Rolex and the transformation of the watch into a status symbol

For more than fifty years, Rolex has dominated the global watch market. The advent of electronics, globalisation and the arrival of luxury conglomerates have had a considerable impact on the watch industry over the last half-century. Yet Rolex's leadership has remained unchanged. How can this impressive success be explained? Is innovation necessary to survive? Based on Swiss, American and British archives, a recent study by Pierre-Yves Donzé, La Fabrique de l'excellence – Histoire de Rolex (The Manufacture of Excellence: The Rolex Story), highlights the conditions that have contributed to Rolex's enduring multidimensional exceptionality. The combination of Swiss industrial genius (mass production of high-quality watches) and American marketing genius (creating a narrative around the excellence of the personalities who wear Rolex watches) is at the root of this success. Pierre-Yves Donzé shows us how a new strategy was adopted in the 1960s and what has made it possible to maintain it to this day.