Rolex Closes Production, What To Do With Your Watches?

Today, Anna dives into what it means for Rolex to be temporarily closing its doors in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 24, 2020

Rolex closed their doors in light of the pandemic on March 17th, with the intention of reopening their doors ten days later on March 27th. Afterwards, many other brands followed suit, including Hublot and Patek Philippe. To add some context here, Rolex produces an average of 1-1.2 million watches every year, which means if they’re closed only for 10-15 days, they’re missing the production of something like 50,000 watches. It’s likely these final numbers will be higher, as the closure will likely continue beyond their initial estimated duration.

So what does this mean for you, the end consumer currently on a waitlist for a Daytona, a Nautilus, or something from, say, AP? Well, in short, probably not much. While there are no doubt shortages in watches, there are also innumerable collectors currently out of work or working a condensed schedule from home, and buying a new watch simply isn’t a priority for them. For that reason, it’s likely that the market, while taking a dip for sure, will end up evened out by the time all is said and done.

As for brand’s like Swatch, they’re currently investing a ton of money into R&D and digital marketing/media, which is EXACTLY what we’ve been urging brands to do for some time now. Glad to see Swatch listens, at least.