Rolex watches in the world. This machine filters stones that the company receives. The job of the machine is to discover any fake stones and diamonds in the supply. This is to guide against any inferior material for the production of its watches.

Of course, you may wonder how often they discover fake stones from the lots they receive on a regular basis. According to Rolex, they see only one out of ten million stones. Yet, they keep checking the stones day in and day out. No doubt, this is what makes Rolex what it is today. Yes, you heard right. Rolex definitely has a finishing unit in its facility. This might sound outrageous but the company finishes each of its watches to perfection.

Here, the company holds each of its cases against a polished wheel for perfect finishing. Essentially, humans do this job. At each point, there are about fifty to sixty people who polish the cases. It is quite interesting that Rolex assembles its Jubilee and Oyster bracelets by hand, using some well-designed guide templates. These are also designed in-house.

A Rolex is, no doubt, a masterpiece. A lot has gone into the production and craft of the watches. And only the best brand could have done that. If you have ever thought that a Rolex watch is expensive, the production and facilities details highlighted above should convince you of its worth. It is little wonder that Rolex is the leading wristwatch brand in the world. Many watch lovers are familiar with the fact that Rolex uses a type of steel that no one else uses.

Stainless steel is not all the same. Steel comes in various types and grades Today, all the steel in Rolex watches is made from L steel, and as far as we know, pretty much no one else does.

Rolex used to use the same steel as everyone else, but in around they moved their entire steel production to L steel. In they released their first L steel watch with a few versions of the Sea-Dweller. Most important to Rolex, is that L steel, when worked properly, is able to take and hold polishes incredibly well. If you've ever noticed that steel on a Rolex watch looks different than other watches, it is because of L steel, and how Rolex has learned to work with it.

A natural question is why doesn't everyone else in the watch industry use L steel? A good guess is because it is more expensive and much more complicated to machine. Rolex had to replace most of their steel working machines and tools to deal with L steel.

It made sense for them because of the amount of watches they produce, and because they make all their parts in-house. Most other brands get their cases made from outside suppliers. So even though L steel is better than L steel for watches, it is more expensive, requires special tools and skills, and is overall more difficult to work with. This has prevented other brands so far from taking advantage of it, and is something special that Rolex has. The benefit is obvious once you handle any steel Rolex watch.

Rolex labs are as diverse as they are amazing. Perhaps the most visually interesting is the chemistry lab. Full of beakers and tubes that carry liquids and gases, the Rolex chemistry lab is full of highly trained scientists. What is it mostly used for? Well one thing that Rolex stated is that the lab is used for developing and researching oils and lubricants that they use in machines during the manufacturing process. Rolex has a room with multiple electron microscopes and some gas spectrometers.

They are able to take an extremely close look at metals and other materials to investigate the effects of machining and manufacturing techniques. These large areas are extremely impressive and are used seriously on a regular basis to remedy or prevent possible problems. Of course Rolex also uses its science labs on the watches themselves.

An interesting room is the stress test room. Here watch movements, bracelets, and cases undergo simulated wear and abuse on custom-made machines and robots. Let's just say that it would not be unreasonable to assume your typical Rolex is designed to last a lifetime or two. One of biggest misconceptions about Rolex is that machines build their watches.

The rumor is so pervasive that even people at aBlogtoWatch believed it to be mostly true. This is because traditionally Rolex didn't communicate much on this topic. Well the truth is that Rolex watches are given all the hands-on human attention that you'd like to expect from a fine Swiss made watch. Rolex uses machines in the process for sure. In fact, Rolex easily has the most sophisticated watch making machinery in the world. The robots and other automated tasks are really used for tasks that humans aren't as good at.

These include sorting, filing, cataloging, and very delicate procedures that involve the type of care you want a machine to handle. Most of these machines are still human-operated though. And everything from Rolex movements to bracelets are assembled by hand.

A machine however helps with doing things such as applying the right pressure when attaching pins, aligning parts, and pressing down hands. Having said that, all Rolex watch hands are still set by hand via a trained technician. It would be an understatement to suggest that Rolex is obsessive about quality control.

A predominant theme in the manufacture is that things are checked, re-checked, and then checked again. It feels as though their goal is to ensure that if a Rolex watch fails, it does so before it leaves the factory.

Large teams of watchmakers and assembly people work on every single movement that Rolex produces. This is before and after their movements are sent to COSC for chronometer certification. And on top of that, Rolex re-tests their movements for accuracy after they are cased for several days while simulating wear before they are sent out to retailers. Rolex makes their own gold. While they have a small handful of suppliers that send them steel Rolex still works the steel in-house to make all the parts , all the gold and platinum is made in-house.

Large kilns under hot flames are used to melt and mix the metals which are then turned into cases and bracelets. Because Rolex controls the production and machining of their gold, they are able to strictly ensure not only quality, but the best looking parts. To our knowledge Rolex is the only watch manufacture that makes their own gold or even has a real foundry in-house. Here the watch will see the last 10 or so steps of assembly. This includes placing many of the components from the other three facilities into the watch.

Remember, Rolex is arguably one of the most vertically integrated watch manufacture in the world, and it makes just about every component of the watch itself. One thing it does not make, however, are the hands — which come from a supplier called Fiedler SA — and crystals. The first thing I notice when I step inside Rolex is just how many people there are.

Machines too, but mostly people. You'll see dials and hands being set into the watch, movements being put in cases, and serial numbers being entered into a global database that allows Rolex to track the flow of each and every watch. Each group in the final assembly facility is totally autonomous, and they work on two to three month rotations.

Attaching hands, for example, is a simple enough process, but ensuring that the hands rotate with the right amount of tension, are completely parallel to the dial, as well as ensuring they will clear the glass in the right way, is an arduous process. Then, after the dial is mounted, a watchmaker will take as much time as necessary to ensure there is not a single speck of dust anywhere inside the watch.

One of the final steps is to replace the temporary crown of the movement placed in by COSC, and attach the self-winding rotor. After final assembly is completed and a watch actually looks like a watch, they are turned over to final control for what can only be described as a downright shockingly intense set of tests.

It should be noted the full watches go into final control — not just movements, or cases, but entirely completed watches, as you'll receive them.

This means they have their hands on, bracelets are attached, and they are ready to wear. The three focuses of these tests are exactly what you would expect from founder Hans Wilsdorf's three goals in watchmaking: precision, waterproofness, and self-winding. The Oyster test submerges each watch into real-life conditions — or pressurized tanks that simulate the guaranteed depth of each model with an additional margin of 10 percent for good measure. The dive watches? They're actually tested to an additional 25 percent margin, in a special machine designed by no one short of Rolex's historical partner in dive-watch badassery, COMEX.

Less than 0. After the waterproofness test and self-winding module examination, the completed watches are set into boxes of 10 for a rigorous hour accuracy test. But before the test begins, the watches are photographed — exactly 24 hour later the watches will be photographed again, and the two images laid upon each other.

If the images do not align perfectly, the watch will be sent back for further adjustment. For all those watches that make it through this final stage of testing, final bracelets will be fitted, COSC tags applied, and finally, they will be placed into a completely proprietary Rolex shipping container for distribution to their destination markets.

This, my friends, is where things get good. Plans-les-Ouates an industrial park outside Geneva that's also home to, among others, Piaget, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin is where the Rolex of our collective imagination comes to reality — complete with robotic inventory machines straight out of Star Wars , a private gold foundry, and iris scanners.

Built in , Rolex Plan-les-Ouates is the largest of all Rolex facilities, comprising six different wings that are 65 meters long by 30 meters wide by 30 meters high, all linked by a central axis. I should also note that everything you can see from the outside of the building is actually less than half of what Rolex has here — the complex is 11 stories high, but you can only see five from the outside.

The other six are underground and completely hidden from a casual observer's eye, or the eyes of would-be competitors. Here there are not only no cameras allowed inside, but we are also asked to surrender our mobile phones.

This facility is, in my opinion, the core of Rolex's competitive advantage and unlike any other Swiss German, or Japanese watchmaking facility on the planet. It may actually be completely unique in other industries too. I'll explain why below. Upon entry and surrender of all digital device , we take a small elevator a few floors underground. The doors open to reveal what looks to be something akin to Dr.

Evil's underground lair, in the best possible way. The floor is cement, the hallways are wide. Access control points are everywhere — if someone doesn't absolutely need to be in a particular room, then they simply do not have access to it. We immediately notice a gigantic elevator door — and when I say gigantic, I mean an elevator at a scale that I've never seen. I inquire about it — it can hold a load of up to five tons. We are shuffled into a secure room — we are about to see the legendary Rolex automated stock system.

Our guide places his eyes to the iris scanner no lie the doors slide open, and what we see is downright startling. It looks like this. Sorry guys. No photos allowed, nor provided. So what I will do is give you my best written description of what this absolutely extraordinary automated system looks like. There are two 12, cubic meter vaults, spliced by a network of rails totaling 1. The view is straight out of Star Wars , minus the s camp. This is efficiency defined.

There are two, 12, cubic meter vaults, spliced by a network of rails totaling 1. The view is straight out of Star Wars. Once someone within the workshops above requests a component, this incredible system takes just minutes to retrieve it and deliver it to their work station. I remember when I was in undergraduate business school, our supply chain professional proclaimed Wal-Mart to be the model of professional logistics. I would almost guarantee you he said that because he'd never been to Rolex Plans-les-Ouates.

Rolex owns its own foundry, where it creates its very own formulas for three different kinds of gold, and its own formulation of L stainless steel. Every single alloy used by Rolex is produced entirely in-house because, as they are quick to point out, the composition of the metal is the most important factor in determining a watch's aesthetic, mechanical, and dimensional properties.

Rolex is able to make these special compounds because they have invested in something that few other watch companies would even dream of: a central laboratory with world-class experts in not only materials, but also tribology — the science of friction, lubrication, and wear — chemistry, and materials physics. This laboratory was truly extraordinary to see, and what was perhaps most impressive about the lab was not only the incredible testing going on, and the machines they've developed themselves for example, Rolex invented a machine to open and close an Oyster bracelet clasp 1, times in a matter of minutes , but also the people who work there.

I was asked not to mention from where Rolex has retained many of its top-tier scientists, but you can guess, and they are percent not from the watch industry. Rolex's ceramics department is also industry-leading, and while we only really see it used on bezels so far, the team is enthusiastic about its possibilities. It is in this facility that I also saw something that I really never expected to see — a finishing department.

Rolex does finish their watches, and expertly at that, just without the traditional aesthetic flourishes that we as consumers tend to look for when we are examining haute horlogerie , which of course, Rolex is not. Cases are held against a polish wheel by humans, just as they are at Jaeger-LeCoultre or Audemars Piguet. At any given time, there are between 50 and 60 people polishing the cases of Rolex watches.

The human element in Rolex watchmaking is more than substantial and very real. Assembling the trademark Rolex Oyster and Jubilee bracelets is also done by hand with the assistance of some very clever guide templates — made completely in-house, of course. As I've said several times now, Rolex makes just about everything on its watches in its own special way — this includes dials.

The building is 10 stories in total but again, five of them are hidden underground. The production takes place underground, while the numeral application done by hand and gem-setting also by hand takes place in bright-white rooms filled with sunlight. At least people are working on dial-setting at any given time. In the past, paint was applied to the dial with Scotch tape — seriously — but now it is transferred with a special silicon pad made, you guessed it, completely in-house by Rolex.

All dials are made of brass, while all dial markers are solid gold, and over 60 operations must be completed before a dial is finished. I think what was perhaps most surprising about my visit to Chene-Bourg was the quality of gemstone and setting work Rolex does.

I don't really think of Rolex producing many watches with diamonds and stones, and they admit they don't. But, this is Rolex and if they are going to do something, they are going to do it the Rolex way. This means 20 in-house gem setters, some of whom have names like Bulgari and Cartier on their resume. The stones they use?

Only IF quality — otherwise known as "internally flawless" for those not familiar with jewelry-speak. One of the coolest things I saw here was a machine that Rolex uses to filter the stones they receive for fakes, or anything that might not be what it's supposed to be. One assumes that any supplier of Rolex understands just how big a business it is and might be tempted to take advantage of this, perhaps by including fake diamonds in with the real stones.

Yes, well, Rolex has a machine in-house that can filter stones in mass to cull out anything that isn't a real diamond. The machine costs tens of thousands of dollars so I asked how frequently they received a stone from a supplier that wasn't an actual diamond. The answer? About one out of 10 million. They do it anyway, because this is Rolex. This region is arguably the heart of Swiss watchmaking and Bienne is the very heart of Rolex. It was, of course, up until a completely separate company owned by the Borel family of the Aegler company — hard to believe if you're hearing it for the first time but indeed, Rolex didn't own its own movement supplier until the Borel family sold it to Rolex Geneva in , for reportedly over CHF 1 billion.

Despite that, there isn't a location that is more Rolex than Bienne, and going inside here is easily the most exclusive invitation in all of watchmaking. The contents of this 92, square meter facility are, in the world of watchmaking, essentially priceless. This is the building everyone who loves watches, and who's interested in Rolex, dreams of getting inside.

Let's get one thing straight first — all Rolex calibers are completely made in-house to a degree matched by almost no other brand. Second, each movement is hand-assembled. That doesn't mean Rolex doesn't employ some absolutely next-level machinery to get components to a point where the watchmakers can put together the movements.

Bienne does use a version of Rolex's in-house stocking system that I mentioned earlier, though on a pared-down level. Here, I am happy to report, is an image of the Bienne system along with a look at the beautiful interior of the facility.

The reason that Rolex allows so few people into the Bienne location is because they have created a truly unique manufacturing system, for which they have built machines that create unique components exclusive to Rolex. Blanks of brass, copper, and steel are cut using proprietary machines unseen anywhere else in Switzerland, via spark erosion. Baseplates are produced at a rate of about per minute. There are stripping machines where raw metal is inserted in one end, and out the other end comes full components with pins already in them.

There are stripping machines where raw metal is inserted in one end, and out the other end comes full components witih pins already in them. There are machines in Bienne that are capable of doing the work of traditional tools in a matter of 50 seconds. These we were asked to not photograph, and I am sure you understand why. It is also in Bienne that several components unseen elsewhere in watchmaking are produced. This includes the Parachrom balance spring, and the Paraflex Shock Absorber — two things that, in the opinion of many, are essential to the accuracy and durability of Rolexes.

This balance spring was developed entirely by Rolex and is patented. Compose of a niobium-zirconium alloy, it can offer up to 10 times better accuracy than a traditional balance spring. It is unaffected by shocks, or magnetic fields, eliminating the need for anti-magnetic cages. The process by which the Parachrom spring is created is daunting. Tolerances are within microns, and the amount of work that goes into these springs is extraordinary.

Over people are required to work in this department, and each spring features a Breguet-type overcoil. The tool that makes this final curve is proprietary to Rolex, though it requires human operation. The Paraflex Shock Absorber, seen above, is an other completely new development from Rolex.

After extensive work with 3-D modeling, Rolex was left with a patented innovation that improved on traditional systems by over 50 percent. As for the actual watchmaking, there is indeed a difference between complicated and non-complicated watches.

Those calibers that are considered in the elite group of Rolex production are those from the Sky-Dweller, Yacht-Masters, and Daytona. Over people work on these three watches alone, with eight different cells of 15 people each.

The caliber , Rolex's in-house chronograph caliber, I am told, has received numerous updates since its launch, but without much mention from Rolex, or the press. While my hosts that day don't say specifically what has been done to the since its launch, this left me curious. Could it be that a watch company would actually spend the money and take the time to make a better product without shouting from the rooftops about it? Could it be that a watch company would actually spend the money and take the time to make a better product without shouting from the rooftop about it?