Business News: Rolex CEO Urges Watch Brands To Keep Close To Customers And Avoid Fate Of Impersonal Auto Sector
During his keynote discussion, moderated by Revolution Magazine founder Wei Koh, Dufour also gave a rare glimpse behind Rolex's spending and budgeting to upkeep its industrial manufacturing operations, saying the company invests about CHF 100 million per year upgrading, repairing, and replacing its fleet of high-tech machines that allow it to produce about 1 million watches per year.
"It's not just because we find it fun. It's because we want to always have the latest generation to be able to produce the best components we can in terms of precision and quality," he said. The Rolex boss also revealed that Rolex uses Artificial Intelligence to aid in programming and running machines, as well as to enhance quality control testing and make it more efficient. "AI can also help you for the final quality test. Because you can replace the human eyes by AI, and instead of controlling maybe just the samples of what you do, you can control 100%," he said. But he also emphasized that humans are still needed to perform a myriad of tasks to produce a watch, from assembling movements and casing watches, to design. Owned by a single shareholder, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, Rolex has more than 15,500 employees worldwide, with about 80% of its staff in Switzerland. "They are watchmakers. They can't do everything by robots," he said.
