Which year is the first Rolex watch made?

[timepiecehobby]

Just wonder when is the year of the first Rolex watch made?

[Tools]

1905

edited to say that this is when Hans "incorporated" his watch company.. Whether it can be said that they were producing "Rolex" watches then can be left up to those who choose to argue such things.. ;)

[RolexRaymond]

This is correct.

[kilyung]

Ah but what was the serial number?

[Alpino]

_
_


In 1908, Hans Wilsdorf registered the name of Rolex as a trademark for Wilsdorf & Davis Ltd., and the previous image is the official registration from July 2nd of 1908.


So first watch from Hans is 1905, but 1st Rolex is 1908.

[c.rod]

Originally Posted by kilyung

Ah but what was the serial number?

it was random even back then.... lol

[Alcan]

Originally Posted by timepiecehobby

Just wonder when is the year of the first Rolex watch made?

Here are the timelines:

1905, Wilsdorf & Davis is established in London
1908, Hans Wilsdorf registers the Tradename Rolex
1915, the Rolex Watch Company Ltd. is established
1920, the company is renamed Montres Rolex S.A


So, prior to 1908 (or arguably 1915) the Rolex watch company did not exist. That being the case, can anything made before then be considered to be a Rolex? It can be said that because the Rolex Watch Co. wasn't established until 1915, watches made before then are not Rolex but Wilsdorf & Davis. Below is an example of a correct, hallmarked 1908 W&D watch from the same year that ol' Hans registered the Rolex tradename. Is it actually a Rolex? Opinions vary.

[RolexRaymond]

Originally Posted by Alcan

Here are the timelines:

1905, Wilsdorf & Davis is established in London
1908, Hans Wilsdorf registers the Tradename Rolex
1915, the Rolex Watch Company Ltd. is established
1920, the company is renamed Montres Rolex S.A


So, prior to 1908 (or arguably 1915) the Rolex watch company did not exist. That being the case, can anything made before then be considered to be a Rolex? It can be said that because the Rolex Watch Co. wasn't established until 1915, watches made before then are not Rolex but Wilsdorf & Davis. Below is an example of a correct, hallmarked 1908 W&D watch from the same year that ol' Hans registered the Rolex tradename. Is it actually a Rolex? Opinions vary.

A refreshingly thorough answer. My opinion...?

Thank you for this and for the picture!

[impalass]

Originally Posted by kilyung

Ah but what was the serial number?

Even more important than the year.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by timepiecehobby

Just wonder when is the year of the first Rolex watch made?

Now Hans Wilsdorf as we know today founded the RWC but they were not watchmakers and during the Rolex early period many different types of watches were made, but Rolex did not have complete control over the movement factory, they were only a minority shareholder. The full name of the company tells the story "Aegler, Société Anonyme,Horologies D Excellence Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A.," this means, in translation, Aegler incorporated, manufacturer of Rolex & Gruen Guild A Watches. At this time ownership of the factory was split between three parties, Herman Aegler (movements), (Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex) and the Gruen brothers, Frederick Gruen and George Gruen.

Now it was Aegler that manufactured the movements for both companies, who then sold the completed watches in their respective territories; Wilsdorf of Rolex, throughout Europe, Asia and the British Empire only. While the Gruen brothers sold in the USa market only. This arrangement worked well until Rolex acquired the patent for what we know today as the Oyster case. Now Rolex had something new and special which they wished to sell all over the world, not just in their limited territory. However the three way partnership prohibited Rolex from selling their products with Aegler movement in the Gruen brothers' territory (and vice-versa).

So Hans of Rolex being a very clever and shrewd man, took a sideways move and fitted their new Oyster cases with a movement from FHF (Fontmelon)factory just down the road from Gruen and then tried to find a US distributor. They came across the firm of Abercrombie and Fitch,this was then a store specialising in sportsman's' equipment equipment. Everything from fishing rods to double barreled shotguns could be found under their roof. As the sportsman's store they seemed the ideal place to sell the first oyster watches, which were already building a reputation as the sportsman's watch.

Now it may have seemed the ideal place but it did not work out that way, firstly because Rolex sold the cheaper down-market version of their watches in a high end store, and also because Abercrombie & Fitch did not advertise the watch sufficiently. These Abercrombie & Fitch watches are probably the rarest of all the cushion oysters, in all my life I have only ever seen one; it was signed "Abercrombie and Fitch (Seafarer) on the dial and the case and movement were signed Oyster Watch Company.The case was quite badly pitted because then they were made from a base metal, a chromed zinc material that did not last very long,a bit like the relationship between Rolex and Abercrombie & Fitch.Now they went on to become the USA distributor for The Swiss Heuer watches, probably more of a sportsman's watch to speak of, being mainly chronograph watches.

After a couple of years in the wilderness Rolex decided to give the US market another try. This was after they had been approached by Zell Brothers, a jewellery store chain in the Pacific North West of the USA, headquartered in Seattle. Zell had seen the great success of Rolex sales in Canada, and in Vancouver in particular (Seattle and Vancouver are only about 150km apart). They asked to be made the exclusive importer for Rolex in the Pacific North West, and Rolex eager to get a US foot hold accepted their proposal. The strange thing is that, despite the Canadian success either Zell or Rolex decided not to use the famed "Oyster" name but substituted the name Turtle Timer, (IMHO undoubtedly Zell)

But once again these were non-Aegler (non-Rolex) movements, so as not to disturb the three way relationship with Gruen. Zell but were much more successful than Abercrombie/Fitch watches had been, but can hardly be described as having made a major market breakthrough. I have seen around 5 or 6 pictures of these watches and because they were made when Rolex was using real stainless steel the cases looked to have lasted much better than the Abercrombie & Fitch ones ever did. But Zells had two major problems as far as Rolex were concerned, firstly they were a regional not national chain and their insistence on using their own Turtle Timer name and not Oyster meant that Rolex would never reap the benefit of any of the new oyster case success.

Now in these early days of the Rolex company only about 1 in 5 had the name Rolex on the Dial,the rest were blank dials when they left the factory some had the Rolex/RWC name on paper stickers inside case back.But after the arrival of the oyster case most of the oyster cased ones did have the name Rolex on the dial

Zell Rolex Turtle Timer.



Now most of these problems were solved when Rolex gained the right to enter the US market themselves when the Gruen brothers left the board of Aegler in mid 1930s selling their shares to the two remaining parties.And their place on the board of the company was taken by Emil Borer who really invented the oyster case,and who was Herman Aegler's brother in law, the technical director of Rolex. And much more significantly the man who improved the auto wind patent Wilsdorf got from John Harwood from the Isle of Man UK,now he first in 1923 took out a UK/World patent for the first truly automatic winding wrist watch.And he went on with backing to produce many thousands of these watches,but mainly owing to the very hard industrial depression in the mid 1920s to 1930s in the UK he went broke.Now old Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex being a very clever man bought and took up this auto-winding patent for the Rolex Watch Company,and in the very early 1930s incorporated it into the oyster design case.

And with the newly acquired waterproof screw down crown patent that he got from Perregaux and George Peret as they first took out a Swiss patent in 1925 for the twin lock crown system .So with the Oyster type case,screw down twinlock crown and the acquired patent auto wind mechanism the Rolex Oyster was born. But in those very early oyster days it only wound around 300 degrees .Now Rolex did improved the design by the help of Hans brother in-law,who made it more efficient by winding a full 360 degrees,and a power reserve then of around 36 hour the Perpetual movement was born for the company.Now this new movement was the first one from Aegler (Rolex), that was not made available to Gruen, and so gave Rolex a unique advantage when they were able to take advantage of their new found ability to enter the US market; which they did just as the US entered WW11, around 1942 the rest is history.

[timepiecehobby]

Hi Guys, thanks for the information. :)

[zeuloa]

Originally Posted by padi56

Now Hans Wilsdorf as we know today founded the RWC but they were not watchmakers and during the Rolex early period many different types of watches were made, but Rolex did not have complete control over the movement factory, they were only a minority shareholder. The full name of the company tells the story "Aegler, Société Anonyme,Horologies D Excellence Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A.," this means, in translation, Aegler incorporated, manufacturer of Rolex & Gruen Guild A Watches. At this time ownership of the factory was split between three parties, Herman Aegler (movements), (Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex) and the Gruen brothers, Frederick Gruen and George Gruen.

Now it was Aegler that manufactured the movements for both companies, who then sold the completed watches in their respective territories; Wilsdorf of Rolex, throughout Europe, Asia and the British Empire only. While the Gruen brothers sold in the USa market only. This arrangement worked well until Rolex acquired the patent for what we know today as the Oyster case. Now Rolex had something new and special which they wished to sell all over the world, not just in their limited territory. However the three way partnership prohibited Rolex from selling their products with Aegler movement in the Gruen brothers' territory (and vice-versa).

So Hans of Rolex being a very clever and shrewd man, took a sideways move and fitted their new Oyster cases with a movement from FHF (Fontmelon)factory just down the road from Gruen and then tried to find a US distributor. They came across the firm of Abercrombie and Fitch,this was then a store specialising in sportsman's' equipment equipment. Everything from fishing rods to double barreled shotguns could be found under their roof. As the sportsman's store they seemed the ideal place to sell the first oyster watches, which were already building a reputation as the sportsman's watch.

Now it may have seemed the ideal place but it did not work out that way, firstly because Rolex sold the cheaper down-market version of their watches in a high end store, and also because Abercrombie & Fitch did not advertise the watch sufficiently. These Abercrombie & Fitch watches are probably the rarest of all the cushion oysters, in all my life I have only ever seen one; it was signed "Abercrombie and Fitch (Seafarer) on the dial and the case and movement were signed Oyster Watch Company.The case was quite badly pitted because then they were made from a base metal, a chromed zinc material that did not last very long,a bit like the relationship between Rolex and Abercrombie & Fitch.Now they went on to become the USA distributor for The Swiss Heuer watches, probably more of a sportsman's watch to speak of, being mainly chronograph watches.

After a couple of years in the wilderness Rolex decided to give the US market another try. This was after they had been approached by Zell Brothers, a jewellery store chain in the Pacific North West of the USA, headquartered in Seattle. Zell had seen the great success of Rolex sales in Canada, and in Vancouver in particular (Seattle and Vancouver are only about 150km apart). They asked to be made the exclusive importer for Rolex in the Pacific North West, and Rolex eager to get a US foot hold accepted their proposal. The strange thing is that, despite the Canadian success either Zell or Rolex decided not to use the famed "Oyster" name but substituted the name Turtle Timer, (IMHO undoubtedly Zell)

But once again these were non-Aegler (non-Rolex) movements, so as not to disturb the three way relationship with Gruen. Zell but were much more successful than Abercrombie/Fitch watches had been, but can hardly be described as having made a major market breakthrough. I have seen around 5 or 6 pictures of these watches and because they were made when Rolex was using real stainless steel the cases looked to have lasted much better than the Abercrombie & Fitch ones ever did. But Zells had two major problems as far as Rolex were concerned, firstly they were a regional not national chain and their insistence on using their own Turtle Timer name and not Oyster meant that Rolex would never reap the benefit of any of the new oyster case success.

Now in these early days of the Rolex company only about 1 in 5 had the name Rolex on the Dial,the rest were blank dials when they left the factory some had the Rolex/RWC name on paper stickers inside case back.But after the arrival of the oyster case most of the oyster cased ones did have the name Rolex on the dial

Zell Rolex Turtle Timer.



Now most of these problems were solved when Rolex gained the right to enter the US market themselves when the Gruen brothers left the board of Aegler in mid 1930s selling their shares to the two remaining parties.And their place on the board of the company was taken by Emil Borer who really invented the oyster case,and who was Herman Aegler's brother in law, the technical director of Rolex. And much more significantly the man who improved the auto wind patent Wilsdorf got from John Harwood from the Isle of Man UK,now he first in 1923 took out a UK/World patent for the first truly automatic winding wrist watch.And he went on with backing to produce many thousands of these watches,but mainly owing to the very hard industrial depression in the mid 1920s to 1930s in the UK he went broke.Now old Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex being a very clever man bought and took up this auto-winding patent for the Rolex Watch Company,and in the very early 1930s incorporated it into the oyster design case.

And with the newly acquired waterproof screw down crown patent that he got from Perregaux and George Peret as they first took out a Swiss patent in 1925 for the twin lock crown system .So with the Oyster type case,screw down twinlock crown and the acquired patent auto wind mechanism the Rolex Oyster was born. But in those very early oyster days it only wound around 300 degrees .Now Rolex did improved the design by the help of Hans brother in-law,who made it more efficient by winding a full 360 degrees,and a power reserve then of around 36 hour the Perpetual movement was born for the company.Now this new movement was the first one from Aegler (Rolex), that was not made available to Gruen, and so gave Rolex a unique advantage when they were able to take advantage of their new found ability to enter the US market; which they did just as the US entered WW11, around 1942 the rest is history.

Excellent story - thanks so much!

[Roller07]

Awesome information guys

[slcbbrown]

Very nice information for a fan of the brand. Thanks, to all of you who put so much effort into the responses.