Rolex Watches -Most Reputable Consumer Product In The World?

[Get2Jaime]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/arieladams/2014/04/14/...

Interesting article surrounding the brand reputation and its high ranking across the world...

[TimLambert7]

I was thinking about Rolex and other 'premium' brands the other day.

If they sell a Sea Dweller for £7.5k; how much does that watch cost them? £2k? So £5.5k profit?

I remember hearing that BMW make £5/6k profit on each car - do Rolex make a similar amount on a watch?

None of the large haulage costs or large-scale warranty commitments of a car company either.

[Get2Jaime]

TimLambert7 said:

I was thinking about Rolex and other 'premium' brands the other day.

If they sell a Sea Dweller for £7.5k; how much does that watch cost them? £2k? So £5.5k profit?

I remember hearing that BMW make £5/6k profit on each car - do Rolex make a similar amount on a watch?

None of the large haulage costs or large-scale warranty commitments of a car company either.

I think your probably right about profit margins.....although I found it more interesting that a low volume premium brand managed to rank highly with some of those names mentioned in the article.

I'm not sure I would put BMW in a similar space to Rolex or other premium brands. Porsche is probably a better comparison, Bentley another. VW make £14k per car in this space...pretty amazing finance commercials really.

[Glideman]

How can BMW be considered a premium brand when they sell more 3 series in the UK than Ford sell Mondeos? Nowhere near the same level of quality as Rolex.

[audidoody]

Any thoughts on the profit margin here?

[TimLambert7]

Glideman said:

How can BMW be considered a premium brand when they sell more 3 series in the UK than Ford sell Mondeos? Nowhere near the same level of quality as Rolex.

When I said other 'premium brands' I was referring just to premium watch makers. Obviously lower level watch makers won't have comparable profit margins to car manufacturers.

Agreed BMW is largely non-premium now.

[x5x3]

TimLambert7 said:

Agreed BMW is largely non-premium now.

do you mean premium or exclusive?

not sure I agree that because a company sell a lot that they can no longer be called premium.

also, Rolex make around 700K watches a year (number from google so not 100% reliable as Rolex do not release numbers) so does that make them non-premium also?

[TimLambert7]

x5x3 said:

TimLambert7 said:

Agreed BMW is largely non-premium now.

do you mean premium or exclusive?

not sure I agree that because a company sell a lot that they can no longer be called premium.

also, Rolex make around 700K watches a year (number from google so not 100% reliable as Rolex do not release numbers) so does that make them non-premium also?

I have inadvertently opened a can of worms, I was commenting on the profit margins rather than premium/exclusivity.

BMW is not as exclusive as it used to be due to every man and his dog driving one.

Rolex is premium and exclusive because they make superior (to the normal watch) products and sell them at enormous prices (compared to the normal watch).

I suppose that exclusivity is driven by price and 'premium' is driven by quality. Although, generally speaking a premium product is more expensive and becomes more exclusive.

I think that clears it up?

[mrdemon]

dealers must make 30% so out of that 7.5k the AD must make over 2k.

[yeti]

mrdemon said:

dealers must make 30% so out of that 7.5k the AD must make over 2k.

I think 35%, but yes, pretty much spot on!

[Thankyou4calling]

Get2Jaime said:

I think your probably right about profit margins.....although I found it more interesting that a low volume premium brand managed to rank highly with some of those names mentioned in the article.

I'm not sure I would put BMW in a similar space to Rolex or other premium brands. Porsche is probably a better comparison, Bentley another. VW make £14k per car in this space...pretty amazing finance commercials really.

Rolex don't sell sea dwellers for 7.5k. The dealer may but they would get them from the distributor who would have an agreement with Rolex. When you try and quote profit per watch if you simply deduct the cost of making it from the cost its sold at then you will arrive at a big figure but of course this isn't profit, far from it. They have a huge company to run with all the associated costs of premises, staff, research, marketing. I'm sure someone can provide a link to the Rolex accounts but they won't be making a profit of 5k per watch. It's like saying a solicitor charges £250 an hour so their profit must be huge, their time actually costs nothing, but they have costs which have to be covered. It's never as simplistic as taking one figure from another.

[slybynight]

This is where the majority of the money goes....

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rolex+sponsorshi...

[Lost soul]

Glideman said:

How can BMW be considered a premium brand when they sell more 3 series in the UK than Ford sell Mondeos? Nowhere near the same level of quality as Rolex.

Its still a premium brand

[Fittster]

TimLambert7 said:

Rolex is premium and exclusive because they make superior (to the normal watch) products and sell them at enormous prices (compared to the normal watch).

More desirable or superior? What does a Rolex do that a much cheaper watch doesn't?

[TimLambert7]

Fittster said:

TimLambert7 said:

Rolex is premium and exclusive because they make superior (to the normal watch) products and sell them at enormous prices (compared to the normal watch).

More desirable or superior? What does a Rolex do that a much cheaper watch doesn't?

Well you tell me; superiority could be the subjective, desirability sense or the perfomance/design sense. Either way, people will happily pay £10 or 20k for a Rolex.

[Get2Jaime]

I think we've gone significantly off topic here....

However, the main thing I took from the link above is surrounding the reputation of the brand 'Rolex' and how this can be compared to other brands e.g. BMW, Sony, Apple, etc. given the amount of actual interaction, the lay person has with the brand itself...

Everyone will agree that they are a brand held in high regard, but how does it get retained in peoples minds....particularly when compared to some of those brands mentioned above!!

[michael gould]

yeti said:

mrdemon said:

dealers must make 30% so out of that 7.5k the AD must make over 2k.

I think 35%, but yes, pretty much spot on!

Allegedly 37.5% on SS Rolex 45% on gold Rolex.........Patek 50%......so if Boodles buy in a Patek at 20k + vat it retails at 48k

[bigtime]

It's all sponsorship, especially now that it's plastered all over F1.

[bigtime]

It's all sponsorship, especially now that it's plastered all over F1.