CNJ+ September 2024

The Man Behind the Time Piece ROLEX - HANS WILSDORF By Lauren Kowlacki

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Hans Wilsdorf was a German businessman, best known as the founder of Rolex and Tudor. Wilsdorf’s philosophy for the companies was, “only great marketing is needed to make a com pany successful.” He was born in Kulmbach Bavaria to Anna and Johan Daniel Ferdinand Wilsdorf and was the second son of a family of three children. His mother died when he was a boy and he became an orphan when his father died soon after when Hans was twelve years old. His uncle had him sent to boarding school since he couldn’t take care of him. This environment made him self-re liant, scrapping for every advantage he could gain. From 1900-1905 he worked for high-quali ty watch companies. — 1908- Founded and Registered The Name Rolex — 1910: A Rolex watch became the world’s first wristwatch to receive the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, awarded by the Official Watch Rating Center in Bienne — 1911: Married Florence Frances May Crotty — 1914: A 25mm Rolex wristlet won a class “A” certificate at the Kew Observatory

— 1914: World War I begins — 1919: Moved Rolex headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland — 1920: Registers Montres Rolex S.A. in Ge neva — 1925: Trademarks the now-famous five point Rolex crown logo — 1926: Patents the Rolex Oyster, the first dustproof and waterproof wristwatch — 1927: Reserves the front page of the Daily Mail newspaper to announce to the world that the waterproof Rolex-Oyster survived Mercedes Gleitze’s 15-hour swim in the English Channel — 1931: Develops and patents the Perpetual rotor, a mechanism to automatically wind up the movement — 1939: World War II begins — 1944: Establishes the Hans Wilsdorf Foun dation after his wife passes away and transfers 100% of his shares to the foundation — 1945: Releases the Rolex Datejust to mark the 40th anniversary of the company — 1950s: A decade of famous Rolex watches are introduced: Explorer, Submariner, GMT-Master, Milgauss, Day-Date, and Lady-Datejust — 1960: Dies in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 6

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On Rolex’s 50th anniversary, in 1958, Wilsdorf shared the story of how he originally conceived the ‘Rolex’ name in 1908: “I tried combining the letters of the alphabet in every possible way. This gave some hundred names, but none of them felt quite right. It was one morn ing when I was sitting on the upper level of a double-decker powered at that time by horses, driving along Cheapside in London, that a good genie whispered in my ear: “Rolex.” His legacy lives on in the Rolex watch es recognized and coveted around the world and through the philanthropic work of the foundation that bears his name. An extraordinary entrepreneur that also created an everlasting symbol of success.

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