Rolex has raised prices on some of its precious metal watches in the UK by 4% after gold prices soared to record highs.
The retail price of a white gold Rolex chronograph rose 4% from 37,200 pounds to 38,700 pounds ($49,312) as of June 1, according to information on the Swiss watchmaker’s British website tracked by Bloomberg.
The price of the gold GMT Master II jumps from £34,000 to £35,400.
Country-specific prices for timepieces produced by Geneva-based Rolex can be seen as an indicator of a country’s economic strength. The world’s top luxury watch brand produces more than 1 million watches annually and has sales of more than 10 billion Swiss francs ($11.08 billion).
Gold prices have soared 14% this year, hitting a record high of $2,450 an ounce in May on optimism that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates. The pound rose against the euro last month to its highest level since August 2022.
A Rolex spokesman in Geneva declined to comment on the price change.
Rolex usually increases the price of its watches every January. At the time, the company increased prices in the UK by about 4% on some models, including some steel watches, but kept prices unchanged in the US.
Major currency swings prompted Rolex to raise prices in the UK twice, in January and September 2022, as the pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar in decades. Rolex also raised prices twice in European countries that year.
