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Rolex is upping production to meet demand for its high-end watches

Rolex is moving with the times, upping production to meet demand for its high-end timepieces

Rolex Set Its Watch Forward By Upping Production

***For you personally:*** *Luxury liftoff.*

This hot-to-touch demand tallies well with the outlook for the whole luxury sector, which is forecast to keep cruising high after two years of strong sales. And while China’s bounceback has been slow so far, experts are [hopeful](https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/top-tier-luxury-spending-forecast-1235579228/) it’ll bring a tidy bump in the region, where market penetration still has room to grow. In short, you may not be strapping a Daytona on your wrist anytime soon – but it could be worth adding some luxury heavyweights (think **LVMH** and **Hermès**) to your portfolios.



**Rolex** [announced](https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/rolex-accelerates-swiss-production-boost-to-meet-rising-demand-1.1894680) that it’s upping production to meet red-hot demand.

**What does this mean?**

We regular folk might be struggling to keep our heads above water – but we can still pity poor fund managers who can’t get their hands on fancy Rolex timepieces. See, demand’s so strong that the million or so watches the firm produces every year isn’t cutting it, and that means authorized sellers’ waitlists are getting increasingly unwieldy. But the world’s biggest maker of high-end watches is planning to turn the situation into a win-win: Rolex is creating three temporary Swiss production facilities, where it’s aiming to start churning out watches in 2025 – in addition to existing plans to build a billion-dollar production site nearby. For high-rollers, that means more fancy watches. And for Rolex, it means that annual sales – now estimated at $9 billion – might keep ticking upward.

**Why should I care?**

***The bigger picture:*** *Second-hand second hand.*

All this unmet demand has got second-hand watches selling far above retail prices – so much so that they’re rivaling stocks as the smart money’s top asset class. Case in point: a basket of pre-owned watch models from luxury Swiss brands has [grown](https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/rolex-patek-investment-beats-s-p-gains-over-five-years-1.1893059) at more than twice the rate of the **S&P 500** since August 2018. One independent consulting firm even forecast that used luxury watch sales could overtake the primary retail market by 2033, with sales hitting as high as $85 billion.



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SingleContentPiece_viewer

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query ContentPieceQuery(
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  $encryptedEmail: String
  $planSlug: String
) {
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    ...SingleContentPiece_viewer_2HyoJ4
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        __typename
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    id
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}

fragment AnonymousPaywall_viewer_2HyoJ4 on Viewer {
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}

fragment AudioOnlyBanner_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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}

fragment Avatar_image on URLImage {
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}

fragment Block_block on ContentPieceBlock {
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fragment ContentFooter_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment ContentHeaderDetails_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment ContentHeader_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment ContentMetadata_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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}

fragment ContentPieceSEO_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment ContentPieceSponsor_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment DefaultContentHeader_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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}

fragment DownloadContentButton_authorization on Authorization {
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}

fragment DownloadContentButton_blocks on ContentPieceBlock {
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fragment DownloadContentButton_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment EvergreenContentHeader_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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  canonicalLink
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fragment ImageBlock_block on ImageBlock {
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}

fragment KeyInsightsBlock_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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}

fragment KeyInsightsCarousel_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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}

fragment KeyInsights_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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  keyInsightsBlocks {
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}

fragment ListenButton_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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  isPremium
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  ...AudioOnlyBanner_contentPiece
}

fragment LoggedInPaywall_viewer_2HyoJ4 on Viewer {
  webSubscriptions {
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}

fragment MainContentSection_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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fragment PaywallBanner_contentPieceType on ContentPieceType {
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}

fragment PaywallBanner_viewer_2HyoJ4 on Viewer {
  ...AnonymousPaywall_viewer_2HyoJ4
  ...LoggedInPaywall_viewer_2HyoJ4
}

fragment PremiumAccountPromotionPanel_webPaymentPlan_2HyoJ4 on WebPaymentPlan {
  amount
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  interval
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    stripeDiscount {
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}

fragment QuoteBlock_block on QuoteBlock {
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fragment ServerImage_image on URLImage {
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}

fragment SingleContentPiece_authorization on Authorization {
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fragment SingleContentPiece_content on Content {
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}

fragment SingleContentPiece_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
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  ...MainContentSection_contentPiece
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fragment SingleContentPiece_viewer_2HyoJ4 on Viewer {
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}

fragment Tag_tag on GenericTag {
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  ... on GeographyTag {
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    slug
  }
  ... on ContentTag {
    name
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}

fragment TextBlock_block on TextBlock {
  textMarkdown
}

fragment authorization_authorization on Authorization {
  roles {
    isPreviewingContentAllowance
    isPreviewing
    isAnonymous
    hasPremiumSubscription
    isFreemium
  }
}

fragment authorization_content on Content {
  anonymousUserHasPremium
}

fragment authorization_contentPiece on ContentPieceInterface {
  __isContentPieceInterface: __typename
  isPremium
  contentPieceType {
    isAvailableForFreemium
  }
}


Rolex Set Its Watch Forward By Upping Production

Rolex Set Its Watch Forward By Upping Production

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