Where the sand meets the water · Photo: Hameen Reynolds / Unsplash

One man, five letters, and a watch that could swim

How a 24-year-old in London built the most famous watch name in the world, and how every model got to where it is today.

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1905Hans Wilsdorf, 1881 to 1960

An orphan with a big idea

Hans Wilsdorf was born in Bavaria in 1881 and lost both parents by age 12. In 1905, at 24, he started a company in London that sold watches. Back then, most men carried pocket watches. Wristwatches were seen as small, fragile, and not very accurate.

Wilsdorf thought the wristwatch was the future. He bought small, very precise movements from Switzerland and set out to prove they could keep time as well as any pocket watch. In 1908 he registered the name Rolex: short, easy to say in any language, and good-looking on a dial.

He spent the rest of his life proving his watches in the real world: in the English Channel, on Everest, and at the bottom of the ocean.

Steel and gold Submariner with a blue dial on a watch stand
Photo: Nicolás Pinilla · Unsplash License

Three ideas that made Rolex

  1. Accurate

    The first wristwatch in the world to earn a Swiss chronometer certificate, an official stamp of accuracy.

  2. Waterproof

    The Oyster: a case with a screw-down bezel, back, and crown that keeps out water and dust.

  3. Self-winding

    The Perpetual rotor, a swinging weight that winds the watch as you move. Today almost every automatic watch works this way.

The Rolex timeline

From Wilsdorf's birth in 1881 to today.

  1. 1881

    Hans Wilsdorf is born in Kulmbach, Bavaria (Germany). By age 12 he has lost both parents.

  2. 1905

    At 24, Wilsdorf starts a watch-selling company in London. He believes a wristwatch can be both elegant and accurate, and fits his watches with small, precise Swiss movements made in Bienne.

  3. 1908

    On July 2, he registers the name "Rolex" in Switzerland. He wanted a name that was short, easy to say in any language, and good-looking on a dial.

  4. 1910

    A Rolex becomes the first wristwatch in the world to earn the Swiss chronometer certificate, an official stamp of accuracy.

  5. 1914

    Britain's Kew Observatory awards a Rolex its "Class A" accuracy certificate.

  6. 1919

    Rolex moves to Geneva, the center of Swiss watchmaking. Montres Rolex S.A. is registered there in 1920.

  7. 1926

    The Oyster: the first waterproof and dustproof wristwatch. The bezel, case back, and crown all screw down tight. Wilsdorf named it after an oyster, which can sit underwater without harm.

  8. 1927

    Swimmer Mercedes Gleitze crosses the English Channel wearing an Oyster. Rolex celebrates with a front-page ad in the Daily Mail.

  9. 1931

    The Perpetual rotor: a free-swinging weight that winds the watch as your wrist moves. The first Oyster Perpetual is ref. 1858.

  10. 1945

    The Datejust launches for Rolex's 40th birthday. The same year, after his wife Florence died in 1944, Wilsdorf sets up the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation.

  11. 1947

    The first pilot to break the sound barrier is wearing a Rolex Oyster.

  12. 1953

    Sir John Hunt's Everest team, the expedition that put Hillary and Tenzing on top, carries Oyster Perpetuals. The Explorer and the Submariner both arrive this year.

  13. 1955

    The GMT-Master, built for long-haul flight crews. Pan Am makes it an official watch.

  14. 1956

    The Day-Date: the first wristwatch to spell out the day of the week in full.

  15. 1960

    The bathyscaphe Trieste dives 10,916 meters into the Mariana Trench with an experimental Rolex strapped outside. It comes up still running. On July 6, Hans Wilsdorf dies, and his foundation becomes Rolex's owner.

  16. 1963

    The Cosmograph Daytona, a stopwatch-style chronograph made for race car drivers.

  17. 1967

    The Sea-Dweller, waterproof to 610 meters, with a helium escape valve for deep saturation divers.

  18. 2026

    The Oyster turns 100. Rolex marks it with an exhibition called Oyster Story.

A charity, not a stock

Rolex has no stock-market shareholders. It belongs to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a charity Wilsdorf set up in Geneva in 1945. When he died in 1960, he left his shares to it. That's a big part of why Rolex can think in decades instead of quarters.

Every model, reference by reference

Pick a model to see every main reference, oldest to newest, and what changed each time.

Two-tone Datejust with a cream dial Since 1945Datejust13 refs The first self-winding waterproof chronometer with a date window. The classic Rolex. Steel Submariner Date with a black ceramic bezel Since 1953Submariner20 refs Rolex's first divers' watch: 100 meters in 1953, 300 meters today. Vintage yellow gold Day-Date with a fluted bezel, champagne dial, and domed crystal on a brown leather strap Since 1956Day-Date10 refs The first wristwatch to spell out the day. Gold or platinum only, on the President bracelet. Steel Daytona with a black dial, red Daytona text, and an engraved tachymeter bezel Since 1963Daytona11 refs The racing chronograph: hand-wound in 1963, automatic in 1988, ceramic in 2016. Steel Yacht-Master II with a white dial and blue ceramic bezel resting in snow Since 1992Yacht-Master11 refs The luxury sailing watch, plus the Yacht-Master II regatta chronograph. [Photo needed: Sky-Dweller] Since 2012Sky-Dweller6 refs The traveler's watch: a second time zone plus Rolex's clever Saros annual calendar.

What's the difference between a diver, a chronograph, and a GMT? See the watch types.

Sources and photo credits

All facts on this page come from Rolex's own history pages and the sources below. Last checked November 7, 2026. Rolex is a trademark of Rolex SA; Gulfshore Watch Co. is not affiliated with Rolex.

Sources

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