The story
Founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1905, in London.1
Early history
Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded Wilsdorf and Davis, the company that would eventually become Rolex SA, in London in 1905. Wilsdorf and Davis's 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 jewellers, 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.
During World War I, Rolex manufactured trench watches. 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 1919 the company's name was officially changed to Montres Rolex SA and later in 1920 to Rolex SA.
With administrative worries attended to, Wilsdorf turned the company's attention to a technical challenge: the infiltration of dust and moisture under the dial and crown, which damaged the movement. To address this problem, a third-party casemaker produced a waterproof and dustproof wristwatch for Rolex in 1926, giving it the name "Oyster". The original patent attributed to Paul Perregaux and Georges Peret, which allowed the watch to be adjusted while maintaining protection from water ingress, was purchased by Rolex and heavily marketed. 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 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. The invention of the Perpetual rotor by Rolex in 1931 revolutionized the self-winding watch, as prior attempts at designing automatic movements had not been able to produce practical end products.
From 1935 until 1945, Rolex produced special diving watches for the Italian underwater demolition teams of the Decima Flottiglia MAS. These watches were distributed through the Italian Rolex retailer Orologeria Svizzera belonging to G. Panerai & Figlio in Florence. During World War II, Italy was part of the Axis powers and fought against the British. Members of the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS damaged and sunk several British ships, including two important battleships, the Valiant and the Queen Elizabeth. In 1944, a large quantity of these Rolex-made watches (around 1000 pieces) were supplied to German Kampfschwimmers, who had been trained by the reconstituted Decima Flottiglia MAS under Junio Valerio Borghese following the Armistice of Cassibile in which Italy surrendered to the Allies.
In mid-1941, Hans Wilsdorf, who had become a British citizen in 1911, was investigated by the security police of the Canton of Geneva after the British had voiced concerns that he was a Nazi sympathizer. The inquiry concluded:
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"The information gathered shows that Wilsdorf is a fervent admirer of the Hitler regime. He does not hide his satisfaction when events favourable to Germany occur. However, we have not seen or heard of any pro-Hitler propaganda or suspicious activity on his part. The above-mentioned person is not unfavourably known to our judicial services and has not been convicted in our town. From a political point of view, Wilsdorf is known to our services as a 'Nazi'. A check of his correspondence was carried out in 1940, but nothing suspicious was found at the time."
While under investigation by the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency MI5 as a suspected Nazi spy, Wilsdorf came up with the idea of offering watches to Allied prisoners of war in German captivity, possibly in an attempt to gain favour with the British government and avoid being blacklisted. At the time, Rolex did not receive certificates of origin to export watches to the UK, so this was a way to circumvent the restrictions. Payment for the POW watches was only due after the end of the war. Through the Red Cross, more than 3,000 British officers were sent watches to prison camps like Stalag and Oflag with the explicit approval of German authorities. In 1947, Rolex published advertisements in various British newspapers asking for payment from the buyers. Until then, only 400 watches had been paid.
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 SA.
Later history and strategy
During the early 2000s, Rolex acquired watch components manufacturers like Aegler in 2004 – who supplied mechanical movements – to increase in-house components production and assembly to become a vertical integrated watch manufacturer and maximize technical and commercial control. As of the 2020s, the production of relatively few main components is outsourced. According to Rolex, the watch hands are provided by Fiedler SA and the sapphire crystals are provided by an unknown external source.
Rolex produced and sold approximately 1.24 million watches in 2023. According to the February 2025 LuxeConsult & Morgan Stanley annual report on the Swiss watch industry, Rolex 2024 units produced were 1,176,000 and revenues were estimated at CHF 10.5B with an implied retail value of CHF 15.5B for a 32% market share of the luxury watch market. To maximize retail control and hence the availability of new watches, Rolex established an international authorized dealer network. Additionally, waiting lists for new watches help to maintain an exclusive brand image and product pricing power. For maintenance and repair work, Rolex established an international official regional service centers network.
From Wikipedia’s article on Rolex, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5