Luxury watch distribution: Rolex’s China playbook 2025

What happened Rolex announced plans to close its Guangzhou service center in August and eliminate the front desk reception at its Beijing facility. The Guangzhou center — one of only three service centers in mainland China — has served Hong Kong, Macau, and southern China for two decades, offering repairs and maintenance but no sales. The company has not provided an official explanation for the center's closure. Customers will still be able to submit repairs through authorized retailers, who will send watches to Rolex centers in Beijing or Shanghai. Recent data from Morgan Stanley shows Rolex’s secondhand index has dropped over 30% since peaking in March 2022, including a 1.6% dip in Q4 2024 alone. On Xiaohongshu, the hashtag “RolexPriceDrop” (#劳力士下跌) has garnered over 73,000 views. In 2022, Rolex launched Rolex Certified Pre-Owned, allowing vetted secondhand watches to be sold through authorized dealers. The program was expanded to China in 2024, with its first store opening in Hong Kong via Oriental Watch Company. Jing Take The brand’s decision appears less about cost-cutting and more about asserting control over its distribution network. “If Rolex wanted, it could open two more service centers tomorrow,” Mai Sir (麦Sir), co-founder of luxury resale platform Hui Mai, said. “This is about risk management, governance, not savings.” During the pandemic, supply shortages led many dealers to bundle watches with less desirable models, inflating scarcity and driving up secondary market prices. Rumors swirled of staff reselling spare parts off the books. In light of that, shutting down the Guangzhou facility might be about restoring order. Centralizing service operations gives Rolex tighter control over inventory, channels, and customer touchpoints — protecting not just its product, but its reputation. Following the Moutai playbook One dealer executive, who requested anonymity, framed Rolex’s move as a strategic pivot, comparing it to Moutai’s shift toward direct distribution. “They’re following a model similar to Moutai, which boosted profits by shifting toward direct distribution, though not without alienating its distributors,” he says. Yang Yongxing, secretary-general of the Xiamen Watch Association, speculated in a post on Xiaohongshu that Rolex’s move could be paving the way for a flagship store in Guangzhou — one that might eventually combine retail, after-sales service, and certified pre-owned operations under a single roof. The myth of value retention under pressure The pricing correction in the secondary market reflects deeper shifts in how consumers view luxury. The investment logic that once defined high-end watches is giving way to a focus on product experience and brand meaning. But for Rolex, “value retention” has never been just a resale metric. It signals trust in scarcity, stability, and even a kind of financial utility. If that trust erodes, what’s at risk isn’t just pricing power — it’s the mythology of the brand itself. A new era of corporate governance The Swiss watchmaker recently launched an alert system on its official website — a whistleblower platform allowing anonymous or named reports on issues ranging from human rights to environmental concerns. While appearing as corporate responsibility, it could also serve as an internal audit mechanism. Taken together — the shuttered service centers, the brand-certified pre-owned rollout, the new reporting system — these aren’t isolated moves. They point to a broader strategy: full-spectrum control of the Rolex ecosystem. What Rolex is really protecting isn’t just pricing — it’s the mythology that makes its watches a symbol of status for the world’s wealthy. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

Rolex resets: Closing service hub to own the game

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Rolex resets: Closing service hub to own the game