World's First Waterproof Watch and the Watch of the Century, Rolex

Prior to the twentieth Century, men used Pocket watches and women wore wristwatches.

In the beginning of the 20^th Century, wrist watch started to gain its popularity amongst men. German Watch Expert Hans Wilsdorf started a Company on Watch sooner was named with Rolex in London n 1905.

Wilsdrof saw the public demand on high quality watch, especial for men. He started to import watch from Swiss Aeglier Company precision movement to produce watch. In 1912, Wilsdrof renamed this Watch Company as Rolex Watch Company and moved to  Geneva.

Sooner later his Watch was awarded an official chronometer certification for accurate timekeeping, the first watch to do so.

Wilosdrof , however , was still concerned with increasing his watch’s reliability. He knew that dust and moisture could cause the watch’s imprecise, and began working on developing a water proof watch. In 1926, he introduced the Oyster, the water proof wristwatch. This was followed the next year by a famous public endorsement stunt in which swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam across the English Channel wearing the Oyster, a world first water proof watch . In !931, Rolex improved by introducing a self-winding movement, which made the water seal function even more reliable, and invented the date display in 1945.

Rolex continues to be a world leader in Watch-Making, and the Oyster was named “ Watch of the Century” by a panel of industry leaders in 1990s.

HK Snob