Stories

Even many watch collectors would probably be surprised to know that the first dive watch produced by Rolex wasn’t the famous Submariner. It was actually a Panerai. Yes, that Panerai—the Italian watch company popularly known for brawny, generously-sized watches with unique half-moon crown guards. How did an Italian watch company become the first seller of Rolex dive watches? It all started back in Italy in the 1930s.  The Italian Navy Contract Officine Panerai was founded in Florence, Italy in 1860. For the next sixty years the company primarily made precision instruments like compasses and other nautical equipment. In the mid-1930s... Read more

In the space of a few short years from 1926 to 1931, Hans Wilsdorf and his nascent Rolex watch company changed how we look at watches and what we expect from them— forever. He did it with two perfected technologies that helped define the modern wristwatch for the next fifty years: the waterproof watch case and the self-winding or automatic movement. He called his new waterproof case the Oyster and the self-winding movement the Perpetual. Wilsdorf and company didn’t invent these important advances in a vacuum—other companies were feverishly working on solving the same problems and Wilsdorf wasn’t above buying... Read more

Hans Wilsdorf—The Legend Begins Have you ever wondered how Rolex came to be Rolex—how the very name became a synonym for excellence? The short answer can be spelled out in two words: Hans Wilsdorf. From its earliest days through the 1970s when new technology enabled other watch makers to flood the market with cheap, practically disposable watches and Wilsdorf was long since dead, Rolex stayed true to its founder’s maverick vision. Rolex endured its greatest challenge and triumphed. By committing to only manufacture high-quality watches and by marketing them in shrewd and imaginative ways, the company weathered the “quartz revolution”... Read more

Virtual oceans of ink (and later, virtual ink) have been spilled writing about the watches worn on the first successful expedition to summit Mount Everest in 1953. There have always been unanswered questions surrounding the epic event (who was first to the top, Sir Edmund Hillary or his Sherpa teammate Tenzing Norgay?) and the questions extend to the watches. Hillary later did advertisements for both Rolex and the British watch company Smiths, saying he had “carried” a Smiths watch “all the way to the top.” ‘Carried’ seems like an odd choice of wording for a wrist watch as opposed to... Read more