ROLEX - History

Rolex was founded in London in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis as Wilsdorf & Davis, initially focusing on importing Swiss movements and placing them in quality watch cases. [1, 2]

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Early Years & Precision Milestones (1905–1920s)

• 1908: Hans Wilsdorf registered the name Rolex as a brand, wanting a short, memorable word that could be easily pronounced in any language. [1, 2]
• 1910: A Rolex wristwatch received the world's first Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision from the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne. [1]
• 1914: London's Kew Observatory awarded a Rolex wristwatch a Class “A” precision certificate, a distinction previously reserved strictly for marine chronometers. [1]
• 1919: Wilsdorf moved the company headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland, to escape post-WWI economic instability and high British export taxes, eventually registering Montres Rolex S.A.. [1]

The Waterproof & Self-Winding Breakthroughs (1926–1940s)

• 1926: Rolex launched the Oyster, the world's first truly waterproof and dustproof wristwatch, featuring a hermetically sealed screw-down case back, bezel, and winding crown. [1, 2, 3]
• 1927: British swimmer Mercedes Gleitze wore the Oyster across the English Channel; the watch emerged operating perfectly after over 10 hours in the water. [1]
• 1931: Rolex patented the Perpetual rotor, an automatic self-winding mechanism that converted natural wrist movement into continuous power. [1, 2]
• 1945: The brand introduced the Datejust, the first self-winding wrist chronometer to display the date in a window on the dial. [1]

The Professional Era (1950s–1960s)

• 1953: Rolex launched the Submariner, one of the first commercial divers' watches water-resistant up to 100 meters (330 feet), followed by the Explorer following expeditions to Mount Everest.
• 1954: The GMT-Master was released, engineered for Pan Am pilots to track multiple time zones simultaneously.
• 1956: The flagship Day-Date debuted, displaying both the date and the spelled-out day of the week.
• 1963: The Cosmograph Daytona chronograph was launched for motorsport racing.
• 1960: Hans Wilsdorf transferred ownership of the company to the private Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a charitable trust that continues to own Rolex today. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

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