Tokyo (SCCIJ) – Rolex, the largest Swiss watchmaker, has unveiled its plans for a fifth production site in Switzerland. The factory in Bulle in the canton of Fribourg will welcome its first employees in 2029.
A vision image of the new Rolex industrial site in Bulle in the canton of Fribourg.
Record revenue
According to a report by Morgan Stanley and Swiss firm LuxeConsult, Rolex produces an estimated one million watches a year, has a market share of around 30% and last year posted record sales of 10.1 billion Swiss francs. Rolex could sell more watches, however, as there are waiting lists for many models.
The company currently operates four production sites in Switzerland: In Les Acacias, its world headquarters in Geneva, watches are developed and assembled. The movements are made in Bienne, the cases and bracelets in Plan-les-Ouates, and the dials, bezels and ceramic inserts in Chêne-Bourg. The fifth factory in Bulle will increase overall production capacity.
Application submitted
At the end of 2022, the Swiss watchmaking giant bought around 100,000 square meters of land between the motorway and the Bulle bypass for 31.4 million Swiss francs. At the time, it estimated that the project would cost around 1 billion Swiss francs. Now the plans are taking shape. Rolex will erect five buildings, together 380 meters long and up to 32 meters high, and with a total floor area of more than 260,000 square meters.
The company has submitted a planning application for the new site to the canton of Fribourg. Four buildings will be dedicated to production and the last will house administration. The site will be surrounded by a large green park. There will also be more than 700 parking spaces for cars and 684 for bicycles. The new building is expected to be operational in 2029. Rolex says it will employ 2,000 people and several hundred apprentices.
Another vision image of the new Rolex industrial site in Bulle in the canton of Fribourg.
A sustainable site
Rolex is aiming for an unprecedented level of environmental quality. The buildings will achieve the highest level of BREEAM certification, a British measurement for sustainability. The buildings will use 10% less energy than a conventional design. The site is designed to use 98% renewable energy for heating. It will rely on both a roof area almost entirely covered with solar panels and geothermal boreholes. 150 probes will be drilled to a depth of 300 metres to exchange heat.
Rolex moved to the Fribourg region to tap a new employment pool, given the exhaustion of the labor force in the Swiss regions traditionally associated with the watchmaking industry – Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel. The brand with the crown is looking to Bulle for people with mechanical skills and young hands to train in watchmaking. The former Tetra Pak site in Romont is currently being converted into a training center to later fill the new workshops in Bulle.
Text: Martin Fritz for SCCIJ
