Well, that's pretty cool. It would be great if we had more American watch companies do such things. Actually, I wish I had taken some watch making courses to actually start a company with in house movements to do such a thing.
I try to read as much as I can on the subject of Rolex. One issue that often comes up is that of non-profit. Some writers accept this statement, others do not. Swiss government does not insist on disclosure from Rolex on where their profits go. (I guess not!) I myself am sceptical as to what goes on but I'll likely never really know. Sounds a bit hard to swallow for me. JMO
Rolex as a company is NOT a non-profit, but the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which is a trust set up to maintain the company, is. Long story short, the founder of Rolex had no heirs, and set up the trust to ensure the company lived on and was properly managed.
"Its important to note that the Foundation's trustees are not owners or shareholders, they are only custodians, like the board of a non-profit. They decide how to reinvest the profit, hire or fire the Rolex director, and so on. As trustees, they may get a free watch from time to time, but they are not owners and don't benefit financially."
So, Rolex goes on as any other company would, but the trustees make the decisions to ensure its proper management. As for charitable donations, Rolex is very secretive of its profits and donations, but any company of that size usually has some philanthropic activities.
I've never been overly convinced about the noble motives of the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. That foundation owns Rolex SA but if you search on-line very little information comes available. The annual turnover is estimated at approx. US$ 7.8 billion but the foundation refuses to name both the charities and the amount of the donations involved.
Being a foundation they aren't obliged to publicise their results, so no one has a real insight into their 'books'. They are obliged however (under Swiss law) to make public the number of watches they produce. But that seems to be all. What I can find made me a bit suspicious about their true motives but who knows, perhaps they donate $US 3 billion a year to cancer research.
But does it really matter? Many corporations bend over backwards to avoid, legally, paying too much taxes. Perhaps this is a way. It maybe morally wrong but not legally wrong. Let's leave it at that, don't want to start a flame war. The only thing I'm still disappointed over is the fact that the 50th Anniversary Submariner wasn't a reissue of the first Sub, made out of modern materials and a special movement. Rats!
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