What keeps Rolex ticking

WATCH brands tend to focus on selling their timepieces, but hardly do you hear any of them talking about what happens after you take the watch home. Namely, after-sales service which is seldom explained and remains a mysterious place from where your luxury watches emerge shiny and back in pristine working condition again.

After-sales service is no afterthought at Rolex, where procedures are worked out even before the watches are made, with the plans drawn at the development stage, it says. It's a rare revelation for the luxury watch brand which has always been highly secretive about its operations.

A recent Rolex brochure says watches that leave its ultra modern factory in Switzerland are designed and made to last, but even the most robust and carefully maintained timepieces can't escape the wear and tear of time.