WT_2004_05: ROLEX: THE STATUS SYMBOL

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ROLEX PR for the first water-resistant wristwatch: swimmer Mercedes Gleitz… in the right direction had been the use of screw-in cases made by Dennison Watch Case. These cases are readily identifiable by the fluting on the rims of their crystals and backs. This channeling makes both components easy to grasp so that they can be screwed to the middle part of the case. This 60 WatchTime October 2004 …swam across the English Channel with an Oyster on her wrist. visible attribute continues to distinguish the backs of Rolex watches today. Wilsdorf relied on a purely mechanical construction without problematic materials. His formula for success can be summarized as follows: 1. a hermetically sealed case, each part of which is screwed water-resistant; An early advertisement for the Rolex Oyster. The first Rolex Oyster from 1926. 2. a new and perfectly form-fitting crystal made of synthetic material; and 3. a crown that lastingly protects the movement against moisture penetration, even if the crown is operated daily. Wilsdorf purchased the rights to use an idea that had originally occurred to Georges Peret and Paul Perregaux. In October 1925, these two men became the first watchmakers to screw a crown onto a watch’s case. Rolex applied for a patent on a threaded case on September 21, 1926. Another application followed on October 18, this time for patent protection on a crown that was screwed to the middle part of the case. Corresponding patents were soon granted in Switzerland and Great Britain. There wasn’t much need for research because Rolex’s revolutionary inventions were entirely unprecedented. All that was missing was a catchy name to aptly express the characteristic attribute of the new case. After considering several possibilities, the name was chosen: “Oyster.” The first official appearance by the Oyster came soon thereafter. Mercedes Gleitze, a young stenographer from London, swam across the English Channel in the record-breaking time of just 15 hours and 15 minutes on October 7, 1927. Afterwards, she showed her perfectly functioning Rolex to a crowd of astonished reporters. To publicize this sensational achievement, Wilsdorf ran a full-page ad on the front page of the Daily Mail. Although the ad cost Rolex a king’s ransom, more than 2 million readers saw the ad when the newspaper was published on November 24, 1927. Wilsdorf supplied his dealers with small, patented aquariums to display in their shop An Oyster model from 1928.
ROLEX Healthy evolution: the first Datejust from 1945 (Ref. 4467, far left) combined all the Rolex virtues. Models from the 1970s are shown in the center and at the right. windows. Inside each aquarium, a ticking Oyster continued to show the correct time while a goldfish swam placidly all around it. Advertising campaigns featuring popular actresses and the Oyster’s participation in attention-getting pioneering airplane flights (where the watches successfully withstood severe temperature variations, extreme vibrations, and plenty of dust) further contributed to Rolex’s ever-growing renown. Despite patent protection, Rolex was soon obliged to defend itself against imitators. Legal proceedings were initiated in 1934 against the Schmitz Brothers case factory in Grenchen, Advertisement for the first Datejust. 62 WatchTime October 2004 Germany. After two-and-a-half -years of litigation, judges at a Swiss court unanimously agreed on July 8, 1937 that Schmitz Brothers owed compensatory damages to Rolex. The verdict made it clear that although Wilsdorf had not invented the concept of the water-resistant wristwatch, he was the first person to translate the idea into practical reality via industrial manufacturing methods. In this context, it became known that Rolex had invested 1.2 million Swiss francs in the launch and distribution of the Oyster case, thus formatively contributing to the growth of people’s confidence in water-resistant wristwatches and opening new markets for the entire watch industry. Roughly 200,000 Swiss-made water-resistant wristwatches were sold in 1935-1936 alone. In 1926, Wilsdorf’s foresight had helped him identify another problem that beset wristwatches, one that still hadn’t been solved in the early 1930s. Of course, it was easy to hermetically reseal a crown once it had been pushed back in after winding the mainspring, but one instant of forgetfulness could render useless all of the hard work and ingenuity that Rolex had incorporated into a water-resistant wristwatch. What Rolex needed was a selfwinding movement that would eliminate the need for manual daily winding. Wilsdorf and his technical staff in Biel had defined the basic idea for a “Perpetual” in 1930: “The invention of an automatic winding mechanism that moves back and forth silently, smoothly, and without a buffer.” This idea, of course, hadn’t materialized out of thin air. Wilsdorf described its background in his autobiography: “The logical consequence of the Rolex Oyster was the creation of an automatic watch whose movement would repeatedly wind itself on its own, thus ensuring that the timepiece would continue to run uninterruptedly.” The Rolex team based their research on the work of Abraham Louis Perrelet, Sr. (1729- 1826), a self-taught watchmaker who had successfully experimented with a rotor in 1770. The new Rolex Perpetual ticked satisfactorily in every respect in 1931. The advantages of the Perpetual didn’t lie solely in its rotating weight; the modular construction with a sepa- The Perpetual selfwinding model. Scarcely changed on the outside: a Datejust from 1988.
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WT_2004_05: ROLEX: THE STATUS SYMBOL

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