Rolex breaks its silence with a rare comment about the shortage of its watches: ‘The scarcity of our products is not a strategy on our part’
Rolex said the shortage of its watches is “not a strategy” in response to a story by Yahoo Finance.
The Swiss company is notoriously secretive about its production and distribution.
Even with the constrained supply, Rolex commands 25% of the global luxury watch market.
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Back when Rolex collector and expert Jeffrey Hess first published his unauthorized history of the company in 1996, some of the most eager buyers were from the ad agency representing the Swiss luxury watch brand.
“I asked one of the guys and he said, ‘Do you know how hard it is to write ad copy for a company like Rolex that is so secretive and so careful?'” Hess told Insider.
In the decades since, Rolex hasn’t exactly gotten more transparent, even as the company continues to dominate the category it effectively invented over a century ago, and especially as demand for its watches has reached a fever pitch during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In short, during a time of widespread supply disruptions and shortages, getting your hands on a Rolex has arguably never been more difficult or expensive.
Insider has tried repeatedly to seek comment on past stories, but the company has been non-responsive. It does not offer any publicly available press contact information, and attempts to reach out using traditionally formatted media and press email addresses at Rolex.com have been returned with a notice that the messages have been “blocked.”
But shortly after Yahoo Finance published its own report on the Rolex shortage, the company uncharacteristically broke its silence and responded with a written statement.
“The scarcity of our products is not a strategy on our part,” the company said. “Our current production cannot meet the existing demand in an exhaustive way, at least not without reducing the quality of our watches – something we refuse to do as the quality of our products must never be compromised.”
“Rolex does not compromise on what it takes to produce exceptional watches,” the statement continued.
The statement also pointed out that all Rolex watches are assembled by hand at one of its four locations in Switzerland, a process that “naturally restricts our production capacities.”
Lastly, the company said it did not bear responsibility for which customers get what watches, since its network of authorized distributors independently manage their own wait-lists for new product.
To read the statement in full, check out the original story on Yahoo Finance.
Rolex Issues Statement on Scarcity of Its Watches
The scarcity of product across the whole of Rolex’s collection has reached the point where the unthinkable has happened, the brand has commented on the situation.
Rolex is known as the least communicative of all the Swiss watch brands – by far – and given that Rolex SA is owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which is recognized by the Swiss government as a charitable trust, that’s hardly surprising.
As such Rolex is entirely private, with no shareholders to answer to. The company simply ploughs ahead with the business of producing watches with no remit beyond self-perpetuation, although a percentage of profits do finance the Foundation’s philanthropic pursuits.
So for the company to issue a statement to the press is almost unthinkable, but that’s what happened when Yahoo! Finance looked into the growing issue of shortages.
In the piece, a number of sources each have their own take on possible causes for the global shortage of Rolex watches, but the article arrives at the conclusion that it is most likely a confluence of all them leading to a “perfect storm”, everything from pandemic supply issues, unprecedented demand and the resale market, drawing parallels with the sneaker market.
The statement reads: “The scarcity of our products is not a strategy on our part. Our current production cannot meet the existing demand in an exhaustive way, at least not without reducing the quality of our watches – something we refuse to do as the quality of our products must never be compromised. This level of excellence requires time, and as we have always done, we will continue to take the necessary time to ensure that all our watches not only comply with our standards of excellence, but also meet the expectations of our customers in terms of quality, reliability and robustness. Rolex does not compromise on what it takes to produce exceptional watches.”
“All Rolex watches are developed and produced in-house at our four sites in Switzerland. They are assembled by hand, with extreme care, to meet the brand’s unique and high-quality standards of quality, performance and aesthetics. Understandably, this naturally restricts our production capacities – which we continue to increase as much as possible and always according to our quality criteria.”
“Finally, it should be noted that Rolex watches are available exclusively from official retailers, who independently manage the allocation of watches to customers.”
While that sign-off might sound like Rolex passing the buck onto its retailers, they aren’t the only watchmaker to have expressed frustration with an inability to meet growing demand. Patek Philippe’s President Thierry Stern has been very vocal in recent years about the problems of expanding production and the length of time needed to train new watchmakers, once estimating that a theoretical doubling of production might take 20 years to implement.
In other watch news, Panerai teams up with tuner and boatbuilder, Brabus.
Thief steals $24,000 Rolex off sleeping man’s wrist in DC hotel lobby
Armin Zeyafatzadeh says he was robbed of his $24K Rolex while sound asleep in the lobby of the Residence Inn Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Armin Zeyafatzadeh of California took a trip to Washington, D.C. to retrieve his passport on July 30. He booked a two-night stay at the Residence Inn Courtyard by Marriott hotel. His plan was to take a quick trip to handle business and then head back home.
But those plans were thwarted when he says he was robbed of his $24,000 Rolex watch while sound asleep in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel on L St. in NW.
Zeyafatzadeh arrived at the hotel around 1 a.m., hours before his booking. Unfortunately, the hotel was unable to accommodate an early check-in. So he settled down in the lobby to wait until noon. There weren’t many people moving around the area at that time of the morning. However, there was another man sitting close by, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, shorts and a ball cap.
“I hadn’t slept in over 48 hours,” said Zeyafatzadeh. “So I fell asleep in the lobby.”
By 3 a.m. the traveler had drifted soundly into a deep slumber with his head tilted back and mouth wide open. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by the man sitting close by. Thirty minutes later, the hotel security camera caught the suspected stealthy thief get up from his seat and inch closer to the now sleeping and inattentive Zeyafatzadeh.
The suspect spots the exposed watch. Edging closer, he touches Zeyafatzadeh’s wrist to get a better look.
Still, Zeyafatzadeh’s never awakens.
The suspect then looks around to see if anyone is watching and then moves in for the steal. With the victim still knocked out, the thief uses both hands to lift Zeyafatzadeh’s wrist and unbuckle the watch off before making a hasty exit.
Zeyafatzadeh finally wakes up and noticed something was terribly wrong. His luxury watch, which he has worn every day for the last two years, was missing.
He panicked and alerted the hotel staff. A staff member helped him look through security footage. And there he saw himself, limp and unaware while the suspected thief took what he wanted like a kid at the candy store.
Full Security Cam Footage:
Zeyafatzadeh filed a report with D.C. Police. Turns out that the suspect was staying at the same hotel. By the time the watch was reported stolen he was long gone. Authorities checked the suspect’s room but the Rolex was nowhere to be found according to the police report.
“I don’t want something like this to happen again, it hurt a lot,” said Zeyafatzadeh. “I realized it’s not even worth it.”