The gold foundry at the Plan-Les-Quates site feels like the workshop of a sorcerers apprentice. Here, are huge ovens, workers with protective aluminium masks and, at the heart of it all, the gold itself, which is melted, alloyed, drawn and drawn again, before being cut, stamped, shaped and assembled into the final product. Yet, 24 carat gold is too malleable to be used as such. It starts of as small beads of pure gold, which are easier to weigh and mix. To make 18 carat Ever-rose gold, precise amounts of pure platinum and copper are added. Each alloy - yellow, white or Ever-rose gold is mixed in a diffrent kind of crucible. Pure gold starts to melt in under 30 minuets as a constant temperature of over 1000 C. This true liquid sunshine is stirred using a carbon rod, then poured into a graphite sieve through a ring a fire to prevent the copper from oxidizing. The process takes less then an hour.
A Sample is taken at each casting and sent for analysis to the Rolex laboratory and to the Swiss Customs Office, which certifies the fineness of the gold. Only then is it shaped and gradually formed into the plate, bar or profile used to make the future watch case or bracelet. Grooved rollers mould the precious metal into fine strips. Not being a very hard metal, gold can easily be shaped cold. There is a scent of oranges in the air. It emanates from natural solvent used in the machine to help the roller adhere to the gold. Thus, a single meter of cast gold gradually becomes four meter long bar. Throughout these shaping operations the gold bar hardens and to be softened again. Under the watchful eye of workers with burgundy smocks and insulated gloves, the gold undergoes a heat treatment - a process that takes over half an hour in a thermal oven in a hydrogen atmosphere to reduce surface oxidation.
Rolex is steeped in gold. Gold constitutes the very body and soul of the watch, giving it its first contours. The bars are pulled one last time through dies that perfectly define their dimensions to within 20 microns. Some 15 differently shaped bars and profiles go into the making of each model. They are now ready to be stamped and tooled, producing various small components of each watch. In all, the gold will pass through a dozen workshops before it is polished and assembled into watch cases and bracelets.
Swiss-Wrist
Swiss Wrist
