After a 45-year run, Rolex will no longer be sold at Wempe’s 700 Fifth Avenue location.

Wempe closed its Rolex-anchored, multi-brand Bond Street store in London in 2023, soon after Hodinkee-owner Watches of Switzerland announced it was opening a dedicated Rolex flagship on the same street, which opened in 2025.

Knowing that the impetus for Wempe closing a mega-store in London was likely due to Rolex. And that Rolex has been culling its retailer network. Perhaps most importantly, the fact that Rolex’s Fifth Avenue Headquarters, less than two blocks away, is due to re-open in 2026 — makes this news less surprising.

In 2019, well before Rolex’s 2023 acquisition of Bucherer, plans for Rolex’s new 25-story 165,000 square foot headquarters — and what will likely become the largest Rolex retail store in the world at the ground level — were well known.

So even though Wempe ran Rolex’s now shuttered Fifth Avenue boutique on behalf of Rolex in the past, and carried Rolex at its massive multi-brand boutique a block and a half farther uptown underneath the Peninsula hotel for 45 years — Rolex has made its decision.

And while Rolex has stated in the past that owning Bucherer would not affect its relationship with competing retailers, clearly, their actions tell a different story.

In response to the Rolex withdrawal, Wempe is doubling the size of its Patek Philippe space, which should mitigate some of the revenue loss. But let’s be honest, when the rule of thumb is that Rolex does approximately half the business in multi-brand stores that it exists in, Wempe has lost an irreplaceable amount of revenue.

Rolex has still not announced which retailer will run its flagship store at its 665 Fifth Avenue Headquarters, which is scheduled to be finished in 2026, but how could you bet against it being Bucherer, which they own?

 

We reached out to Rolex, and they declined to comment.