1905 Founding of “Wilsdorf & Davis.” A distribution company of watchcases and other horological items headquartered in London.
1908 Hans Wilsdorf registers the Rolex trademark located at La Chaux-de Fonds, later moving to Bienne.
1910 Rolex obtains the first Official Swiss Chronometer certificate
1914 Rolex obtains a Class “A” certificate, Kew Observatory in English as the first wristwatch to outperform a pocket watch.
1919 Hans Wilsdorf moves the company office to 18 Rue du Marche, Geneva and establishes the manufacturing company, Montres Rolex S.A.
1926 Rolex patents the screw-down crown, and creates the oyster case with a screw down caseback and bezel.
1927 Mercedes Gleitze swims across the English Channel wearing a Rolex Oyster. The swim lasted 15 ¼ hours.
1928 Rolex obtains a First Class Certificate from the Geneva Astronomical Observatory, the first ever awarded for a 6 ¾” wrist watch.
1931 Rolex invents and patents the “Perpetual Automatic Rotary Winding Mechanism.”
1935 Sir Malcom Campbell breaks the world automobile speed record (300 MPH) wearing a Rolex wristwatch
1939 Rolex introduces the fist chronograph with 30-minute and 12 hours totalizers.
1945 Rolex introduces the DateJust, the first automatic and water wristwatch chronometer.
1947 Rolex introduces the waterproof chronograph with 12-hour totalizer and triple date.
1947 Chuck Yeager breaks the “Sound Barrier” in a Bell X-1 wearing a Rolex Oyster, the same one he had worn throughout his deployment in WWII.
1950 Rolex introduces the Turn-O-Graph, the first Rolex with a rotating bezel and the precursor to the Submariner.
1953 Rolex introduces the Submariner, the first automatic diver’s wristwatch water-resistant to 100 meters.
1953 On May 29, Rolex rose to 29,035 ft above sea level on the wrist of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
1954 Rolex introduces the Submariner Ref. 6200, water-resistant to 200 meters.
1954 Rolex introduces the GMT-Master, an automatic chronometer with a 24 hour hand for aircraft pilots.
1956 Rolex introduces the Day-Date model, first wristwatch to spell the day of the week as well as the numeric date.
1957 Rolex patents a new Microstella regulated balance in Beryllium
1959 Rolex introduces the Submariner Ref 5512 water resistant to 200 meters
1960 Rolex straps a specially designed Deep Sea to the bathyscaphe Trieste which descended 10,916 meters to the bottom of the Mariana Trench being the first watch to reach such a depth.
1960 Hans Wilsdorf passes away on July 6, leaving Rolex to appointees stated in the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation.
1963 Rolex launches the first Oyster Cosmograph series ref. 6239
1963 Andre J. Heiniger leads Rolex to 1992, when his son Patrick takes over.
1964 Rolex patents a pressure-proof screw-down push button for chronographs
1967 Rolex, in conjunction with Comex , a French diving company, releases the Sea Dweller guaranteed water-resistant to a depth of 610 meters.
1967 Pete Knight breaks Mach 6.72 (4,534 MPH) in an X-15 aircraft wearing a GMT-Master; a record that still stands today.
1969 Rolex releases a Submariner with date and water resistant to 200 meters.
1970 Rolex starts using synthetic sapphire crystals with the introduction of the all gold OysterQuartz beta ref 5100. Rolex started rolling out sapphire crystals throughout the 70’s and 80’s. By 1989, all Rolex watches were fitted with sapphire crystals.
1971 Rolex releases Reference 1655, the first Explorer II with the solid steel 24 hour bezel famous orange 24 hour hand.
1978 Conquest of Mt. Everest without oxygen by Reinhold Messner, who wore an OysterQuartz
1982 Rolex redesigns the GMT Master II and allows timing in three different time zones rather than two by allowing an independently set 12-hour hand.
1984 Rolex updates the Explorer II to reference number 16550 to resemble other successful selling models, the Submariner and GMT II. The 16550 was available in either white or black dial and shared the same independent 12 hour hand as the GMT Master II.
1985 Rolex surpasses more than 4 million movements officially awarded the “Chronometer” title.
1986 Guided by only a sextant and their Rolex chronometers, Will Steger and Paul Schurke lead the first expedition without resupply to reach the North Pole
1987 Rolex starts using 904L stainless steel in its Sub Date 168000 that uses a high Nickel and Molybdenum content to help prevent pitting between the caseback and the case that results in salt water seeping into the threads. Rolex previously used 316L Steel. Rolex used a mixture of 316L in its bracelets and cases until the mid-2000’s when the DeepSea was made exclusively with 904L steel. Modern Rolex stainless models introduced later than 2011 use 904L in the bracelet, case, clasp, and caseback.
1988 Rolex redesigns and releases the new Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Chronometer “Daytona.”
1988 Rolex purchases its watchband supplier – Gay Frères
1992 Patrick Heiniger takes the reins from his father leading Rolex until December 17, 2008. Heiniger, a lawyer by training specialized in intellectual property and international law.
1996 Rolex manufactures more official Swiss Chronometers than all other manufacturers combined.
2000 Roles launches the new Oyster Perpetual Chronometer Cosmograph “Daytona” with Rolex’s in-house movement.
2005 Launch of the new GMT-Master II, with a new 3186 movement, Paracrom hairspring, and ceramic bezel.
2007 Rolex re-releases the Milgauss, a newly redesigned watch from a old classic that is resistant to magnetic fields up to 1000 gauss; Rolex releases the Yacht-Master II, the first yachting watch with a programmable countdown feature and memory utilizing side pushers and the bezel.
2008 Rolex introduces the new Deep Sea SeaDweller water resistant to 3,900 meters.
2008 Patrick Heiniger suddenly resigns from his position, two days after Rolex today denying a L’Agefi report that the company lost 1 billion Swiss francs ($900 million) invested with Bernard Madoff, who was later convicted of the largest financial fraud in U.S. history. Bruno Meier, Rolex’s CFO takes over as CEO.
2008 Rolex employs over 4000 people and is estimated to be worth over 5 billion dollars.
2011 Rolex names a new CEO, Gian Riccardo Marini, formerly Rolex Italy SpA’s chief.
2012 On March 26, Rolex revisits the Mariana Trench with an experimental DeepSea Challenge watch strapped to the outside of James Cameron’s vessel. The watch survived the 2.5 hour decent, 60 minutes on the trench floor, and the 70 minute ascent back to the surface.
beckertime
