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Old 1 April 2009, 09:28 PM   #20
Omega_Precision
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Real Name: Henry
Location: CA, US
Watch: ing basketball
Posts: 2,977
It's hard for me to fathom that it takes a year to produce a Rolex.

My only argument or reasoning for it taking a year, would be that an entire batch probably takes a year. Let's use Mcdonald's as an example. When you are pumping out that much burgers in a year, you have to have your direct materials or indirect materials ready for assembly...i.e....the burgers.


Would you kill a cow and make a 100 patties, bake the buns, process dairy for the cheese and grow the lettue......then make your 100 burgers? Then you have employees sitting around waiting for everything to be produced again.

-or-

Would you kill 500 cows and make 50,000 patties, 50,000 buns, have the cheese ready and the lettuce washed.....then make your 50,000 burgers for the rest of the year? After selling the 50,000 burgers for the year, your employees would have another 50k to make (this is if everything being equal and food will not perish).....therefore, the assembly line is pumping out parts faster than humans putting them together. Burgers and watches are being produced at a consistent rate.


I think this is what Rolex is doing, if it really takes a year. They have all the parts ready before they put them together. They are not making watches based off of First-IN...First-Out method. More like Last in-First out method....the very last part completes the watch....and that is the first watch out.

This argument can explain why they may not be able to cut production on watches in today's economy due to the structure of their work-in-progress. If they have parts sitting around and produce to order than their will be non-popular models laying around. Hence, why the Daytona maybe least made. Takes too long to produce with all those parts including the movement.

This is just a thought....if it actually takes a year but I somehow doubt it.....
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