Rolex
Rolex (/ˈroʊlɛks/ ⓘ) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as Wilsdorf and Davis by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered Rolex as the brand name of its watches in 1908 and became Rolex Watch Co. Ltd. in 1915. After World War I, the company moved its base of operations to Geneva because of the unfavorable economy that led to business instability. In 1920, Hans Wilsdorf registered Montres Rolex SA in Geneva as the new company name (montre is French for watch); it later became Rolex SA. Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust. Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres Tudor SA design, make, distribute, and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands. In 2023, Rolex agreed to acquire its longtime retail partner Bucherer, and in 2024, Rolex began construction of a new affiliate on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, near Billionaires' Row. Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded Wilsdorf and Davis, the company that would eventually become Rolex SA, in London in 1905. Wilsdorf and Davis's main commercial activity at the time involved importing Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to England and placing them in watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to many jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked "W&D" inside the caseback. In 1908, Wilsdorf registered the trademark "Rolex", which became the brand name of watches from Wilsdorf and Davis. He opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Wilsdorf wanted the brand name to be easily pronounceable in any language, and short enough to fit on the face of a watch. He also thought that the name "Rolex" was onomatopoeic, sounding like a watch being wound. During World War I, Rolex manufactu
Collections
Datejust 36
The quintessential classic watch, first introduced in 1945. The first wristwatch to feature an automatically changing date.
GMT-Master II
Originally developed for Pan American World Airways pilots, capable of displaying multiple time zones simultaneously.
Day-Date 36
Known as 'The President's Watch,' it was the first wristwatch to display the day of the week spelled out in full.
Explorer
Born from Rolex's partnership with Himalayan expeditions. The watch that conquered Everest.
Datejust 31
Lady-Datejust
Day-Date 40
Datejust 41
Sky-Dweller
GMT-Master
Yacht-Master
Cellini
Sea-Dweller
Pearlmaster
Oyster Perpetual 36
Oyster Perpetual 41
Oyster Perpetual 31
Datejust II
Oyster Perpetual 34
Date
Day-Date II
Explorer II
Land-Dweller
Oyster Perpetual 28
Perpetual 1908
Milgauss
Oyster Perpetual 39
Oyster Perpetual 26
Air-King
Submariner
The Rolex Submariner is a line of sports watches designed for diving and manufactured by Rolex, resistant to water and corrosion. The first Submariner was introduced to the public in 1954 at the Basel Watch Fair. It was the first watch to be waterproof up to 100 metres (330 ft), although Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms watch, which was introduced in 1953, was certified to 94.5m (being fifty Fathoms). The Rolex Submariner is considered "a classic among wristwatches", manufactured by one of the world's most widely recognized luxury brands. Due to its huge popularity, there are many homage watches by well-established watchmakers, as well as illegal counterfeits. The Rolex Submariner is part of Rolex's Professional line. Today, the Submariner and Submariner Date models are equipped with Rolex Calibres 3230 and 3235, respectively, and feature luminescent hour markers, a unidirectional rotatable bezel with Cerachrom ceramic insert, and a solid-link Oyster bracelet. The models underwater diving depth rating is 300 metres (1,000 ft). The Submariner model went into production in 1953 and was showcased at the Basel Watch Fair in 1954. This first Submariner's assigned case reference number was either 6204 or 6205. It is unclear which model came first; in any event, the two watches are nearly identical. Neither had the distinctive "cathedral" or "Mercedes" hands later so strongly associated with the Submariner line. Rather, both of these early submariners have straight "pencil" style hands. The upside-down triangle at 12 o’clock; baton-shaped markers at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock; and dot markers for the remaining hours on the dail were design elements found in all later Submariner and other Rolex diving watch models. Both the 6204 and 6205 were fitted with the A260 movement and the watch cases had a diameter of 37.0 mm (1.46 in). Neither model displayed a depth rating on the dial. The 6204 was originally rated to a depth of 100 meters (330 feet), but by 1954, Rolex certified the watch as
Daytona
The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is a mechanical chronograph wristwatch designed to meet the needs of racing drivers by measuring elapsed time and calculating average speed. Its name refers to Daytona Beach, Florida, where racing flourished in the early 20th century. It has been manufactured by Rolex since 1963 in four distinct generations (or series); the second series was introduced in 1988, the third in 2000 and the fourth in 2023. While cosmetically similar, the second series introduced a self-winding movement (the first series is hand-wound), and the third series brought manufacture of the movement in-house to Rolex. The first series included an "exotic" variant dial known as the Rolex "Paul Newman" Daytona, named after the famed actor, who received the watch as a gift from his wife, Joanne Woodward, and popularized it by wearing it consistently while pursuing his racing career. Years later, the actor's watch, which had been gifted by Newman to his daughter's boyfriend in 1984, was sold in 2017 at the Phillips New York Winning Icons auction for a record (for wristwatches) $17.8 million. The latest Cosmograph Daytona is equipped with a tachymetric scale, a sweep seconds hand for reading to 1/8 of a second, and elapsed-time hours and minute displays. Its Rolex calibre 4131 has the particularity of using a vertical (rather than lateral) clutch to activate the chronograph, and was engineered to feature a reduced number of components for greater reliability. The minute and hour systems of this series is simplified with one single mechanism placed on a side of the movement (used to consist of two mechanisms placed on both sides of the movement). With a 40mm case, it is available in a variety of materials, including 18-karat gold as in the ref. 116598 timepiece owned by Elton John which sold at auction for $176,400. The original, practical use of the Cosmograph Daytona as a racing driver's timer has evolved from a helpful aid to a social symbol. For example, this model