If the Swiss watch industry were a human being, then Rolex would be their beating heart pumping the vital lifeblood into all the life-giving tributaries throughout their corporeal form. This is a massive responsibility and one that every one of Rolex’s leaders, from the brand’s founder Hans Wilsdorf to André and Patrick Heiniger, to present-day CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour, has been profoundly aware of. Because without Rolex, there would be no Swiss watch industry. Without Rolex creating the critical mass of desire for luxury wristwatches, without Rolex building the foundation of awareness for all of the nation’s ticking finery, the Swiss watch industry as we know it today would not have existed.
And if you go even further back into Rolex’s history, you will discover that without this inimitable brand, without the genius that founded it, and without the brilliant individuals that have shepherded this amazing manufacture over the last 118 years of unrelenting excellence, the wristwatch would never have gained popularity and become the prevailing type of timekeeper the world over. Because until Rolex’s founder Hans Wilsdorf applied his technical creativity and sniper-like precision at problem solving to the three fundamental problems preventing wristwatches from going mainstream, no one thought that wristwatches would be here to stay.
ACCURACY AND PRECISION
What were the three issues plaguing all wristwatches? The first is related to accuracy and precision. While men’s wristwatches were created early in the 20th century, they occupied mainly an ornamental position in a man’s wardrobe. They were considered the male equivalent of jewelry and the exclusive membership symbol of elite flaneurs, playboys, gentlemen aviators and movie stars. Indeed, the vast majority of these watches would never deign to include a seconds indicator, because even if they were to run fast or slow, it would make little difference to their owners’ casual leisurely lives.
Yet the beginning of the 20th century was also an era charged with dynamic change. For the first time, railroads and super highways interconnected the United States. People were constantly on the go. The world’s teeming metropolises of Paris, London and New York were supercharged with the engines of industry and commerce. Time was of the essence — to catch planes, trains, buses and subways, or to structure meetings, create organization and improve efficiency. This fast-developing world needed practical, reliable and accurate wristwatches. But in order for them to reach a much wider audience, wristwatches had to become more pragmatic timekeepers, and in turn, for this to happen, they needed to be more precise.
Their potential widespread adoption for
