Swiss luxury watchmaker Rolex recorded their global sales recently to have crossed the 10.1 billion CHF mark ($11.5 billion USD), which is more than the revenue of several other luxury watchmakers in the world, even if their numbers are combined. In the tennis world, one can’t help but notice the role of Roger Federer in this, as the legend has been associated with the brand for around two decades now.
The report which came out with Rolex’s $11.5 billion USD and above sales, was by Morgan Stanley. To generate these kind of sales figures, Rolex sold around 1.24 million valuable pieces in 2023, which is a mammoth number. Even Swiss firm LuxeConsult marked this kind of sales figure as “unprecedented”. This is more than the combined revenue of Audemars Piguet, Richard Millie, Hublot, and Tag Heuer.
Audemars Piguet is famously a watch brand that Serena Williams endorses. It generated a revenue of 2.4 billion CHF ($2.71 billion USD).
Richard Mille is endorsed by Rafael Nadal and its revenues came up to a mere 1.5 CHF ($1.69 billion USD). Hublot, another famous luxury watchmaker, which has Novak Djokovic as its brand ambassador, is far off at No. 12 in the List of Top Watchmakers in Global Sales 2023. Tag Heuer is at No.15.
Some of the other top watch brands were Cartier at 3.1 billion CHF ($3.5 billion USD), Omega at 2.6 billion CHF ($2.93 billion USD), and Patek Philippe at 2.1 billion CHF ($2.38 billion USD). However, as evident, none come close to Rolex.
Roger Federer and Rolex have been associated with each other since 2003. That was the year Federer also won his first-ever Grand Slam, the Wimbledon Championships.
Federer has adorned many Rolex watches over the years. One of the most iconic ones he talks about is the Datejust. He reveals his deep connection to it, as he wore it after he won his 15th Grand Slam i.e. the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, where Federer defeated Andy Roddick in a rollicking match to go past Pete Sampras’ then world record of 14 men’s singles Grand Slam titles.
Some of the other Rolex watches Federer has worn over the years are – Rolex Oyster Perpetual, Rolex GMT Master II, Rolex Sky-Dweller, Rolex Daytona, Rolex Sacco Daytona, Rolex Daytona 6263, and the list goes on. This adds up to his other expensive collections.
Originally when Federer and Rolex struck an endorsement arrangement in 2006, Federer was paid a $15 million deal for 10 years. It was one of the largest ever deals at the time. Now, he gets $9 million annually from a new deal with the brand. It is still an insane amount, given that Rolex also has Tiger Woods and Jackie Stewart as two of their high-profile brand ambassadors.
What role did Rolex play in Roger Federer’s earnings?
The net worth of Roger Federer is $550 million, but his total career earnings surpass $1 billion. This is way more than Nadal’s $500 million and Novak Djokovic’s $470 million. In this $1 billion earnings, Rolex had the biggest role among all the brands he endorsed, as the Swiss legend on estimate, earned anywhere between $220-240 million USD so far from the brand.
This also made Roger Federer the first self-made tennis player in the world to earn above $1 billion USD in his career. Although he is still behind Ion Tiriac, who is the richest tennis player of all time.
