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Vintage Rolex Watches
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Rolex Watch History

Rolex SA is one of the world's most famous Swiss luxury watch manufacturers and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Originally founded as Wilsdorf and Davis by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, England in 1905, the company registered Rolex as the brand name of its watches in 1908 and became Rolex Watch Co. Ltd. in 1915. After World War I, the company moved its base of operations from London to Geneva due to the unfavourable economic situation in post-war Britain, and in 1920 Hans Wilsdorf registered Montres Rolex SA in Geneva as the new company name which eventually became Rolex SA in later years. Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust.

Fast Facts:

  • Rolex designs, manufactures, distributes and services wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands.
  • As of June 2019, among the world's top ten most expensive watches ever sold at auctions, three are Rolex watches, including Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona, which currently holds the title of the second most expensive wristwatch ever sold at auction, ($17.75 million US on October 26, 2017.
  • In 2018, Forbes ranked Rolex as the world's 71st most valuable brand.
  • Rolex is the largest manufacturer of Swiss made certified chronometers. In 2005, more than half the annual production of watches certified by Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC) were Rolexes.
  • Rolex boasts of having over 500 different patents since its inception.
  • Rolex invented the first waterproof case using a patented screw-down crown, case back, and winding crown. It was called the Rolex Oyster case.
  • Rolex developed the Perpetual rotor in 1931. We know this today as an automatic, or self-winding movement.
  • Another invention added to the Oyster Perpetual models was the automatic date complication. This was introduced in 1945.
  • The Day-Date was launched in 1956 and was the first watch to display both the day and date.
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