Where does Rolex's money go? (2024)

It is 85 meters long, 17 meters wide, 8 meters high and of such architectural finesse that it has won several awards. The Hans Wilsdorf Bridge over the Arve River is the most conspicuous sign of a power so far-reaching that in Geneva people speak of a «state within a state» – and so mysterious that sometimes they don't even mention its name.

Hans Wilsdorf is the name of the foundation that conceived, planned and financed the bridge. This is one of the most influential, probably even the most influential foundation in Switzerland. It distributes its funds so widely that one sometimes wonders if its administrators simply no longer know what do with so much money. Do they do it out of pure charity, or do they follow a plan?

The foundation’s financial strength does not come from chance. The Foundation Hans Wilsdorf – most often referred to simply as Wilsdorf – is the sole owner of one of the country's most successful yet secretive companies – Rolex. How much the Geneva watchmaker earns, its profit, even how many of it’s various models are produced remain company secrets.

Rolex does not provide any information, nor is the company required to do so. Unlike many other luxury goods manufacturers, it is not listed on any stock exchange. It is accountable only to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which owns 100% of the company’s shares. Rolex executives are wary of revealing their secrets.

The lone interview of the founder

Rolex discretion is legendary and has hardly changed over the years. Hans Wilsdorf, who founded the company in 1905, gave a single public interview in 1959 – a few months before his death. The video recording serves as a valuable historical record, but the native Bavarian did not disclose any business-relevant information even then.

Nevertheless, it is possible to make very rough estimates based on a few known figures: It is undisputed in the industry that Rolex produces more than one million watches per year. Sales are estimated at around 10 billion Swiss francs annually. Unknown is the profit. What is clear is that the Swiss watch industry, with Rolex as its beacon, has had highly successful years. A substantial share of profits is also likely to come from the broadly diversified real estate portfolio.

Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf had no direct descendants. So he set up a foundation in 1945, gave it his own name and transferred all his shares to it on his death. The main purpose of the foundation is the continuation of Rolex. The «estate of the foundation is to be allocated all resources» that contribute to their «preservation and normal development,» reads the introductory act of the foundation.

The amount used to secure Rolex's well-being is not communicated. The fact that it is a proud sum is shown by the takeover of watch retailer Bucherer, which was announced on August 25th. The purchase price was, of course, not disclosed – but given Bucherer's estimated sales of around 2 billion Swiss francs, it is likely to be several billion. A look at Bulle in the Swiss canton of Fribourg is also illuminating. Rolex is building a new production facility there at a cost of 1 billion Swiss francs.

300 million francs – or more

And yet, after those investments, there is still a lot of money left over. This has to go to «charities and sponsorships», Hans Wilsdorf decided. According to the original scope of the foundation, distant family members were also supposed to be compensated. However, since the 2006 revision of foundation law, this is no longer permitted. The beneficiaries at that time – there were dozens of people – were paid by mutual agreement.

The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation does not communicate precisely what amount is used for philanthropic purposes. Representatives hardly ever appear in the media – and yet they are more open than they used to be. Recently, Secretary General Marc Maugué opened the doors of the modern office building in the posh Geneva suburb of Carouge to the NZZ and said: «Every year, we have around 300 million Swiss francs available for charitable purposes. When major projects come up, it can sometimes be significantly more.» As the sole owner of the watch brand, the foundation can ultimately decide on its own how much it wants to pay out.

«Discreet help to deserving women.»

As the annual investment volume of a single foundation, 300 million francs or more is a gigantic sum. According to experts, it is presumably the financially strongest charitable foundation in Switzerland.So why is the colossus only known to insiders, at least in German-speaking Switzerland?

The answer is simple: According to the foundation's purpose, the money may be used almost exclusively in the canton of Geneva. When Hans Wilsdorf drew up the statutes in 1945, he enumerated countless actors who were to benefit from the charity. Among them are a few that from today's point of view seem rather outdated. For example, «cultivated and deserving women should receive discreet help.» Behind practically every point, Hans Wilsdorf noted «à Genève» or «genevois» – even though he himself was an immigrant and in 1926 had to cede an estate he had recently acquired to the canton by parliamentary decree.

Thanks to the broad range of topics chosen by the founding father, the eight-member foundation board can consider almost every conceivable recipient in Geneva, sometimes with a little interpretation. The list of major projects that the foundation has supported in recent years alone is correspondingly long. In 2015 Wilsdorf saved the Servette FC soccer club from going under with an amount in the double-digit millions. In 2017, the foundation purchased several buildings for 100 million Swiss francs so that the HEAD school for art and design could build its new campus. In 2018, it planned to contribute 200 million francs to a music temple, which narrowly failed in a referendum in the end. In the same year the foundation financed HC Geneva-Servette, it also financed the hockey club, whose foreign players catapulted the team to their first championship in April.

In 2019, Wilsdorf took over the doomed cinema Plaza, where cultural life is now being reawakened, for a sum in the high double-digit millions, and financed half of the Geneva State Archives with a sum of 50 million francs. In 2020, Wilsdorf and two other patrons established the Aventinus Foundation , which in turn owns the majority of shares in the newspaper Le Temps and the online portal Heidi.news.

In Plan-les-Ouates, Wilsdorf bought several buildings for hundreds of millions of euros each between 2017 and 2021 and is now letting social facilities and a watchmaking school move in. Since spring 2022, a stately building in the Plainpalais neighborhood has been converted into a women's shelter. In the same years Wilsdorf unceremoniously donated 100 million Swiss francs to the International Committee of the Red Cross Foundation for groundbreaking innovation projects – the same amount as the federal government contributes. And in February of this year, Wilsdorf took over a vacant hotel for 32 million francs, so that charitable organizations can use it in the future.

Animals mainly outside Geneva

It is major projects such as these that the Geneva public associates – if at all – with the name Wilsdorf. But actually they are the exceptions that prove the rule. Because practically no one has any idea about the vast majority of donations. For example, to a family who cannot pay their rent deposit. Or to the student whose parents are strapped for cash; to the children's circus that needs new equipment.

In the areas of social welfare, education and culture, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation supports thousands of such individual projects every year. In Geneva, there is hardly a theater, hardly a neighborhood association, hardly a social institution that hasn't come knocking. Then there are all the non-governmental and aid organizations that have their headquarters in Switzerland's second-largest city, but use their money all over the world. And then there is one area in which Hans Wilsdorf explicitly did not make any geographical mentions before his passing: animal welfare.

According to Maugué, the approximately 300 million Swiss francs per year are divided roughly as follows: one-third for humanitarian aid, one-third for animals and ecosystems, one-third for local projects in Geneva – plus the costly large-scale projects that arise according to need and opportunity.

Aliases in English

No wonder several people who spoke to the NZZ referred to the foundation as the «state within the state» in Geneva. But to be quoted in the newspaper by name? No one wanted that. The Wilsdorf Foundation is discreet, and you should be too, says one director. The secrecy goes so far that people involved with Wilsdorf sometimes come up with aliases. One might call it W, pronounced in English. Or simply, the Foundation. Everyone knows who is being spoken about nonetheless.

One observer says that one won't find any decision-makers in Geneva being publicly critical of Wilsdorf. Almost all of them depend on the foundation in one way or another, he says. After all, it is active in countless areas in which the canton is also active. Ties to state and state-sponsored actors are close. The fact that several high-ranking employees of the foundation had previously worked in the Geneva administration is no coincidence – Maugué himself was formerly secretary general of the cantonal social welfare authority. People know each other and trust each other.

A call to the Wilsdorf Foundation is like a «wild card,» says one politician familiar with the experience. A call is kept in reserve if no other source of funding is available. But it is always about projects that are «nice to have.» Where core government tasks are at stake, Wilsdorf is deliberately kept outside.

Another Geneva magistrate adds that, thanks to the support of the Rolex Foundation, pilot projects are made possible for which there is hardly any room in the normal budget. He has trouble understanding the criticism of Wilsdorf anyway, he says. After all, their grants allow projects to be realized within a short time and, above all, without taxpayers' money, which would otherwise take years or even decades. Indeed, due to the lean structure of the Wilsdorf Foundation Board, once it is convinced of a cause, it can move quickly – huge sums or not.

Where does one draw the line?

But where does «nice to have» begin – and where does «must» end? The line is not easy to draw. Nowhere is this more evident than in dealing with people with disabilities. For many years, Tal Schibler was president of the foundation board of Foyer-Handicap, a private organization, but one in which the canton is the main financial backer.

Schibler says that Foyer-Handicap is careful not to knock on Wilsdorf's door for amounts that would have to be covered by the service agreement with the canton – that is, not to pay wages, for example. In addition, they are deliberately in contact with various patrons, he says. Of course, Wilsdorf is an «extremely important building block» for which the company is «immensely happy,» he adds.

This is especially true when it comes to real estate – hardly anywhere is land as expensive as in Geneva. When Foyer-Handicap built a costly new residence several years ago, private donors contributed one-third of the expense. A significant portion of this came from the Hans Wilsdorf foundation.

However, smaller contributions are often involved, says Schibler, citing the purchase of a new transport vehicle as an example. But «Wilsdorf's support makes it possible to offer better quality,» he adds.

«Would no longer act in the same way»

Wilsdorf's Secretary General Marc Maugué says that they are of course aware that private funding for public projects may seemingly trump democratic processes, but assures that this awareness guides every award decision made by the Board of Trustees. The very first question that is always asked is: Does the canton pay for the operation? Only if the answer is yes is money be made available if necessary.

But what about the Hans Wilsdorf Bridge mentioned at the beginning? Because the city and the canton could not reach an agreement at the time, the foundation pulled the strings and, to a certain extent, slipped into the skin of the legislator. Maugué says that such a case is no longer possible. «We learned from that and we wouldn't do the same thing today.»

In the meantime, support is only provided for projects that have political legitimacy. In other words, Wilsdorf will give money for an infrastructure project that the city or canton would have wanted to provide anyway, but did not (yet) have sufficient funds for. How the project is then specifically designed and operated is decided by the authorities.

The foundation receives almost 10,000 applications per year. The majority receive positive responses, says Maugué. «We review each application individually, but when in doubt, we say yes rather than no. Our maxim is: vigilant – but benevolent.» By means of a random generator, a certain percentage of the awards are verified after being given out. Fraud has practically never been detected, he says.

The spirit of Calvin

The high percentage of accepted applications is mainly due to the fact that many are prepared by social institutions and often even submitted directly. So, for example, if the Caritas relief organization becomes aware of a family in difficulty, but itself has too little funding, it reaches out to Wilsdorf. This simplifies processing for the foundation, especially since the aid organization does not want to risk its good reputation with applications that have no chance of success.

When money flows, hardly anyone finds out about it. In the NGOs' annual reports, the payouts are simply lumped together under «donations.» This is not a coincidence. But for major projects, the foundation does show itself because the public would otherwise look for explanations. But even these do not bear the name of the Rolex founder – the bridge was an exception. In the case of smaller donations, the foundation remains entirely, and quite deliberately, in the background. It is never advertised.

Luxury finances charity

A fairy tale of a rich uncle who reads wishes from one’s lips and then selflessly opens his wallet – it actually sounds too corny to be true. What hidden goal does the Wilsdorf Foundation or even the global brand Rolex pursue with its generosity? «None! We act solely as the founding father had wished», assures Maugué.

In this city of Calvin, this is a Protestant-tinged understanding of philanthropy. The fact that Rolex makes its money from luxury par excellence makes it seem perhaps just slightly insincere.

Little does the Chinese real estate agent, who tries to impress his business partners with his wrist, know that he may be helping a Geneva pensioner find a way out of a spiral of debt. This, too, is part of the Rolex phenomenon, which is as powerful as it is mysterious. Hans Wilsdorf, this childless watch pioneer from Upper Franconia, would be quite happy about this.

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