One of the most powerful and distinguished brands in the world, the mention of the word Rolex is enough to think of luxury and quality. Famous for its impeccable timepieces, which is the stuff of dreams for a lot of people, here are some interesting facts about the brand.
1.The Swiss brand originated in London
The company started in London, where two brothers, Hand Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis, started off by putting movements into cases for watches, later to be sold to jewelers under ‘Wilsdorf and Davis’. Later, due to issues related to wartime taxes that were levied on imports of luxury products, they shifted base to Switzerland, and Rolex came to be known as a Swiss brand.
2.Every Rolex watch is handmade
Every watch made by the brand is meticulously designed and made by hand. Ensuring every aspect of the watch-making process is up-to-date and carried out with extreme precision. Every raw material, even the gold used, is made in-house and once made, every timepiece is assembled by hand and also tested independently, the entire process taking almost a year, for one watch.
The brand also has its own team of gemologists who buy, test and arrange diamonds in models.
3. Quality check is fierce and strict
Every Rolex watch is pressure-tested before leaving the Rolex plant premises. A watch is placed in a sensitive air-pressure chamber to test for any discrepancy, like air leakage. Also, if there is any condensation or water infiltration, the watch is discarded.
4. The meaning of Rolex
There is no meaning of the word ‘Rolex’. But founder Hans Wilsdorf acknowledged that he wanted a short and powerful name, that would fit and look good on every watch face, along with being able to pronounce in any language easily.
5. All watches are photographed with the time 10:10
Known as the official Rolex time, while being photographed every watch is placed at 10:10, with the seconds hand being at 31 seconds. The date and day function if present, is always set at 28th of the month with Monday as the day.
6. Rolex uses 904L steel
The stainless-steel variety of 904L is exclusive to Rolex. This steel variant is resistant to rust, corrosion and pitting. Thus, a watch from this brand can survive any weather or temperature.
7. Rolex has been to the deepest and the highest point in the world
Sir Edmund Hillary wore a Rolex when in 1953, he scaled to the top of the world- Mt Everest. Even there, the watch showed no deviation and ran smoothly.
In 2012, James Cameron, when on his Deep-Sea Challenge mission, descended into the Mariana Trench, had a Rolex on his hand, that worked immaculately at 12,000
mtrs deep.
8. Roman Numeral for four is llll, rather than lV
In a bid to make the watch aesthetically pleasing and ensure symmetry, the makers still use ‘Watchmaker’s four’ llll on their watches with Roman numerals.
9. The winding crown of Rolex is made of 10 parts
Another process that shows their commitment towards craftsmanship and impeccable quality. These 10 parts in the winding crown of the watch, are screwed imperviously on the watch case.
10. Global presence
The brand is present in 100 countries. Its Day-Date models are available in 26 languages, a few of them being Danish, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Indonesian, Dutch, Farsi, Turkish and Swedish.
