Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This Business Breakdowns on Rolex is a long-time stand out. The founder and executive chairman of Hodinkee, Ben Clymer, was the perfect person to take us through the ins and outs of this legendary brand.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page ⁠here⁠.

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Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit⁠ joincolossus.com/episodes⁠.

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠).

Show Notes

(00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns

(00:03:01) His favorite Rolex watch ever

(00:04:24) What makes the Rolex Daytona such a special watch

(00:07:19) The job-to-be-done for high-end watches beyond just telling them the time

(00:12:18) The strategy behind marketing luxury products: ⁠The Luxury Strategy⁠

(00:14:34) An overview of the Rolex business

(00:19:38) The history of Rolex

(00:38:45) Their genius in marketing and distribution

(00:41:55) How they make decisions and what others can learn from them

(00:47:14) The financials of Rolex and other luxury watch brands

(00:49:02) Most important business lessons others can learn from Rolex

(00:52:54) Other luxury brands worth studying

(00:57:26) Negative lessons gleaned from Rolex

Jonathan Brush of Unbound: Rethinking Higher Education & Raising Courageous Leaders