how long does it take to manufacture a rolex?

[stewie]

Anyone know how long it takes Rolex to manufacture 1 watch? I read somewhere that it took a year. I dunno....

[frostie]

Originally Posted by stewie

Anyone know how long it takes Rolex to manufacture 1 watch? I read somewhere that it took a year. I dunno....

That's what they used to say in the old days. Now everything is automated. The only thing that is done by humans is the assembly of the watch. I believe that it is a matter of a week to make a watch

[BigHat]

Probably need to be an expert in LEAN and cost accting to figure this out. Also what's a "year" ? One man's hourly wages for 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year even if 100 workers contribute, or a start to finish process that takes 12 calendar months?

Lange can build a watch nearly totally by hand in much less time. I'd say by any measure this assertion is total BS unless they keep 12 months worth of bracelet pins on hand to make this technically true.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by stewie

Anyone know how long it takes Rolex to manufacture 1 watch? I read somewhere that it took a year. I dunno....

This was quite a resent topic already discussed afraid its a bit of Rolex hype just like saying how long is a piece of string.

Just do the sums they now produced almost a million watches a year,and have done so for quite a few years now.Today to those who think that mechanical watches are produced by hundreds of little elves, restlessly filing, smoothing, grinding, polishing watch parts. And that they are made by grey-haired little old watchmakers, sitting bent at their tables for countless hours, somewhere in the Swiss mountains afraid they would be vastly mistaken sure there is still a small percentage with the hands on approach but look at the figures 900000 -1000000 watches a year.But this is what advertisement tries to sell us, but its not reality.

And JUST remember How long would it take to count to a million? Well, counting once per second looks very easy at the start, but much harder when you reach the hundred thousand mark, eight hours per day average working day, seven days per week (no weekends off), it would take you a little over a month to count to one million!



Today, watch production primarily is an issue of engineers,computer tecs, and metallurgists,various technicians,and specially trained workers. The traditional watchmaking part is all but now the very last thing in modern watch mass production today,and then only when the movements are assembled and adjusted and finally checked on robot controlled timing machine.

[stewie]

thanks for all the responses... sorry if it was a recent topic, I shoulda searched the forum before asking...

[roadcarver]

No worries. You're doing a service for the other folks who was itching to ask the question but sometimes shy

[FlyingMoose]

Actually, the length of a piece of string could be quite easily measured.

Saying it takes a year to make a watch doesn't really mean anything. Perhaps it's a year from when the iron or gold ore is mined, until the watch containing that metal is finished.

[ohlins]

well .... read the rolex article at horomundi and judge for yourself........ it may not give u an answer but at least u can know what operations are automated and what is not.....

[haakon59]

Like "Flying Moon" said above, they might be calculating their timeline from when they extract the raw materials from the ground, rather than beginning after Rolex receives the shipment. I do know they claim a year in their ads. By emphasizing the amount of time it takes in their ads they are trying to imply that the watches are made carefully, otherwise it wouldn't take so long. Many people get the impression that this means there must be a lot of "hands on" work in the production process from this. But Rolex watches are formed and made with machines just like most brands are. Even firms like PP have machines make all the parts, even if they have watchmakers adding a lot of their own effort later to the process. Some firms have individual watchmakers doing a lot of polishing and assembling, while others do not and automate this process.

Years ago, before quartz watches, ad men discovered that when they listed how many jewels a watch had, that people associated this with real jewels (instead of the reality, that these are merely worthless stones of no value which hold the lubrication in place) and therefore thought this meant they were getting more for their money. Ad people made sure they listed the jewels in future ads to convey "value". But this point dawned on shysters too. In reality, a good mechanical design for a movement would generally have fewer jewels, not more. You never want more points in the watch that need lubrication, but fewer. Still, people concluded just the opposite. It is a case where you can pretend to brag about something, like having 30 jewels, giving the consumer the impression the watch must be worth more, when the reality is that you are saying "this movement is not well designed compared to the other manufacturers who only have 17 jewels in their movement which are therefore more likely to be reliable and need maintenance less often.

Now I am not saying Rolex is misleading anyone about the quality of their watches--they manufacture high quality timepieces. What I am saying is that they are leaving the consumer with the impression that their might be more individual personal attention paid to each timepiece than there is in reality. Every time a writer at an ad agency thinks up an idea like this, they are congratulated. They tell you the literal truth, but you the consumer think that what they mean is something more.

[f16570]

Now when you see it like the FULL process then it may be possible.
But dont believe the hype.

f

[SPACE-DWELLER]

This topic has been brought up recently (again):

"how long does it take to make a rolex?" CLICK!

As Peter says, this "it takes a year to manufacture a Rolex watch" story is

[frostie]

Originally Posted by SPACE-DWELLER

This topic has been brought up recently (again):

"how long does it take to make a rolex?" CLICK!

As Peter says, this "it takes a year to manufacture a Rolex watch" story is

I was looking for this thread. Good that you helped us out Bo

[SPACE-DWELLER]

No problemo.

[ohlins]

there's no bullshit to proof it's bullshit so just leave it as it is......

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Originally Posted by ohlins

there's no bullshit to proof it's bullshit so just leave it as it is......

Doesn't alter the fact, though, that the 1-year theory still smells like bull

[Tools]

Let's do some fuzzy math..

Rolex produces about 800,000 watches per year..

Let's say that the industrious Swiss have the production lines open about 60 hours each week.

In a years time, the production line is cranking for 3,120 hours...But let's just say they have quotas to meet, so they work double shifts.... 6,240 hours of manufacturing output hours per year..

So, If the factory is running 120 hours per week (double 60 hour weeks); that's 6,240 hours per year, and they produce 800,000 watches..

They're flying off the assembly line at the rate of ~128 watches per hour !!!

You know, you can time that with your Daytona...

[rogerfromco]

Originally Posted by Tools

Let's do some fuzzy math..

Rolex produces about 800,000 watches per year..

Let's say that the industrious Swiss have the production lines open about 60 hours each week.

In a years time, the production line is cranking for 3,120 hours...But let's just say they have quotas to meet, so they work double shifts.... 6,240 hours of manufacturing output hours per year..

So, If the factory is running 120 hours per week (double 60 hour weeks); that's 6,240 hours per year, and they produce 800,000 watches..

They're flying off the assembly line at the rate of ~128 watches per hour !!!

You know, you can time that with your Daytona...

That does not take into account the number of people involved in the process. That leads to the question of "whose labor do you consider actually goes into 'making' a Rolex"? Obviously, the watchmakers. What about the foundry workers? Sure. The fork lift operators who move parts around? What about the cleaning crew? The factory would eventually get too dirty and QC problems would arise and shut the line down without them. What about the design teams, the people who people who package the watches, QA staff, etc.

I think you see my point. It's much more than the robots and the watch makers. I would propose that someone find out the number of labor hours per year on the Rolex payroll and divide by the annual production. In the US, you can find that number on a company's OSHA 300 log used to document injury rates and lost work time rate.

[haakon59]

Like all of you, I am not sure what the "definition" is for "making a Rolex watch", but whatever processes they have decided to include, I am sure they are being honest and can verify their claims. Where the "rub" is, I would have to guess, is that they are probably including many processes that many of us don't consider to be part of the watch making process. Smeltering the metal, for example, might be something they include.

What I do know is that their ad is meant to convey the impression that they give each watch more personal attention than they do give them in reality.

Another example of this kind of thing is from the Ad Agency that had the Miller Beer account years ago and was searching for ways to differentiate their beer in ads. The ad writer seized on the idea of bragging about Miller's extensive process of cleaning their bottles--which is a part of the process that no beer or soft drink company had emphasized in advertising before. Here is the reality: all beer and soft drink bottlers go through an extensive process for making sure the bottles they use are sterile, it is just that no one had bragged about it in their ads before and the public didn't know this and was impressed. The public felt this made Miller Beer "safer" and "purer" even though everyone in the beverage/bottling industry went through the same process exactly.

[ohlins]

Originally Posted by haakon59

Where the "rub" is, I would have to guess, is that they are probably including many processes that many of us don't consider to be part of the watch making process. Smeltering the metal, for example, might be something they include.

agreed.....

not forgetting the 15 days away at cosc....... :) which is only one example of the many other processes along the way....