Rolex buys Bucherer

Text: Britta Rossander

It is in order to preserve the long-standing partnership between the two companies that Rolex has decided to acquire Bucherer, according to the press release. The chain is to keep its name and continue to operate independently, and the purchase will only be fully completed once the competition authorities have approved the transaction.

The reason Jörg Bucherer has decided to sell his company is that he has no direct descendants, and the choice of buyer is down to the partnership between the two companies, which has existed since 1924, being able to continue. 

The Rolex group considers this to be the best solution for the chain's partner brands as well as for all employees in the Bucherer group. The plan is that Bucherer will keep its name and continue to run the business independently. Jörg Bucherer, the last person to have both known and worked with Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf, will remain as honorary president of the Bucherer group with shops in Switzerland, the USA, England, Germany, France, Denmark and Austria. They have more than 100 points of sale all over the world, of which 53 sell Rolex and 48 Tudor. 

In 1888 the merchant and entrepreneur Carl-Friedrich Bucherer opened his first watch and jewellery shop in Lucerne together with his wife Luise, and thereby laid the foundation for a successful family business. Their sons entered the family business during the and 1920s and Ernst and Carl Eduard Bucherer took the business to even greater successes. In 2013 Bucherer celebrated its 125th anniversary and opened the world's largest watch and jewellery shop in Paris. In 2016 Bucherer's opened its doors in Copenhagen. But apart from a single Rolex-owned brand boutique in Geneva, Rolex has kept a distance from its army of retailers, which changed yesterday. 

It is likely that Rolex was not looking for this deal, but the purchase of Bucherer is happening in order to protect the stability of the market and to ensure that no other buyer would be able to manipulate the system, which demands that rules are followed to ensure that the sale of Rolex watches remains ethical and fair in the brand's eyes. But of course one asks oneself who else could have acquired Bucherer? Who would have the money?

There is said to have been a fear at both Rolex and Bucherer that another buyer could do everything from liquidating the company's assets to over-exploiting the popularity of the Rolex watches. There is surely also a strong reason to let Swiss things continue to be Swiss. Rolex does like stability and permanence and was probably the only option that was willing to respect the status quo as much as possible.