{"id":779708,"date":"2024-06-28T13:59:59","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T11:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=779708"},"modified":"2024-06-28T14:00:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T12:00:07","slug":"major-luxury-brand-clarifies-exit-from-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/779708\/major-luxury-brand-clarifies-exit-from-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Major luxury brand clarifies &#8216;exit&#8217; from South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Rolex will no longer have an official Rolex affiliate in South Africa, but the brand says it is not leaving the country altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rolex Watch Company (South Africa) (Proprietary) Ltd opened in 1948 in the centre of Johannesburg and relocated to Sandton in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;However, local markets and conjuncture have evolved and no longer warrant the presence of an official Rolex affiliate,&#8221; said the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The brand will, therefore, close its Sandton office in June 2024 but remains strongly committed to the development of the South African market.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The announcement of the brand&#8217;s &#8220;exit&#8221; from South Africa came amidst several high-profile international companies leaving South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shell is selling its downstream business in South Africa, which includes its petrol stations, French bank BNP Paribas is no longer functioning as a bank in South Africa, while Anglo American plans to spin off Anglo American Platinum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Xcj7ojjRW6\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/771597\/big-businesses-calling-it-quits-in-south-africa\/\">Big businesses calling it quits in South Africa<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Big businesses calling it quits in South Africa&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/771597\/big-businesses-calling-it-quits-in-south-africa\/embed\/#?secret=JfAdtPkYAx#?secret=Xcj7ojjRW6\" data-secret=\"Xcj7ojjRW6\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Rolex will continue to provide after-sales service in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting July 1st 2024, the brand\u2019s partner, The Vault, will take over and centralize all maintenance and servicing activities for the country\u2019s other Official Rolex Retailers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rolex Authorized Service Center will continue operating at the same headquarters in Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rolex will remain active through its Official Retailer network, and in 2025, the brand will roll out a series of projects across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A 200 sqm boutique will also open in Sandton City, Johannesburg, in Q2 2025 with partner SHEMER. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, official retailer and long time partner Charles Greig will overhaul its store in Hyde Park to include a new 65 sqm Rolex shop-in-shop, which will also open in Q2 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charles Greig and Van Deijl Jewellers will also steel Rolexes at the Victoria &amp; Alfred<br>Waterfront and the Tyger Valley Shopping Centers in Cape Town, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rolex will also spread its retail footprint to Durban, where  The Vault will operate a 60 sqm corner in Umhlanga Arch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Importantly, 2025 will see the Rolex Certified Pre-Owned (RCPO) program introduced in South Africa,&#8221; said the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Launched in 2022, the RCPO program offers the opportunity to buy genuine second-hand Rolex watches guaranteed by the brand. These watches benefit from the quality criteria inherent to all Rolex products and the full know-how and professionalism of the brand\u2019s worldwide network of experts.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/779129\/we-compared-takealot-vs-amazon-deliveries-and-the-winner-was-a-close-call\/\">We compared Takealot vs Amazon deliveries \u2013 and the winner was a close call<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rolex&#8217;s official affiliate in South Africa may be closing its doors, but the luxury watch brand will still have a footprint in the country. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":779742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-779708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779708"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779745,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779708\/revisions\/779745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}