Rolex
About
Founded in 1905 as 'Wilsdorf and Davis' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company became Rolex Watch Co. Ltd. in 1915. It moved to Switzerland after the first World War.
Rolex specialized in wristwatches early on, in a time when men used pocketwatches. In the trenches of World War I. however, wristwatches proved to be much more practical.
Many innovations are commonly credited to Rolex, like the waterproof or the automatic watch. Even though Rolex did not first make these innovations, it made these in a practical and best usable form, still used today by many other brands.
In the middle of the 20th century, Rolex was famous for creating watches and complications for professionals. Great examples are the Submariner for scuba divers, the GMT Master for pilots or the Milgauss for engineers. Today however Rolex enjoys a position as a luxury watch manufacturer, but the designs still derive from the original tool-like aesthetics, giving its watches an instantly recognisable look.
