History of Rolex

Hans Wilsdorf was the visionary man behind the foundation of this amazing watch company Rolex. At the age of 24 in the year 1905, Hans Wilsdorf started this company in London that specialized in distributing time pieces. He started dreaming of a watch that can be worn on wrists. This was the time when the wrist watches were not in trend but this man foresaw the evolution of the new kind of timepiece that was not only elegant but functional at the same time.

It was difficult to convince public about the reliability of his innovation. To do so, he tied hands with a swiss watchmaking company called Bienne and he equipped his watches with the precise movements in this swiss brand.

The magic of the five letters ROLEX

Hans Wilford was a visionary man and he wanted the name of his company to be precise, short, easy to say and remember by any other language speaking person. He wanted a name that goes with his time pieces. When asked about how he found this name ROLEX, he said that he tried all combinations of the English alphabets and this process gave him some hundred names but he was not satisfied with any of them. One fine morning, he riding on the upper deck of a horse drawn omnibus along the Cheapside in the city of the London and a genius whispered Rolex in his ears and there something clicked in his mind.

Hence, the name of his company Rolex

The quest behind the Chronometric Precision

Rolex, as a brand first concentrated on the quality of the movements. In the year 1910, the endless quest for the chronometric precision led to success finally. In the same year, Rolex Watch was the first company to receive the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision that was granted by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne.

Some four years later in 1914, the Kew Observatory of Great Britain awarded a Rolex wristwatch a class A precision certificate. This was a distinction and an award given only to the marine chronometers exclusively and this was a great achievement for Rolex. From that date onwards, precision seemed synonymous with Rolex.

The year of 1926

Rolex moved to Geneva in 1926. Geneva was the city which was then renowned internationally for watchmaking. The company was registered in the name of Montres Rolex S.A. in Geneva.

The story from 1926 1945

• In 1926, Rolex created its first waterproof and dustproof watch and marked a major step forward.
• In the same year, the Rolex Oyster crossed the English Channel as the watch was worn by a young English swimmer named Mercedes Gleitze.
• In 1931, Rolex was the one to invent and patent a self-winding mechanism with a perpetual rotor. This was a true work of art.
• When the first fleet of pilots flew over Everest, they wore Rolex Oyster in their hands and they were very happy with the performance.
• And the journey of Rolex continued from 1930 to 2019. The hard work of a dedicated person paid off to make this company the No.1 watch company in the world.