Rolex plans new production facility in Bulle, Switzerland

New facilities to support the current growth

Reports that I have read recently claim that Rolex produced 1.24 million timepieces in 2023, generating sales of 10.1 billion Swiss francs ($11.5 billion). This is what anyone could see in Bloomberg via Morgan Stanley's annual watch report.

Despite these impressive figures, production is expected to rise significantly with the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Bulle in 2029, that was firstly announced in 2022. In all honesty, I never heard of Bulle before.

Current facilities and headquarters

Rolex is one of Switzerland's most integrated watch manufacturers. What others would call fully "in-house", producing most components internally. For reference, their Group employs about 14,000 people globally, with approximately 9,000 of those based in Switzerland.

Its headquarters in Acacias, Geneva, handle watch development and assembly (these are the buildings in the pic above that most people know), while movements are manufactured in Bienne. Watch cases and bracelets are produced in Plan-les-Ouates, alongside dials, Cerachrom bezels, and Cerachrom bezel inserts. The brand’s gemology and gem-setting expertise is located in Chêne-Bourg.

The new site: Costly, cutting edge and environmentally friendly

Last Tuesday 4th June, The Crown released an official statement and the first photographic renderings (see below) of the new billion-dollar complex, just three days before submitting a building permit published in the Feuille officielle du canton de Fribourg.

The new facility will be located in Bulle, a small municipality in the Gruyère district, located in the canton of Fribourg. It will account for one-fifth of Rolex's operations and employ around 2,000 workers.This facility will also include four production buildings connected by a central structure.

Till the new site is up and running, Rolex has developed three temporary factories in Romont and Villaz-Saint-Pierre to accelerate manufacturing capacity. These temporary sites will employ 250 to 300 Rolex staff, who will eventually transfer to the Bulle location in approimately six years.

Rolex aims to achieve the highest level of BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) certification, a first for an industrial building in Switzerland. Their goal is to reduce energy consumption by 10% compared to conventional designs.

It will not be cheap but I think the Swiss brand will be able to afford it. The planned 100,000m2 facility in Bulle is estimated to cost over 1B CHF.