At the end of August of 2023, Rolex—the green giant—acquired Bucherer, one of the oldest watch retailers. Rolex and Bucherer share a long history as Bucherer has been an official retailer of Rolex since 1924 and Jörg G. Bucherer—owner of Bucherer before the acquisition—was the last person still in activity to have known and worked with Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex until his passing short after the acquisition.
Even after the acquisition by Rolex, Jörg G. Bucherer remained as honorary president of the Bucherer group and its watch brand Carl F. Bucherer which was founded in Lucerne in 1888 by his grandfather Carl Friedrich Bucherer who opened a jewelry and watch shop in Lucerne, and his name rapidly became a synonym for quality and originality.
Today, February 7th, 2025, we found out through the news Bilanz—a Swiss publication—that Rolex has decided to shut down all operations of the Carl F. Bucherer brand considering its low sales and uncertain future in a highly competitive watch industry. From what we’ve heard, looks like the 100 or so employees at Carl F. Bucherer were informed this morning that the brand would cease to operate and that they would be offered jobs at Rolex. So far, the brand’s website is still up and running and Rolex and Bucherer have not commented on the news published by Bilanz.
While there are many watches we loved from Carl F. Bucherer we felt that pricing was always way higher than it should’ve been and the value equation was just not right. No wonder the decision was made by Rolex.
We will update this article if Rolex or Bucherer provide further details.
