1. Brand Introduction
Rolex is a famous Swiss watch manufacturer, formerly known as Wilsdorf and Davis (W&D) company, founded by German Hans Weisdorf (Hans Wilsdof) and Englishman Alfred Davis formed a partnership in London in 1905. In 1908, it was registered and renamed ROLEX by Hans Weisdorf in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Rolex is widely loved by successful people for its solemn, practical, and not flashy style. Its watches are highly accurate and have ultra-high durability. In the watch circle, Rolex enthusiasts often use one sentence to describe Rolex: "Labor" is eternal.
2. Brand Story
The development history of Rolex is inseparable from its visionary and pioneering founder Hans Wilsdorf. relation. In 1905, at the age of 24, he founded his own company in London, called Wilsdorf and Davis. It was a company mainly responsible for selling watches, but he also developed homemade watches. watch.
At 8 a.m. on July 2, 1908, the Rolex trademark was officially registered. The first Rolex watches were immediately valued for their superb technical quality. A small Rolex watch received a Class A certificate from the Kew Observatory in 1914. This was the highest rating ever issued by this well-known British observatory. Its accuracy was recognized, which was a world event, doubling the value of the watch in Europe and the United States. From then on, Rolex quality represented precision.
After the First World War, Rolex moved back to Geneva. Driven by its founder, Rolex continued to innovate, create, and improve itself. It has two research directions: waterproof and automatic.
In 1926, Rolex created the first waterproof and dustproof watch, which was the famous "Oyster" watch. The Oyster watch is equipped with a sealed case to provide the best protection for the movement. In 1927, the famous British female swimmer Maeve Deise wore this waterproof watch across the English Channel. After the watch was soaked in water for 15 hours, it was still intact and accurate. At that time, the British "Daily Mail" reported that this event "invented an unattainable miracle" and was "the greatest success of watchmaking technology". In fact, this incident has become a classic marketing event for Rolex. Since then, Rolex's "Oyster" waterproof watch has become famous all over the world.
The economic crisis of 1929 hit Switzerland, but Rolex was not affected. During this period, it invented an automatic winding mechanism and created the "Perpetual" watch that became popular later. Featuring an oscillating weight that had never been used in a wristwatch before, this automatic watch revolutionized the watch industry and was the forerunner of all current automatic watches.
In 1945, Rolex created the world's first perpetual calendar watch that could actively convert dates; in 1955, Rolex developed a pilot's watch, allowing the wearer to accurately time time in different time zones; in the same year, Rolex created It became a diving watch for deep-sea applications. The diving watch can dive into 100 meters of water and operate normally. In 1956, a calendar watch with day display function was launched, with 26 Chinese characters to choose from.
Rolex’s reputation in today’s world watch industry is inseparable from the inspiration and enthusiasm of Andre J. Heiniger. Wilsdorf invited Heinig to join Rolex in 1948. He worked in Buenos Aires for six years developing markets. He returned to Geneva in 1955 and was promoted to a member of the Rolex board of directors. In 1964, he replaced Wilsdorf as the general manager of Rolex.
He faithfully inherited the career of the founder of Rolex, constantly improved quality and technological innovation, and brought a new breath to the company: internationalization. Heinig traveled to all corners of the world to open up new markets. He had amazing predictive power and decided to establish branches in major cities on all continents, which was a pioneering work at the time.
After a century of development, Rolex, headquartered in Geneva, has 19 branches and 24 large-scale service centers in major metropolises in the world, with an annual output of about 450,000 watches. , becoming one of the famous brand watches with a large market share. The corporate brand ranked 79th in the 2006 "Top 500 World Brands" compiled by the World Brand Lab.
On December 30, 2008, in the selection event of the "2008 World Brand Value Laboratory Annual Award" held by the world's authoritative brand value research institution - World Brand Value Laboratory, Rolex Impression and brand vitality, it won the "China's Most Competitive Brand List" award and won widespread praise from consumers.
3. Brand Features
The design style of Rolex watches is "stable, practical, and not flashy" and is highly regarded by people. Its accuracy and durability make Rolex even more valuable. Every Rolex watch technician has the same confidence, that is, everything must be improved. Each production process undergoes strict quality control. Each watch enters a pressure chamber to test its waterproof performance, and is then made using an atomic clock with an error of two seconds every hundred years. Accuracy calibration, and only watches that have completed all quality tests can leave the factory. Rolex people's pursuit of excellence and perfection also gives Rolex watches the highest quality, allowing Rolex to enjoy an honor unmatched by other brands.