Building A Luxury Watch Brand: The Rolex Case Study...
This week we’re diving into Rolex. How a brand founded by a 24 year old in London became one of the World's most popular luxury brands...
Happy New Week,
This week we’re diving into Rolex, one of the World’s most luxurious brands. Rolex is a well-known symbol of luxury, class, and status. A watch brand that has been around for decades and has upheld its brand promise and identity throughout. Although many people know of Rolex, not many know the story of Rolex and its origin.
Rolex was created by Hans Wilsdorf, born in Germany in 1881. Hans started his career in the watch industry in 1900 when he moved to Switzerland to work as an English correspondent in a large pocket watch company called Cuno-Korten. Hans picked up tremendous insight into watchmaking and obtained a huge amount of knowledge into how all types of watches were produced. At 22 years old, Hans moved to London to work for another company of high-quality watches, he was in charge of increasing their sales and successfully managed to grow their sales over time and find more clients for the company.
In 1905, Hans set up a business with his brother-in-law Alfred Davis, Wilsdorf & Davis. They partnered up with a Swiss watch company and started importing Swiss movements to England. They were soon a successful company specialising in selling quality timepieces for affordable prices. Hans was a huge lover of wristwatches but at that time, wristwatches were mostly worn by women as jewellery and were looked down upon by some because they weren’t precise with the time. They were smaller than pocket watches and due to their size, they consisted of smaller movements that usually made the clock go faster or slower than the actual time, making pocket watches hugely popular during that time and considered more masculine.
“My personal opinion is that pocket watches will almost completely disappear and that wrist watches will replace them definitely.” Hans Wilsdorf, 1914
It was considered almost impossible to create the perfect wristwatch that told the accurate time and was good for everyday use. Hans was committed to creating the perfect wristwatch, he travelled and met with countless watchmakers to discuss the small details of watches. After countless tries, Hans was able to create a high-quality watch that told the time accurately. By 1908, Hans watches were gaining a lot of traction and were considered one of the top watches in the industry. Hans wanted to change his name to something more high-class and catchy. He wanted something with only 5 letters so that it could fit into his watches and he landed on Rolex.
Hans decided to go all in and improve the technical ability of the wristwatch.
“We must succeed in making a watch case so tight that our movements will be permanently guaranteed against damage caused by dust, perspiration, water, heat and cold.” Hans Wilsdorf
In 1926, Rolex released their new model that changed the history of watches, The Rolex Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch in history.
Hans knew this was revolutionary and many people will be interested in Rolex after this. Hans had to think of the best way to launch his new model and he found the perfect opportunity to present it to the world. In 1927, Mercedes Glietze claimed to be able to swim across the English Channel, a 20.5-mile body of water that separated England and France. Many didn’t believe her and she was set to prove it in front of a mass audience. Hans saw this as the perfect marketing opportunity and convinced her to wear a Rolex Oyster around her neck. Mercedes nearly made it all the way but after 10 hours she had to be pulled out to avoid freezing to death. The Rolex Oyster came out of the water in perfect condition and Hans made it known by telling the story on the front page of the London Daily Mail newspaper. This was when Rolex went global as a revolutionary watch.
“Only great marketing is needed to make a company successful.” Hans Wilsdorf
Hans furthered the publicity by marketing the Rolex Oyster in fish tanks with real fish in it on the sales display of every Rolex dealer. In 1928 he worked with the top British model/actress at the time, Evelyn Laye, to market Rolex watches. She demonstrated Rolex Oyster’s waterproof qualities by modeling her watch with her hand in a fishbowl. In 1933, after a flight over Mount Everest, the pilots were very happy to find that their Rolex Oysters were still in perfect condition, this gained Rolex more popularity. Same as in 1935, when speed racer, Malcolm Campbell set a speed record for driving around 300 mph, wearing his Rolex. With decades passing, Rolex has always associated itself with the most historic events & admired personalities of the time.
Rolex had now built a brand as a high-quality watch but also a reliable technical watch anyone could use for everyday use. During the 1940s and 50s Rolex dropped a collection of innovative watches like the Oyster Perpetual, the Date Just, the Day-Date, and the Submariner, self-winding watches that could tell the date of the month, and also the Day Date, showing the date of the month but also the day of the week.
In 1944 Hans' wife passed away and to commemorate his wife, he established the Wilsdorf Foundation, a charity organisation for social causes. Shortly before Hans died, he transferred 100% ownership to the Wilsdorf Foundation, which owns and controls Rolex. Therefore, Rolex will never go public, be sold, or pay taxes as it’s essentially a charity. Hans passed away in 1960 and 62 years later Rolex is still regarded as a high-class luxury watch. Their watches are pretty scarce which creates an aura of exclusivity around the brand. This means the desirability of the brand is continuously growing and with all their branding and marketing efforts they successfully maintain their brand promise, equity, and position in the market.