So my watch was made in 15 seconds?

[mountbaldy]

I am beginning to think that our Rolex watches are nothing but mass produced watches on a conveyor belt. Yes, lots of design and history went into making the original but producing a ROLEX is literally similar to how Microsoft produces
CDs of its Windows operating system --- nothing but bulk. When Rolex sells millions of watches per year and you do the math the numbers speak for themselves.

Here is some proof to support what I am saying:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex

The first paragraph states that Rolex produces approx 2000 watches per day.

So let the math begin:

Assuming an 8hr workday, 2000/8 = 250 watches per hour.

250/60 = 4 watches/minute = 1 watch every 15 seconds.

Obviously there are lots of estimates involved but the big pic is that with Rolex selling approx 2,000,000 watches per year or even 1,000,000 watches per year,
with that much volume, there is just no way, no matter how you do the math, that your ROLEX got the specialty treatment like they show in the magazines, for more than a few secs.

[pietermann]

If their is only 1 person in the Rolex factory that makes all the watches, then yes, it would only take 15 seconds to make each rolex.

However, if 2000 people work at the factory and each person makes 1 rolex a day, then it takes 8 houres...

[DiamondJack]

Originally Posted by mountbaldy

I am beginning to think that our Rolex watches are nothing but mass produced watches on a conveyor belt. Yes, lots of design and history went into making the original but producing a ROLEX is literally similar to how Microsoft produces
CDs of its Windows operating system --- nothing but bulk. When Rolex sells millions of watches per year and you do the math the numbers speak for themselves.

Here is some proof to support what I am saying:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex

The first paragraph states that Rolex produces approx 2000 watches per day.

So let the math begin:

Assuming an 8hr workday, 2000/8 = 250 watches per hour.

250/60 = 4 watches/minute = 1 watch every 15 seconds.

Obviously there are lots of estimates involved but the big pic is that with Rolex selling approx 2,000,000 watches per year or even 1,000,000 watches per year,
with that much volume, there is just no way, no matter how you do the math, that your ROLEX got the specialty treatment like they show in the magazines, for more than a few secs.

So are you assuming Rolex has one very hard worker.......

[Andad]

Originally Posted by mountbaldy

I am beginning to think that our Rolex watches are nothing but mass produced watches on a conveyor belt. Yes, lots of design and history went into making the original but producing a ROLEX is literally similar to how Microsoft produces
CDs of its Windows operating system --- nothing but bulk. When Rolex sells millions of watches per year and you do the math the numbers speak for themselves.

Here is some proof to support what I am saying:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex

The first paragraph states that Rolex produces approx 2000 watches per day.

So let the math begin:

Assuming an 8hr workday, 2000/8 = 250 watches per hour.


250/60 = 4 watches/minute = 1 watch every 15 seconds.

Obviously there are lots of estimates involved but the big pic is that with Rolex selling approx 2,000,000 watches per year or even 1,000,000 watches per year,
with that much volume, there is just no way, no matter how you do the math, that your ROLEX got the specialty treatment like they show in the magazines, for more than a few secs.

As Clive Easterbrook said:

Torture numbers and they'll confess to anything.

If they make 1000000/year and the average Rolex costs $10000 to make then the guy who sends them to the AD's makes $5208333.33/hour.

[tranny]

Argh, what's this math nonsense!? You guys are hurting my brain!

[dddrees]

I very much doubt that it is only 15 seconds. However yes Rolex produces anywhere between 750,000 to 900,000 watches a year.

Yes, and there machines and mass production lines are some of the best engineered in the business.

There would be no way to maintain the quality they're re-knowned for if they didn't use them.


Besides there just isn't enough Rolex Elves in the world to keep up with those kinds of numbers.

[ecsub44]

You and I have very different definitions of math.

[Johny]

Originally Posted by directioneng

As Clive Easterbrook said:

Torture numbers and they'll confess to anything.

[unmenuae]

Fail

[Keeperoftime]

Originally Posted by dddrees

Besides there just isn't enough Rolex Elves in the world to keep up with those kinds of numbers.

To the OP,
What's the point of your post? If you have a grievance, write to Rolex. If they are truly as effective in manufacturing watches as you've suggested, then they will have plenty of time to hand write a letter back to you and explain their exact system.

[mountbaldy]

Originally Posted by ecsub44

You and I have very different definitions of math.

most possibly, the math is too simple....may be I can see where my
assumptions are incorrect or I am not seeing certain factors
that should be taken into account.

[Albatross]

"Math Sucks"......Jimmy Buffett

[77T]

Originally Posted by mountbaldy

I am beginning to think that our Rolex watches are nothing but mass produced watches on a conveyor belt. Yes, lots of design and history went into making the original but producing a ROLEX is literally similar to how Microsoft produces
CDs of its Windows operating system --- nothing but bulk. When Rolex sells millions of watches per year and you do the math the numbers speak for themselves.

Here is some proof to support what I am saying:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex

The first paragraph states that Rolex produces approx 2000 watches per day.

So let the math begin:

Assuming an 8hr workday, 2000/8 = 250 watches per hour.

250/60 = 4 watches/minute = 1 watch every 15 seconds.

Obviously there are lots of estimates involved but the big pic is that with Rolex selling approx 2,000,000 watches per year or even 1,000,000 watches per year,
with that much volume, there is just no way, no matter how you do the math, that your ROLEX got the specialty treatment like they show in the magazines, for more than a few secs.

In that same out-of-date Wiki, did you miss that there are over 2800 employees? Using typical management overheads you would come up with perhaps 2000 employees producing movements, dials, etc. The average would then be about 8 hrs of time spent per Rolex.

[MoBe]

My guess would be that the average Rolex watch gets less than 60 minutes of human hands on assembly time in order to account for the yearly production estimated to be approx. 800,000 pieces.The total time involved in the manufacture of any single watch would be a multiple of the hands on time,lets say 4 times 60 for the sake of the math,which gives a total of 4 hours.If you calculate on the basis of a 40 hr week times 47.5 weeks in a year per worker you get a requirement for 1,684 workers in order to produce just over 3/4 of a million watches a year.If you believe that Rolex has a workforce of almost 1,700 people in manufacturing alone then these numbers make sense but this is all just a guess and I don`t think anyone really cares how long it takes to produce any watch other than the management of Rolex themselves.

[Bobble]

Whow wait a minute, if you watch the Rolex video about the Daytona, they say each watch takes a year to make
http://www.rolex.com/en#/rolex-watch...graph-movement

[ecsub44]

Originally Posted by mountbaldy

most possibly, the math is too simple....may be I can see where my
assumptions are incorrect or I am not seeing certain factors
that should be taken into account.

So, if Rolex can produce a watch every 15 seconds...why do you assume it only takes 15 seconds to make a watch? They have more than 1 employee, and more than one production line...so the output is parallelized. I suggest reasearching the assembly line.

Imagine if you want to bake a cake. You have to measure out the ingredients, clean dishes, prepare the ingredients, mix things up, bake it all together, make the icing, cool the icing, prepare the cake, etc. Let's say it takes 60 minutes to do all of that. Now imagine you open a factory and buy 60 ovens, hire 100 people, and get everything fully optimized. You might be able to box up a cake every 30 seconds. But guess what...it still takes 60 minutes to bake a cake.

[joe100]

Then factor in that it probably costs Rolex around $850 to make a stainless watch...

[Fiery]

The Rolex factory is highly automatized, that's a known fact. They use high-end machines for movement, case and bracelet production, and they try to eliminate human intervention everywhere they can. It's not to "stamp out" a watch every X seconds, but more to assure they can keep the high quality of their product _and_ still make over 700.000 watches per year.

Of course in our romantic dreams we can all see watchmakers bending over tiny watch movements, working tirelessly on assembling watches, but it's not the case with Rolex. There are still production steps where human workforce is necessary, but I bet at Rolex most of the watchmakers work at the service department, fix broken watches, etc.

There are still companies where several production steps (like most of the assembly and QC) are done by watchmakers, but Rolex is not one of them. If you want a mass-produced high-quality mechanical sports watch with a great history and high prestige, then Rolex is hard to beat. If you want a watch that is done in low numbers by utilizing tireless work hours of watchmaker professionals, then there's Patek, AP, JLC, VC, etc. But from those companies you cannot realistically expect the same level of consistent high quality and precision that we are all used to about Rolex watches. For consistent high quality and accuracy you need to use a lot of machinery to assure very low tolerance levels and to eliminate human errors.

[Lmbeauleap]

Ugh. There is a lot of this kind of math going on these days. Take an end result, divide by only a few variables and...TADA, screwed up assumptions.

[penangite]

Rolex is finding it hard to keep up with the increasing world population demanding its timepieces. Many own more than 1 Rolex.

[azguy]

Originally Posted by penangite

Rolex is finding it hard to keep up with the increasing world population demanding its timepieces.

This

[bcor]

With the extremely high demand of Rolex watches it seems to me that if they didn't mass produce them few would be able to afford them. Image how much they would cost if say only 100,000 were available a year.

[Kingair]

Originally Posted by ecsub44

So, if Rolex can produce a watch every 15 seconds...why do you assume it only takes 15 seconds to make a watch? They have more than 1 employee, and more than one production line...so the output is parallelized. I suggest reasearching the assembly line.

Imagine if you want to bake a cake. You have to measure out the ingredients, clean dishes, prepare the ingredients, mix things up, bake it all together, make the icing, cool the icing, prepare the cake, etc. Let's say it takes 60 minutes to do all of that. Now imagine you open a factory and buy 60 ovens, hire 100 people, and get everything fully optimized. You might be able to box up a cake every 30 seconds. But guess what...it still takes 60 minutes to bake a cake.

BINGO !

[Kingair]

Originally Posted by DiamondJack

So are you assuming Rolex has one very hard worker.......

Ha ha ha . . .

That's the cheapest (production) company in the world . . . 1 employee ;-)

[chicfarmer1]

Originally Posted by Fiery

Of course in our romantic dreams we can all see watchmakers bending over tiny watch movements, working tirelessly on assembling watches, but it's not the case with Rolex.

I doubt that most Rolex buyers have that notion, although probably not envisioning solely machines touching the watch.

[Welshwatchman]

.... and the guy who delivers them to the AD has to drive at 1,000,000 miles per hour.

[roger0770]

i am willing to help anybody out if they want to get rid of their rolex watches because they mass produced and each made in 15 seconds. lol

[Welshwatchman]

BMW sold almost 1.5million cars in 2010.

They can make one car in 10 seconds?

Shazam.

[Megalobyte]

My Sub C clearly has at least 20-30 seconds in it, it's extra nice, they're not all the same you know. Some have that few seconds of extra care.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by Welshwatchman

BMW sold almost 1.5million cars in 2010.

They can make one car in 10 seconds?

Shazam.

Do you think they hired the same that guy that does all the Rolex watches!