Rolex

I love watches, especially the big ones, I do not like the fine watches that are confused with a simple bracelet, I prefer the most imposing that we can not miss. In leather, metal, fabric, plastic, I have a weakness for this jewel which in addition indicates the time and sometimes even the depth. Indeed, I have already tested also the diving watch, an essential item for the smooth running of a safe dive.

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Rolex is a Swiss company that was founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, manufacturer and distributor of luxury watches. It is the world's leading brand of luxury watches in front of Omega and Breitling.
The company is owned by the Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust company that does not pay taxes on its companies.

History

The history of Rolex is linked to that of the Wilsdorf family. It begins with the alliance of British commercial know-how with Swiss industrial quality, areas that make the reputation of these two countries in the early twentieth century.

In 1905, Hans Wilsdorf settled in London and founded, with his brother-in-law Alfred Davis, a watch company named Wilsdorf & Davis. At this time, the majority of production is in Switzerland, the artisans of this country being the only ones to be able to make mechanical movements small enough to fit in a pocket watch.
From the beginning of its activities, Wilsdorf specializes in the luxury niche, asking its suppliers for ever smaller and more reliable parts.

It is the company Aegler, a small factory located in Bienne, which agrees to provide him with the requested parts. The collaboration between Wilsdorf & Davis and Aegler has started and will continue.

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In 1906, the company filed a patent on the extensible bracelet which will be equipped with almost all models. The Rolex brand was finally filed by Wilsdorf in London in 1908. Two years later, in 1910, Rolex asked the Official Control Offices to certify its movements to prove that wristwatches are reliable and accurate, which was the time the main argument in favor of pocket watches.

The company gets the first precision certification for a wrist watch. Until then, this certification had only been awarded to military chronometers, mainly used in the navy.

In the same year, Wilsdorf moved from London to Geneva, in order to avoid the 33% tax on all imported products decided by the British government to cover the costs of the First World War.

The Oyster

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Once the reliability is certified, Wilsdorf begins to work on the second big defect of the watches of the time: the dust and the humidity which damages the movement by infiltrating under the dial and by the crown.

In 1926 the brand produced the Rolex Oyster model, the first waterproof watch with a revolutionary crown.

To demonstrate their tightness, Rolex installs, in the windows of its main points of sale, filled aquariums, in which are Oyster.
This advertising campaign then creates an important public recognition of the brand, which has since remained among the most well-known brands of the general public.

In 1927, Mercedes Gleitze, a young British swimmer, swam across the English Channel with an Oyster on her wrist. This sport will be the first in a long series of Rolex Ambassadors. To promote this feat to the general public, Rolex then offers the first advertisement ever made for a watch brand, in the form of the front page of the Daily Mail. This page contains the announcement of the crossing of the Channel by the Oyster.

New Inventions

In 1928, the Rolex Prince model came out and quickly became a success with its double dial.
In 1931, Rolex developed the Rotor, a semi-circular metal plate that, thanks to gravity, moves freely. The first automatic winding mechanism is born and will revolutionize the development of future watches.

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Although other models come out regularly from Rolex factories, the big names are usually reserved for the flagship model of the brand. Thus, in 1945, released a new version of the Oyster called Oyster Perpetual Datejust6 which is the first watch in the world to give the date, or more precisely the day of the month, in a small detachment of the dial on the right side.

In 1953, it was the turn of the Oyster Perpetual Submariner, able to withstand depths of 100 meters; in 1955, the Oyster Perpetual GMT Master can read the time in two different time zones; the following year, the Oyster Perpetual Day Date adds to the date the day of the week displayed in full.

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Since the mid-1930s, all Rolex watches bear the inscription Chronometer, whether or not they are tested. In the 1940s, this inscription became Certified Chronometer then, in the early 1950s, Officially Certified Chronometer. It was not until 1962 that the current registration Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified was adopted. However, Rolex has always produced Oyster series, of course less expensive, but which are not certified.

Origin of the name

The origin of the name Rolex would be the abbreviation of exquisite clockwork but this has never been officially confirmed. According to the brand's website, this name was chosen because it is easily pronounced in all European languages and is short enough to be easily included on the dial of a watch.

The main family of Rolex models includes different models of Oyster. It is divided into two major collections :

• Oyster perpetual, with Air-King, Perpetual, Date, Rolex Datejust and Datejust Turn-o-Graph and Day-Date models.
• Oyster professional, sport version, with Explorer, Explorer II, GMT-Master II, Submariner, Sea-Dweller 4000, Yacht-Master, Yacht-Master II, Milgauss and Daytona models.
• The 31mm Oyster Special Series offers some models with a diameter of 31mm (while standard models are typically 34mm in diameter). These models are dedicated to a female clientele.

Other product families include the Cellini family (more refined) with the Prince, Cellinium, Quartz, Cellissima, Classic, Danaos, Cestello and Orchid models.

Rolex also produces and sells the cheaper Tudor brand, of which the aesthetic components of both brands are very often similar. These models were, until 1990, sold with wristbands signed Rolex and marked with the crown.
They do not have movements Rolex but rather more basic Swiss movements, provided by other companies.

Since Tudor is cheaper, many watches of this brand have been supplied in parallel with Rolex to the military for the French Navy as well as for other armies around the world.

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It makes you dream to see all these beautiful luxury watches, is not it?