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History of Rolex watch
Oct
Rolex SA (/ˈroʊlɛks/) is a British-founded Swiss watch designer & manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as Wilsdorf and Davis by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, England, the company registered the word ‘Rolex’ as the brand name of its watches in 1908, and it became Rolex Watch Co. Ltd. in 1915. After World War I, the company moved its base of operations to Geneva because of the unfavorable economy in the United Kingdom. In 1920, Hans Wilsdorf registered Montres Rolex SA in Geneva as the new company name (montre is French for a watch (timepiece)); it later became Rolex SA. Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust.
Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres TUDOR SA design, make, distribute, and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands.
Rolex did not produce their watches in-house since its foundation until the early 21st century where they bought over the components’ manufacturers which made the watches for Rolex, notably Aegler. Rolex’s past business model consists of purchasing all the watch components from third-party manufacturers and finishing the final assembly in the Rolex headquarters.
Rolex respected late founder, Hans Wilsdorf philosophy was-‘Only great marketing is needed to make a company successful
Early history
Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded Wilsdorf and Davis, the company that would eventually become Rolex S.A., in London, England in 1905.[11] Wilsdorf and Davis’ main commercial activity at the time involved importing Hermann Aegler’s Swiss movements to England and placing them in watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to many jewllers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked “W&D” inside the caseback.
In 1908, Wilsdorf registered the trademark “Rolex”, which became the brand name of watches from Wilsdorf and Davis. He opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.Wilsdorf wanted the brand name to be easily pronounceable in any language, and short enough to fit on the face of a watch. He also thought that the name “Rolex” was onomatopoeic, sounding like a watch being wound.
In November 1915, the company changed its name to Rolex Watch Co. Ltd. In 1919, Hans Wilsdorf moved the company from England to Geneva, Switzerland because of heavy post-war taxes levied on luxury imports and high export duties on the silver and gold used for the watch cases. In 1920 the company’s name was officially changed to Montres Rolex S.A. and later to Rolex S.A.
With administrative worries attended to, Wilsdorf turned the company’s attention to a marketing challenge: the infiltration of dust and moisture under the dial and crown, which damaged the movement. To address this problem, in 1926 third-party casemaker produced a waterproof and dustproof wristwatch for Rolex, giving it the name “Oyster”. The watch featured a hermetically sealed case which provided optimal protection for the movement.
As a demonstration, Rolex submerged Oyster models in aquariums, which it displayed in the windows of its main points of sale. In 1927, British swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam across the English Channel with an Oyster on her necklace, becoming the first Rolex ambassador. To celebrate the feat, Rolex published a full-page advertisement on the front page of the Daily Mail for every issue for a whole month proclaiming the watch’s success during the ten hour plus swim.
In 1931, Rolex patented a self-winding mechanism called a Perpetual rotor, a semi-circular plate that relies on gravity to move freely. In turn, the Oyster watch became known as the Oyster Perpetual.
Upon the death of his wife in 1944, Wilsdorf established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private trust, in which he left all of his Rolex shares, ensuring that some of the company’s income would go to charity. Wilsdorf died in 1960, and since then the trust has owned and run Rolex S.A.
Recent development
Rolex SA is owned by the private Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which is registered as a charity and does not pay corporate income taxes. In 2011, a spokesman for Rolex declined to provide evidence regarding the amount of charitable donations made by the Wilsdorf Foundation,which brought up several scandals due to the lack of transparency. In Geneva where the company is based, it is said to have gifted, among many things, two housing buildings to social institutions of Geneva.
According to the 2017 Brand Z report, the brand value is estimated $8.053 billion.Rolex watches continue to have a reputation as status symbols. It produces more than 1,000,000 timepieces each year. It is said that “The power of the Crown is never more felt than when trying to negotiate space in a retail environment for the product of another brand”.
Tudor SA
Rolex SA offers products under the Rolex and Tudor brands. Montres Tudor (SA) has designed, manufactured and marketed Tudor watches since 6 March 1946.Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf conceived of the Tudor Watch Company to create a product for authorized Rolex dealers to sell that offered the reliability and dependability of a Rolex, but at a lower price. The number of Rolex watches was limited by the rate that they could produce in-house Rolex movements, thus Tudor watches were originally equipped with off-the-shelf movements while using similar quality cases and bracelets.
Historically, Tudor watches have been manufactured by Montres Tudor SA using movements supplied by ETA SA. Since 2015 Tudor has begun to manufacture watches with in-house movements. The first model introduced with an in-house movement was the Tudor North Flag. Following this, updated versions of the Tudor Pelagos and Tudor Heritage Black Bay have also been fitted with an in-house caliber.
Tudor watches are marketed and sold in most countries around the world. Montres Tudor SA discontinued sales of Tudor-branded watches in the United States in 2004, but Tudor returned to the United States market in the summer of 2013 and to the UK in 2014.
Tiffany, Birch and Gaydon, Cuervo y Sobrinos, Solar Aqua
Rolex SA produced and sold watches for few markets with the co-operation of other companies, such as Tiffany for the U.S.A, Birch and Gaydon for the England and all Great Britain, Solar Aqua for North America, Cuervo y Sobrinos for Cuba.
