How long does it take to build one ?

[walkthedog]

How long does it take to assemble a DD or a sport watch at the factory ?

[enjoythemusic]

Just assemble the finished movement parts... less than a day.

[donq]

It depends on how you calculate the time involved.

Do you count man hours, or hours of automated equipment as well?

If you take the man hours and the time machines work on each part,
and the time spent making the materials (Rolex has a foundry to make it's
own gold alloys) the time spent moving parts around the factory etc. it would
add up fairly quickly.

How long does it take to make a parachrom hairspring?
If they are made in batches, do you divide the labor time by the number
of springs? Do you calculate things like time spent in hardening the springs, or
the time a cerachrom bezel spends in the kiln?

If you calculate a work week as 40 hours of labor, I could see the total labor
and construction time going into several weeks.

Rolex used to claim it took a year to make a watch, which would translate in
to 2080 hours.
Swiss employees are entitled to 4 weeks of vacation per year, so that brings
a work year down to 1920 hours.

The movement of a Rolex contains around 220 parts for a basic three hander,
this doesn't include bracelet parts, crystal, dial, hands etc.

Ballpark it up to 325 parts, that's about 6 hours average per part for it to take a year!

[zengineer]

It would take me a really long time. I could take it apart pretty swiftly though.

[GradyPhilpott]

Rolex makes virtually every part that makes up their movements, cases, and bracelets.

They do buy raw materials such as steel, precious metals and stones.

They also buy crystals from a third party and I assume that they also buy leather straps.

Rolex says that it takes a year, or at least they used to say that.

There's been a lot of automation and robotics added through the years, but still that's a lot of manufacturing, much of it done by hand.

I don't have any idea of the actual time, but when each process is considered cumulatively, I would assume it's a considerable amount of time, perhaps even approaching a year.

[zengineer]

It's similar to a car. In a typical assembly plant the car gets through the plant in well under a day but that's just screwing/welding everything together. Parts, whether it's a fender stamped in-house, a windshield purchased from another state or a wire harness from another country could have been made days, weeks or months prior. And the raw materials were mined, processed, shipped before that...so, what do we call the start?

How many man or machine hours we can answer but how long it takes from start to finish is really meaningless. We can say most parts of a Rolex are done in house but that could mean a case blank that is forged by some company owned by Rolex 6 months before it ends up as a watch. Back to the car example, final assembly labor is typically only 15-25 hours but total hours to make all the parts is well over 1000.

I know we'd like to think some 65 year old master sits down with a pile of metal, a file and a screwdriver and for a year toils away for 8 hours a day building our Submariner...but it's just not so.

[douglasf13]

Originally Posted by zengineer

...I know we'd like to think some 65 year old master sits down with a pile of metal, a file and a screwdriver and for a year toils away for 8 hours a day building our Submariner...but it's just not so.

Exactly. These are still mass produced watches in a factory.

[Etschell]

it takes 3 minutes to build a rolex but like a fine wine it takes 3 years to age.

[lecorsaire]

It definitely doesn't literally take a year. Perhaps a year by counting the time to produce each part, but the assembly, final polish and inspection can be done in a couple of days. They do send every movement to get COSC certified and this adds additional time. They produce a shitload of movements and although many things are automated they have more vacation and usually work less hours than Americans do. Lunch in Germany is usually two hours and I doubt it's any different in Switzerland. Many people go and have lunch at home. It's really a completely different lifestyle. Much more laid back.

[Wools]

I'm not sure about time invested but Hodinkee had a wonderful article a few years back about Rolex; They were one of only a few publications who've been invited into a 4 factories.

Take an hour out of your day and have a read:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/inside-rolex