Feature: 10 things you didn’t know about Rolex
It’s the world’s most popular watch brand and it’s here to stay. But here’s what you didn’t know about the famous watchmaker.
Is this the most ICONIC Rolex ever?!
The cheapest and simplest Rolex might just be the most iconic it makes. I’m talking about the Oyster Perpetual, a time-only watch that starts off the Rolex collection at around £5,000. Why is this basic watch so iconic? Because it contains the two technologies that made it possible for Rolex to exist today. Back when Rolex first got started, it didn’t have the expertise or budget to compete with the big players of the day, so it had to think outside the box. First, by sealing its watches from water with a screw-down case and crown it called the Oyster, and second with an automatically wound movement driven by the Perpetual rotor. Hence, Oyster Perpetual.
Rolex isn’t a Swiss watch brand
Everybody knows that the best watchmaking nation in the world is Switzerland, and so it makes perfect sense that the best-known watchmaker, Rolex, is from Switzerland, too. After all, it says “Swiss Made” right there on the dial. And if you look through the records, you’ll see the brand Rolex was registered in Switzerland in 1920. But it was founded in 1905, fifteen years earlier, so what’s going on? Well, German founder Hans Wilsdorf actually moved to England in 1903 to create his new watch brand, with the hope of making bank by beating out the terrible English competition. It was only when the First World War started and he had supply chain issues with his Swiss movements that he relocated the brand to Switzerland.
How Rolex was nearly RUINED
One of the fundamental tenets of a Rolex watch is its mechanical movement, a collection of wheels, gears and springs that keep almost perfect timing without a single volt of electricity. It’s the soul of the watch, the beating heart, and anything else just won’t do. But the game changed in 1969 when Seiko introduced the Astron, the first commercially available quartz watch. It not only set in motion the end of an era for Swiss watchmaking, but also forced Rolex to deviate for the first time in its then 64-year life to create a watch powered by a battery. Rolex continued making quartz watches until 2001, when a renewed interest in mechanical brought the business back to where it was meant to be.
The most CONTROVERSIAL Rolex
There are many things Rolex has done that have raised eyebrows, but in 2004 it created perhaps the most controversial watch it’s ever made. I’m talking about the SACO, a version of the Daytona that took eye-catching to a whole new level. Resplendent in a fetching black and orange leopard print—including, yes, a patent leopard print strap—and ringed with 36 baguette-cut cognac sapphires, the SACO debuted at $80,000—but despite its very questionable looks, now sells for closer to $350,000. So, even the most questionable and controversial Rolexes can become incredible investments!
The SECRET to Rolex’s success
Image courtesy of Bonhams
Since Rolex was over half a century late to the game compared to competitors like Omega, how on Earth did it achieve such great success? The secret was to think smart, not expensive. So, in 1914, using a small movement from a ladies’ pendant watch, Rolex submitted the first wristwatch for chronometer accuracy certification. It didn’t break any precision records, but it was the first chronometer certified wristwatch. Then, a few years later, after the convenience of the wristwatch was first understood in the trenches of World War One, Rolex, pursued other industry applications too, for example divers, pilots, scientists and explorers. As the old saying goes, it’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it!
The best CHEAP Rolex!
If you want a watch that features the Rolex crown but don’t want to spend more than £1,000, you might think you’re out of luck—but you’d be wrong. Thankfully, in 1926, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf created an affordable version of his fast-growing brand which he called Tudor. He took Rolex cases, crowns and bracelets, fitted a more affordable movement and put the name Tudor on the dial. The watches were very popular, with customers including the French, American and Canadian Navies. But because these watches use Rolex parts, that means they also have the Rolex logo in places like the crown and case back, which means you can purchase a Rolex-badged watch for £1,000.
Dwayne Johnson’s Rolex SMASHED
So here’s one you definitely didn’t know. Dwayne Johnson, aka “The Rock”, now best-known as an action movie hero but formally the star of world wrestling, spent his first big paycheck on a Rolex. It was a diamond dial Rolex, presumably a Datejust, which Johnson describes as being the watch you get when you’re successful. So anyway, he wore it in the ring and another wrestler fell on it and the bracelet broke and it fell off, and if you know anything about wrestling, it’s that it’s definitely real and that you must absolutely stay in character. But Johnson couldn’t keep in character, mortified by the damage to his watch, which he collected up from the floor whilst avoiding getting body slammed. He sold the watch on, claiming it was a sign that Rolex wasn’t right for him just then, although he’s since gone on to buy many more since.
Rolex’s controversial collab with Dominos Pizza
Collaboration watches like Patek Philippe and Tiffany are some of the most desirable in the world, but how about this, a co-branded piece between Rolex and famous pizza chain Dominos? Produced from the late 70s onwards, the watch first came to be when owner Tom Managhan was approached by a franchisee asking what he could do to earn a Rolex watch like Tom’s. Tom set an arbitrary—and what he thought was unachievable—goal of $20,000 of sales in one week, and lo and behold, the target was met. Tom gifted the Rolex, and from there worked with Rolex to create a Dominos specific watch. The first were Air-Kings with the Dominos logo on the dial, but they’ve since become Oyster Perpetuals with the logo—thankfully—on the replaceable bracelet.
Rolex failures that led to HUGE success
Image courtesy of Phillips
Would you believe that some of the most expensive Rolex watches are complete and utter failures? Collectors like to buy into rare and unusual watches, and some of the rarest and most unusual are those that have quite literally failed. Whether it’s the cracking lacquer of a gloss black Submariner dial, known as a “spider dial”, the deep cream of an aged Explorer II dial or the chocolatey brown of a once-black, “Tropical” Daytona dial, these oddities can fetch hundreds of thousands and even millions at auction. The crazy thing is those are all effectively manufacturing defects, batches of watches that have been improperly prepared and so have failed over time to create these unusual looks.
How Rolex CHEATED the system
There are a lot of things that people give credit to Rolex for, and in many cases it’s simply not true. Not just through the course of myth and legend, but also very deliberately by design. Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf was a wily marketing man who knew what he needed to do to be successful. Take the “Submariner” name, for example. The name “Submarine” had already been used in a waterproof watch a decade earlier by English brand Brook & Son, who forgot to trademark it. Then there’s the Perpetual, self-winding movement, which Rolex claimed to invent. But actually, the first wristwatch to feature it, a Harwood, came five years before the Rolex, and Wilsdorf was required to publicly apologise. He said, “Mr. John Harwood was the inventor of the first self-winding wristwatch, and we apologise for any injury to his feelings.”
What little-known fact do you know about Rolex?
