Weekend Watching
President Trump
Trump Speaks @ Davos
If you are a regular reader of Jake's Rolex World you likely saw my extensive coverage recently of President Trump's inauguration earlier this week, and suffice it to say, my head is still spinning just trying to keep up to date on the all the amazing progress that has been made in such a short period of time. The article I published on Monday of this past week, was all about Rolex watches as I showcased a great deal of modern Rolex watch history. This story is also about Rolex watches, but as you will soon read, on a different level.
Trump gave a stunning speech on Trade at Davos in Switzerland a few days ago, and seems to have completely freaked out everybody with his amazingly aggressive trajectory toward his complete overhaul of the United States. In his speech he said some shocking things like:
"We have accomplished more in the past 4 days...than other administrations have accomplish in 4 years—and we're just getting started."
Regardless of ones political leaning, and I personally am politically agnostic, in the sense I have no political affiliation. My ONLY criteria throughout my life has been to ask what is best for my fellow human beings and Mother Earth. Yes, I have always been proud to be an American, but I consider having been highly fortunate to have been born in the United States to be more akin to winning the lottery than some kind of manifest destiny.
Boy, that was a mouthful to lead up to what I am about to say, but it appears clear to me that President Trump is on a hardcore tear, and is hellbent on leaving behind a world-class legacy. Think about it for a moment. He can't run again, so he really has nothing to lose, and he is going petal-to-the-metal, full speed ahead.
For the second part of this story, I am doing something a little bit unusual. I am republishing the story below in it's entirety that I originally published on RolexMagazine.com back on January 26, 2018, as I believe it's fascinating to compare and contrast President Trump's most recent 2025 Davos speech covered above, with his last Davos speech I covered:
World Economic Forum
Davos, Switzerland
When most people think about Switzerland it conjures up watches, chocolate, fondue, great skiing, but Switzerland is one of the most important diplomatic hubs in the world, and as I write this the 2018 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is currently underway in Davos, Switzerland. U.S. President Donald Trump is the first U.S. President since Bill Clinton to attend the World Economic Forum and is scheduled to give the keynote speech. The Daily Mail has great coverage of this event if you are interested in learning more.
There is something so majestic and almost hypnotic about watching such a big bird descend and touch-down...
If you are a regular reader of Jake's Rolex World, you might also be aware that I publish another online magazine named, "Jake's Presidential World", since I have always been fascinated with the trappings of the U.S. Presidency. Below is a video of President Trump Meeting with some of the most successful business leaders in the world.
The video below is of President Trump's speech that addressed the World Economic Forum.
If You Were Negotiating Here Tomorrow
You'd Wear A Rolex
Geneva's Palais des Nations
This vintage Rolex ad showcases what is now referred to as UNOG, which stands for The United Nations Office At Geneva. The "Palace Of Nations" was built in Geneva between 1929 and 1936 as the headquarters for the League of Nations, which later evolved into the Geneva headquarters for the United Nations in 1946. Today, The United Nations In Geneva is busier than ever with international diplomats, and it primarily deals with social issues around the world.
Vintage Rolex Ad Appears Courtesy of The Concannon Collection
Conclusion
What Does President Trump's 2025 Davos Speech Have To Do With Rolex?
The answer is simple: Everything and nothing. The fact the World Economic Forum is headquartered in Switzerland is—of course—fascinating, but most importantly, Rolex is a shining example of a company that has always endured and prospered through-thick-and-thin. The United States market has always been Rolex's bread-and-butter market in the sense, to the best of my knowledge, it has always remained Rolex's largest most stable marketplace. Rolex prospered and has been the ultimate beneficiary over the past decade on many fronts, from the advent of the Apple Watch, through the COVID-19 Crisis.
Let me be specific, for the sake of clarity: To the best of my knowledge, Rolex and Apple are the two largest watch companies on earth today by gross sales. Apple owns the lower price-point of the watch market based upon their much lower average selling price of somewhere around $1000 per watch (having sold somewhere around 37 million watches in 2024 for around $37 Billion at the retail price point).
NOTE: I have no inside information for actual watch sales number or financial information for Apple or Rolex. I simply used Grok AI, and asked it for answers, (which I included in parentheses above and below for Frame-of-reference).
Rolex is the opposite in the sense they don't sell nearly as many watches in quantity, but have an average price-point of around $14,000 per watch. (having sold somewhere around 1.25 million watches in 2024 for around $17.2 Billion at the retail price point).
Just to break this data down a step further, would be to recognize that Apple sells 37 million watches per year at retail, whereas Rolex sells 1.25 Million watches at retail. So Apple sells close to 30 times more watches that Rolex, but Rolex is likely more profitable on a per unit basis. This is speculation on my behalf, but either way, the numbers tell a fascinating story. Also, it is important to consider Apple Watches are really computers on the wrist, where Rolex watches are actual highly mechanical masterpieces.
It's profoundly ironic to consider that when Apple originally launched the Apple Watch they offered a $10,000 yellow gold variant, which was almost immediately discontinued as nobody wanted to invest that much money in watch that could not stand the test of time, and maintain it's value proposition.
I would argue the Apple Watch is probably one of the best things that ever happened to Rolex because it caused a whole new generation of people to pay attention to the wrist, which is highly ironic as Apple was the one that was initially caused people to stop wearing watches, as they would just use their omnipresent iPhone to tell time.
So through the COVID crisis, many people were stuck at home and paid a lot of attention to the watch market, and many people grew weary of the Apple Watch as it was relatively high-maintenance in the sense it has to be charged every night, or it wouldn't work. In other words, many people wanted something more, and it a world were suddenly Apple Watches were omnipresent, customers wanted to differentiate themselves with a different wrist watch, but in particular one that ideally would potentially appreciate as an asset, as apposed to depreciate as Apple Watches regularly do as Apple introduces new models every year that do and offer more.
For the record, I am a fan of both the Apple Watch and I have long self-declared myself as the President of the Rolex fan club. This is a little bit unusual, as most people prefer one or the other. When I wear an Apple Watch, ironically I wear it like a Rolex in the sense that I wear it for at a glance timekeeping only. In other words, I keep all the highly annoying notifications turned off, and I don't use it for keeping track of my health, as I highly agree with Roger Federer that I don't need a watch or phone to tell me if I am getting enough exercise or not.
So what does my stroll down memory lane in the Rolex Time Machine and all my watch psychoanalysis have to do with President Tump's Davos Speech??? If Trump makes it halfway, or even a quarter of the way to where he is trying to take the U.S. economy, we are going to witness potentially the single largest economic boom in history!!! Regardless of whether you like or dislike President Trump, you cannot help but notice his leadership is providing a stone-cold-sober, supercharged upper financial trajectory, and that, as previously mentioned, if it succeeds only partway, could radically benefit future Rolex sale in the United State and abroad.
Below is a fascinating short video interview of David Sacks, which President Trump appointed as his AI and Crypto Czar, and David is not only extremely intelligent and charismatic, but wicked-smart and insightful. If what has occurred in less than a week is any kind of indication of what is to come, they I say watch out for flying brick!!!!!