Sustainable development

Our areas of action

Responsibility and concrete actions are embedded in our corporate culture and we are currently in the process of developing the latter within a more formal framework.

This is a major and necessary step in enabling the brand to move forward and contribute to developments within the sector.

In 2020, we launched the ‘Impact and Sustainability’ structured approach to officially address our environmental and social responsibility. This initiative reinforced the efforts we have been making for many years to promote sustainability.

We have created a strong governance model, supported by the company’s most senior leadership bodies, to define an internal sustainability policy and to ensure it is implemented in a tangible and multidisciplinary 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, from the procurement of raw materials to the production of finished products, including distribution and other processes. These measures are currently focused on achieving ambitious targets, as our global corporate strategy progresses.

Responsible sourcing, traceability of raw materials, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy transition, chemicals management, water treatment, waste management, recycling and waste-cutting measures, mobility, transport and logistics are some of the core focuses of our daily operations, in addition to our various programmes promoting innovation, knowledge transfer and protecting the planet.

Our governance structure in terms of sustainability, ethics and compliance

• A Sustainability Strategy Committee – at the company’s Executive Team level – was created in 2020. Its goal is to define, validate and lead the Rolex sustainability strategy.

• A Sustainability Advisory Council was set up in 2023 to advise Rolex on sustainable development challenges for the watchmaking sector, such as climate change, biodiversity, water, and in particular all issues relating to raw material traceability and human rights.

• An 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, guiding internal stakeholders, and managing change within Rolex. It is also in charge of improving and measuring the actions of Rolex in the non-financial field.

• A Sustainability Steering Committee, set up in 2020, supports the work of the Sustainability Strategy Committee. It comprises one or more representatives from each Division of Rolex SA and from Manufacture des Montres Rolex SA. This committee oversees the roll-out of the sustainability strategy and the implementation of the related action plan.

• An Ethics and Compliance Committee, created in 2023, is responsible for risk management across all supply chains and for the roll-out of the supplier selection methodology, in Switzerland and overseas. This committee is in charge of implementing 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 commitment to sustainability in a code of conduct describing the values, ethics and internal standards that have shaped our company since the beginning.

This document defines a framework within which Rolex, its employees and external associates make a joint commitment to ethical and responsible business conduct.

Based on our core values – the never-ending quest for quality, the spirit of innovation, the pursuit of excellence – it advocates, among other things, a healthy working environment, integrity in our business activities and the preservation of our way of doing things.

Code of conduct

Our supply chain management

We have introduced measures for detecting and managing risks along our supply chains. We are constantly working on delving deeper in our environmental and social analyses in terms of our sourcing and supplier relationships.

Our Responsible Purchasing Policy is enhanced and developed in accordance with various regulations, including the Swiss Ordinance on Due Diligence and Transparency Obligations (ODiTr) from 2021 and Regulation 2017/821 of the European Union. This policy is based on the principles of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (2016/Third edition), which includes the application of due diligence, collaboration with stakeholders, continuous innovation and improvement, equal opportunities, as well as monitoring and evaluation.

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 into account our impacts.

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

As part of 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, business ethics and deontology.

Our Sustainable Development Charter

In order to involve as many of our partners as possible in our sustainable development efforts, in 2022 we drew up a charter specifically for them. This official document formalizes a voluntary commitment to people and the planet, and aims to encourage and develop joint efforts that will benefit the greater good, as well as future generations.

With this charter, we commit to adopting a responsible attitude and tangible sustainability measures throughout the company’s value chain. We ask our partners to demonstrate their own commitment by signing the charter, in an approach founded on trust and transparency.

Sustainable Development Charter