Rolex: A Brief History
Rolex SA traces to Wilsdorf & Davis, founded by Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London on 15 November 1905. The Rolex name was registered in 1908 and the company moved to Geneva in 1919 to take advantage of Swiss watchmaking infrastructure and lower export taxes.
Foundational firsts
1910: first wristwatch to receive a Swiss chronometer certification (Bienne). 1914: first wristwatch to receive a Class A precision certificate from Kew Observatory. 1926: the Oyster, the first commercially successful waterproof wristwatch. 1931: the Perpetual, the first self-winding rotor mechanism in a wristwatch.
Tool-watch lineage
Submariner (1953, 100 m water resistance), GMT-Master (1955, developed with Pan American World Airways), Day-Date (1956, first to display the day spelled out), Sea-Dweller (1967, helium escape valve), Explorer II (1971), Cosmograph Daytona (1963).
Ownership and structure
On Hans Wilsdorf's death in 1960 ownership passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private Swiss foundation that still owns Rolex SA today. The structure has insulated Rolex from public-market pressures and helped preserve its long-term investment in vertical integration.
Key facts
- ▸Founded 1905 (London); HQ Geneva from 1919
- ▸Owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation since 1960
- ▸First waterproof wristwatch: Oyster, 1926