• El foro de relojes de habla hispana con más tráfico de la Red, donde un reloj es algo más que un objeto que da la hora. Relojes Especiales es el punto de referencia para hablar de relojes de todas las marcas, desde Rolex hasta Seiko, alta relojería, relojes de pulsera y de bolsillo, relojería gruesa y vintages, pero también de estilográficas. Además, disponemos de un foro de compraventa donde podrás encontrar el reloj que buscas al mejor precio. Para poder participar tendrás que registrarte.

Interesante artículo sobre Rolex en Financial Times (en inglés)

  • Iniciador del hilo Juanjo
  • Fecha de inicio
Estado
Hilo cerrado
Juanjo

Juanjo

Habitual
Sin verificar
Interesantes comentario sobre el efecto de la crisis en Rolex, así como el cambio de CEO y la posible perdida de patrimonio por el asunto Madoff. Así mismo se da información sobre la plantilla e instalaciones de Rolex.


https://www.ft.com/content/9fe18e72-18cb-11de-bec8-0000779fd2ac?nclick_check=1

Published: March 27 2009 11:39 | Last updated: March 27 2009 11:39
.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Gaining entry to Rolex’s forbidding dark glass headquarters is hard enough.

Penetrating what is going on inside is near impossible, even for most employees. So all will be looking with particular interest when Bruno Meier makes his first big public appearance as chief executive at Baselworld.

The elevation of Mr Meier, a former banker who joined Rolex as chief financial officer in 2005, followed the surprise ouster last December of Patrick Heiniger, the group’s imperious leader.

The reason for the departure of Mr Heiniger, chief executive for 12 years and only the third boss in Rolex’s history, remains typically opaque for the secretive Swiss watch group. About the only point of agreement for observers is disbelief in its terse statement that he left “to pursue personal interests”.

Over-ambitious expansion, discontent among dealers and massive losses on investments are among the causes mooted. If Rolex were a more transparent company and had to answer to shareholders rather than a foundation staffed by Geneva notables, the world might know. As it is, all the company said was that rumours it had lost a fortune on investments with Bernard Madoff, the US hedge fund manager who has admitted running a vast pyramid scheme, were baseless.

Mr Heiniger’s departure was all the more striking in view of his family’s apparent domination of Rolex’s affairs for a near half century. He took over as chief executive from his father, André, the man largely behind Rolex’s transformation from a technically respected watch brand into one of the world’s most familiar marques.

Although controlled since 1945 by a foundation named after Hans Wilsdorf, the group’s founder, who was childless, Rolex’s affairs had for decades been intertwined with the Heinigers.

Mr Meier has been as taciturn as his press-shy predecessor. He has declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding his promotion and stuck to the official script that 2008 set a new record for Rolex sales and profits. Interview and information requests for this article, typically for Rolex, went unanswered.

What is clear is the group, which is believed to produce about 900,000 watches a year under its own and the associated Tudor brand, is facing one of the biggest crises in its history. Swiss watch exports have plummeted in the global recession. The mid- to upper-range market, where Rolex is placed, has been particularly hit. And sales in the US, a prime selling region, have slumped.

Information about how Rolex has fared has come only via dealers. Their comments have not been encouraging: reports include falls of up to 40 per cent in sales and massive overstocking, along with complaints the group has tried to force products on retailers. Mr Meier has denied such claims.

The crisis has arisen just as Rolex has completed a lavish multi-year investment programme, rationalising production sites, expanding output and, most important, completing its vertical integration by buying up former independent suppliers.

Activities in Geneva, its headquarters town, which were once spread among 20 sites, have been focused on just three new or wholly rebuilt locations. A virtual reconstruction of the Acacias headquarters building was completed in late 2006.

Plan-les-Ouates, a massive production facility, was completed the previous year. The 11-storey complex, five of them underground to include the group’s top security vaults for gold and other precious metals, employs 1,500 people. The site even has its own foundry, underlining Rolex’s determination to become independent of outside suppliers. Finally, a separate facility for dials and gem-setting was completed at Chêne-Bourg.

Together, the three Geneva locations account for about 3,500 of the group’s 6,000 employees worldwide. As an indication of its size, Rolex is the biggest industrial user of gold in Switzerland.

But ambitions to continue growing are facing the reality of harsh markets – perhaps explaining the appointment of a well-connected ex-banker as chief executive. Previous to his arrival at Rolex, Mr Meier ran Deutsche Bank’s operations in Switzerland. Before then, he was in charge of the Swiss subsidiary of Edmond Safra’s Republic National Bank of New York. Both jobs provided top level contacts, particularly in the Middle East.

In brief remarks to the Geneva newspaper Le Temps in January, Mr Meier acknowledged 2009 and 2010 would be difficult, with sales likely to decline. But he predicted Rolex would regain its record levels within two to three years, and, separately, said it would not swamp the market, in spite of the massive fixed costs amassed under its huge investment programme.

Mr Meier acknowledged greater cost controls would be necessary. But he said the group would stick to the plan, announced last year, to invest about SFr250m in Biel, where it employs about 2,500 people making components and movements.

A three- to six-month delay in the project had stemmed only from the fact that Rolex had been able to acquire additional land, he disclosed.

Mr Meier concluded Rolex’s status as an iconic brand would allow it to retain customer loyalty and come through any downturn unscathed. While job cuts could not be excluded, he suggested any reductions would be minor and come through natural wastage.

“In a period of crisis, Rolex is a safe haven. For the client, and also the retailer,” he said. The face at the top may have be different, but Rolex’s immodesty has remained unchanged.
.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
 
Duras palablas las del Financial Times,
 
Estado
Hilo cerrado
Atrás
Arriba Pie