Rolex watches - Hans Wildorf turned a passion for perfection and time keeping into a world wide symbol of wealth and status.
In 1905 Hans Wilsdorf, a German, and his brother-in-law William Davis, an Englishman, put their minds and their money together to form Wilsdorf and Davis, a watch-making company in London, England.
What is Rolex watch known for?
At the time, pocket-watches were all the rage. Stylish men the world over were attaching tiny clocks to metal chains and dangling them from their formal vests.
In a rapidly industrializing world the ability to keep precise time was increasingly important.
From managing train schedules so that the trains didn’t crash to using exact time measurements to determine precise locations during
sea voyages, time keeping was coming to occupy an a central place in the economic life of Europeans.
How do I learn about Rolex watches?
Although they were finding their company increasingly successful, Wilsdorf and Davis soon realized that they would have to change their tactics to rise to the top of the watch-making heap.
Their business plan, which consisted of importing Swiss watch parts and assembling them in-house in London, was not at all remarkable.
In fact, hundreds of watchmakers were doing the exact same thing. There was nothing to distinguish Wilsdorf and Davis from their competition.
Are all Rolex watches expensive?
Wilsdorf hit upon the idea that was to render him and his family rich for generations.
Instead of trying to compete in the saturated field of London pocket-watch makers, he would instead assemble high quality, precise wrist
watches. Although no official version exists, it is said that in 1908 Wilsdorf decided to name his new wrist watches Rolex based on the
sound they made when winding them. He could have used the name “Wilsdorf” but that was too long to fit on a tiny wrist watch.
How do I tell if my Rolex is real?
Prior to this time, wristwatches had been seen has more of a feminine style than masculine.
Men, it was argued, were too rough and they would surely damage a watch worn on the arm.
Besides, there were no wristwatches that were truly capable of keeping accurate time without breaking down.
In response, Wilsdorf contracted the tiny Swiss manufacturing company Aegler to create for him watch mechanics, called ‘movements’ that were small enough, and also accurate, for his wrist watches.
The Wilsdorf company began manufacturing Rolex watches in various cases for different occasions, sporty, formal, and casual. Rolex found their wristwatch sales increasing exponentially.
After two years of increasing success the ever-enterprising Wilsdorf took the extremely savvy decision of sending one of his watches to the School of Horology in Switzerland.
Horology is, of course, The science of time measurement, including the art of designing and constructing timepieces.
What Wilsdorf was hoping for was official certification that his watch was accurate to a scientific precision.
He got what he was hoping for when he was awarded an Official Chronometer Certification. This was the first time that a wristwatch had received such a certificate.
Is Rolex a luxury brand?
With his accuracy down pat, the perfectionist Wilsdorf turned to reliability.
He sought to create a perfectly put together watch that would last under the most difficult of conditions.
In 1914, was awarded a certificate from the Kew Observatory in London after his watch was tested for 45 days under rigorous circumstances including temperature changes.
How much is a basic Rolex?
With the advent of WW1, the British government levied very steep import taxes on all products coming in from abroad.
Radically increased costs of parts forced Wilsdorf to move his company to Switzerland, where he was getting his materials from.
Is it safe to buy Rolex online?
The new generation of Rolex watches in 1926 was named the Rolex Oyster.
same care with which an oyster guards its pearls. In another stroke of marketing genius, Wilsdorf gave one of his Rolex Oyster watches to
English swimmer Mercedes Gleitze for her swim across the English Channel. She made it all the way across the channel in fifteen hours
wearing the watch and emerged in France with a perfectly functioning time piece. He took out a front page add in an English newspaper the next day and settled back to make a fortune.
What is a luxury watch?
In 1931, realizing that the most damage to a watch comes from the winding mechanism, Rolex came up with a self-winding watch.
The watch had rotors inside that served to charge the winding mechanism with simple every day movements of the wrist.
By this point, Rolex had firmly established its name as among the highest quality wristwatches in the world.
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By the 1980’s the company remained independently owned by descendents of Wilsdorf and had had over four million of their watches certified with the official title of Chronometer.
Although Rolex accounts for a small fraction of Swiss watch production, its name has become synonymous with luxury, fashion, and design. It has become a symbol of wealth and power the world over.
