Why Rolex Watches Are Expensive

They say that the enduring quality of anything made by human hands is best tested by the test of time. Rolex is one of those wonderful creations of human creativity and innovation, which has consistently shown that they’re made of a thorough design, rigid engineering, detailed precision, and stylish class.

Rolex watches are some of the highest standard and high-quality watches ever made. Many would say they’re incomparable and peerless in their own industry. The market’s trust in each Rolex timepiece is unquestionable. In fact, the price of a Rolex watch keeps going up with the passing of time. It may even be said that a Rolex watch becomes more priceless with every movement of its hand.

Rolex Uses Solid Gold

If you have to know why Rolex watches are so expensive, then you must keep in mind, first and foremost, that they use solid gold. Rolex has its own army of gemologists. These guys are the experts on how to incorporate gold as well as other precious materials such as diamonds into Rolex watches.

Rolex uses genuine solid gold in all their watches. These aren’t your typical gold-plated or gold-painted materials. They also have numerous conventional jewelers. The job of these jewelers is to handpick the diamond most suitable for a particular timepiece. They’re also in charge of setting the diamonds and other precious metals into place by hand.

What sets Rolex apart from the vast majority of other luxury brand watches is that they manufacture their own gold. They’re one of the very few luxury watch manufacturers who produce their own watches entirely out of solid gold. They have a separate facility where they refine their own 18K gold components and materials for their watches. Some examples of these are white gold, yellow gold, and everose gold. This is one of the primary reasons why Rolex watches are so expensive.

They Spend A Lot On Their Design Process

Rolex can fairly say that every watch coming out of the factory is worth more than its price. They spend a lot of money on research and development. This is one of the most important factors which contributes to the expensive price of all Rolex watches. They’re among the top-of-the-line luxury watches. In fact, some watch industry specialists would go as far as saying that they’re the best watch manufacturer in the world, next to no one.

As a top-tier company committed to high manufacturing standards and world-class product excellence, Rolex invests a lot of money, effort, and yes, time, into continuous product design improvement for their Swiss watches. Their research and development capabilities put Rolex in a position to keep on coming up with technological breakthroughs. They’re always developing their input materials and manufacturing processes.

They Established Several Laboratories For Innovation

Another reason why Rolex watches is expensive is that they’ve invested a lot in establishing several laboratories for innovation. Here are some of them:

Barcelona, Spain. December 2018: Official Rolex Boutique store in Barcelona’s luxury shopping street of Passeig de Gracia

⦁ Science Laboratories

Rolex has established a facility that houses various professional laboratories for science and engineering research. These laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art machines and equipment used for research and high-precision experimentation. The laboratories are constantly doing research and experiments on how to further improve the make and quality of all Rolex parts.

⦁ Materials Engineering

Rolex invests a lot of time, effort, and money in research and engineering to further improve and develop the materials they use in manufacturing. To inspect the microscopic structure of the metals, Rolex uses electron microscopes and gas spectrometers. This enables them to observe the impact of the casting and machining techniques on the molecular structure of the metal parts.

⦁ Life Testing Laboratories

Rolex has its own life testing laboratory. This is where they subject samples of their watches to all the possible stress that could impact them once they’re sold and exposed in the real world. The different parts such as the bracelets, cases, and movements are exposed to all sorts of stress tests. They even use specially built robotic testing arms and machines to simulate the results of stress when they’re worn.

They Use High-Speed, High-Precision Manufacturing Machines

Another factor that contributes to the expensive prices of Rolex machines is their use of high-speed, high-precision machines to manufacture all the parts of their watches. They invested huge amounts of capital to design and manufacture these machines.
Rolex uses high-speed and high-precision machines to manufacture, fabricate, and assemble all the parts of their watches. They have to use custom-built machines that can manufacture these tiny parts yet achieve the standard of accuracy in every Rolex watch they make. They even have to use tools, robots, and CNC machines that can mold the metals at high-speed. This needs to be done so that the metal can be worked with a high level of accuracy.

Their Watches Are Accurate To A Second

Rolex has made huge investments in making sure that the accuracy of their watches to tell the time is the most accurate in the industry. Each Rolex watch can tell the time with the accuracy of up to plus or minus two seconds. This is above the industry standard, which requires that watches should be able to tell the time up to an accuracy of minus four up to plus six seconds each day.
All Rolex watches also have to go through thorough product testing for the accuracy of their time. The test is done by a chronometer testing institute. This is an independent Swiss institute tasked to measure the accuracy of the watches in telling the time.

They Manufacture Their Own Movements In-House

Rolex is one of the very few watchmakers who manufacture their own movements in-house. Most of the other prestigious luxury watch brands buy movements from external or third-party manufacturers. Manufacturing your own movements is an expensive component of watchmaking.
It takes years of experimentation to be able to bring the movements to a level of product perfection that’s acceptable and above industry standards. It’s expensive to manufacture your own movements and parts.

Their Movements Are Assembled By Hand

Although Rolex uses high-speed and high-precision machines, the work of these machines is limited to manufacturing and fabricating the various tiny and micro parts of the timepiece. This is necessary because the hard metals can’t be manufactured to precision without the use of these custom-built machines.

But the more complex tasks such as the assembly of bracelets and putting together the watch movements are all done in-house and by hand. Each watch movement is carefully put together part by part by hand. After being assembled, they’re then checked, double-checked, and tested whether they meet the highest standards of Rolex quality and precision. The advantage of this is that it gives Rolex a wider room for freedom and creativity in designing their own engines that’d meet their own standards.

Their Movements Are Assembled By Highly-Skilled Swiss Craftsmen

The parts are very small, so many things can go wrong in manufacturing them that a lot of manufactured parts have defects and go to waste. All the parts of the watch engines are very tiny that they often use special microscopic gadgets to assemble them.
For this reason, the parts of the movements have to be put together by hand by highly skilled Swiss craftsmen. Some of these craftsmen have skills passed on by their families from one generation to the next. They’re really good at what they do, but their pay is also very expensive.

They’re Made Of Expensive 904L Stainless Steel

One of the open secrets of Rolex is that they always look for and try to make the highest quality materials for every part, gear, and strip inside their watches. This is one of the qualities of Rolex which puts it a notch above the rest of its competitors. They’ve always been known to use 904L quality stainless steel for all their watches. Other brands are content to use the 316L stainless steel.

This type of stainless steel is also known as corrosion-resistant superalloy. But within the world of Rolex and their high net-worth collectors, 904L stainless steel is affectionately called the ‘Oystersteel.’ The distinction of the 904L stainless steel is they’re proven to be enduring. They have the remarkable quality of being highly resistant to rust, magnetic fields, and all sorts of possible corrosion. What makes this possible is the combination of chromium, nickel, and copper elements in their steel. 904L steel is shinier and stronger when compared to the 316L stainless steel that’s more frequently used by watchmakers. The Oystersteel is the foundation of the awesome functionality, timelessness, and stylishness of each Rolex.

It’s expensive to manufacture 904L stainless steel, which has high strength and resistance. It takes a lot of extra work and special skills to be able to produce 904L stainless steel. Most other brands prefer to work with 316L stainless steel. They find it easier to work on and turn into a luxury watch. It’s so much cheaper than the 904L stainless steel. The 316L stainless steel is also sometimes called surgical grade steel.

Conclusion

Some people say that Rolex watches are expensive because they can withstand the test of time. Numerous Rolex watches have gone through severe changes and extreme intensities in movement, weight, temperature, altitude, and even humidity.
All elements of nature and life in their extreme level or severe state could punish other watch brands and leave their timepieces worn and torn, but not Rolex. The Oystersteel in every Rolex and all the premium materials they use for all their parts make up a watch that endures and lasts longer than the rest.