Sustainability

Our areas of action

Responsibility and concrete actions are embedded in our company culture.

They guide the work we have been undertaking for many years to promote sustainability.

In 2020, we launched the “Impact and Sustainability” structured approach to formalize our actions and our vision of environmental and social responsibility.

We have created a strong governance model, supported by the company’s most senior leadership bodies, to define a sustainability policy and to ensure it is implemented in a tangible and multi-disciplinary way across all our brand’s activities, in Switzerland as well as within our affiliates.

Concrete measures are in place to reduce our impact across all areas of our business, throughout the value chain, from the procurement of raw materials to the production of finished products and their distribution. These measures are currently evolving towards ambitious targets, as our global corporate strategy progresses.

Responsible sourcing, the traceability of raw materials, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the energy transition, managing chemicals, wastewater treatment, waste management, recycling and waste-cutting measures, flexible work practices, transport and logistics are some of the core focuses of our everyday operations, in addition to various programmes promoting innovation, knowledge transfer and protecting the planet.

Our governance structure in terms of sustainability, ethics and compliance

• The Sustainability Strategy Committee was created in 2020 at the company’s Executive Team level. Its goal is to approve and steer Rolex’s sustainability strategy.

• The Sustainability Advisory Council, created in 2023, is composed of external experts that advise Rolex on sustainable development challenges in the watchmaking sector, such as the traceability of raw materials, human rights, and all issues relating to the environment (especially climate change, biodiversity and water management).

• The Impact and Sustainability Department – reporting to the Executive Team – is tasked with coordinating the company’s sustainability strategy and supporting its roll-out, in Switzerland and overseas, maintaining a dialogue with internal and external stakeholders and managing change within Rolex. It is also responsible for measuring and improving the company’s actions in the non-financial field.

• The Sustainability Steering Committee comprises one or more representatives from each division of Rolex SA and from the Manufacture des Montres Rolex SA. It oversees the roll-out of the sustainability strategy and the implementation of the related action plan.

• Ten operational committees are tasked with rolling out the company’s roadmap within the scope of their activities.

• Additionally, a similar structure ensures ethical governance and compliance. A strategy committee, a steering committee and a dedicated team are responsible for risk management across all supply chains and for the roll-out of the supplier selection methodology, in Switzerland and overseas. This structure oversees the implementation of due diligence and compliance roll-out strategy, and also handles reports raised via the Rolex alert system.

Our code of conduct

We have also formalized our sustainability commitments in a code of conduct encapsulating the values, ethics and internal standards that have shaped our company since it was founded.

This document defines the framework to which Rolex and its employees and external partners all commit, to ensure ethical and responsible business conduct.

Based on our core values – the perpetual quest for quality, the spirit of innovation and the pursuit of excellence – it promotes a healthy working environment, integrity in our business activities and the preservation of our way of working.

Code of conduct

Our supply chain management

Responsible supply chain management is a major concern for Rolex as it has a direct and significant influence on the sustainability of its business. To ensure effective management, the brand follows legislative and regulatory frameworks and has formalized its practices in collaboration with its partners.

In this respect, the brand has implemented risk detection and management measures and continues to deepen its environmental and social analyses. It is in frequent contact with its suppliers and regularly agrees improvement processes with them.

This officially formalizes the responsible purchasing practices that have been in operation within the company for many years, and centres around a supply control mechanism that takes our impacts into account.

This approach institutionalizes our voluntary commitments that originate in our core values, our ethics and the internal regulations that we have always applied.

To implement our due diligence obligations, we organize processes across the various purchasing segments and put governance in place to ensure we manage risks in the following areas: respecting human rights, considering the impact our activities have on communities, social initiatives, preventing environmental risks, reducing greenhouse gases, waste management, the traceability of raw materials, and business ethics and deontology.

Our Sustainable Development Charter

To encourage our suppliers, service providers, retailers and business partners to adopt a responsible attitude and implement tangible sustainability measures, we drew up a Sustainable Development Charter specifically for them in 2022.

Touching on corporate environmental, social and governance responsibility, the charter’s principles and measures are not only inspired by Rolex’s values of excellence and continuous spirit of innovation, but by international reference texts such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the conventions of the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. By signing this document, our partners demonstrate their voluntary commitment to society and the planet, in the interests of the greater good and of future generations.

Sustainable Development Charter

Our Sustainable Procurement Policy

Based on a code of conduct dedicated to company purchasing, our Sustainable Procurement Policy was formalized in 2024. It aims to ensure the consistency of practices within the Purchasing Department and incorporates environmental and social aspects into company purchasing decisions. This document also aims to preserve the quality of our supplier relations in the long term and internally promote purchasing strategies with positive environmental and social impacts.

The policy is based on Swiss and European regulations, among other texts, as well as on the principles of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (‘OECD Guidance’). It outlines our due diligence and best practices, which have been in operation for many years, and centres around a procurement management mechanism.

It hinges on voluntary commitments that originate in our core values, ethics and internal regulations.

Sustainable Procurement Policy