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Rolex
Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of its watches in 1908 and became ''Rolex Watch Co. Ltd.'' in 1915. After World War I, the company moved its base of operations to Geneva because of the unfavorable economy in the United Kingdom. In 1920, Hans Wilsdorf registered ''Montres Rolex SA'' in Geneva as the new company name (''montre'' is French for wristwatch); it later became ''Rolex SA''. Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust. Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres Tudor SA design, make, distribute, and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands. History Early history Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded ''Wilsdorf and Davis'', the company that would eventually become ''Rolex SA'', in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolex GMTIIC
Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of its watches in 1908 and became ''Rolex Watch Co. Ltd.'' in 1915. After World War I, the company moved its base of operations to Geneva because of the unfavorable economy in the United Kingdom. In 1920, Hans Wilsdorf registered ''Montres Rolex SA'' in Geneva as the new company name (''montre'' is French for wristwatch); it later became ''Rolex SA''. Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust. Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres Tudor SA design, make, distribute, and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands. History Early history Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf founded ''Wilsdorf and Davis'', the company that would eventually become ''Rolex SA'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Wilsdorf Foundation
Hans Wilsdorf (22 March 1881 – 6 July 1960) was a German businessman, best known as the founder of Rolex and Tudor. Wilsdorf's philosophy for the companies was 'Only great marketing is needed to make a company successful' Early life Hans Wilsdorf was born in Kulmbach, Germany, to Protestant parents, Anna and Johan Daniel Ferdinand Wilsdorf and was the second son of a family of three children. His mother died when he was a boy and he became an orphan when his father died soon after when Hans was twelve years old. Wilsdorf's fate was placed in the hands of his uncles who sold the prosperous family iron tools business which had belonged to his grandfather, and later to his father. Hans and his brother and sister were sent to excellent boarding schools where they received superb educations. Wilsdorf published his autobiography in 1946 as part of a four volume set of books named ''Rolex Jubilee Vade Mecum''. In his autobiography Hans said "Our uncles were not indifferent t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Wilsdorf
Hans Wilsdorf (22 March 1881 – 6 July 1960) was a German businessman, best known as the founder of Rolex and Tudor. Wilsdorf's philosophy for the companies was 'Only great marketing is needed to make a company successful' Early life Hans Wilsdorf was born in Kulmbach, Germany, to Protestant parents, Anna and Johan Daniel Ferdinand Wilsdorf and was the second son of a family of three children. His mother died when he was a boy and he became an orphan when his father died soon after when Hans was twelve years old. Wilsdorf's fate was placed in the hands of his uncles who sold the prosperous family iron tools business which had belonged to his grandfather, and later to his father. Hans and his brother and sister were sent to excellent boarding schools where they received superb educations. Wilsdorf published his autobiography in 1946 as part of a four volume set of books named ''Rolex Jubilee Vade Mecum''. In his autobiography Hans said "Our uncles were not indifferent t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montres Tudor SA
Montres Tudor SA, or simply Tudor, is a Swiss watchmaker based in Geneva, Switzerland. Registered in 1926 by Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex, the brand remains a sister company to Rolex; both companies are owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. Tudor was initially known for watches produced for the military and professional divers. From the 1960s to 1980s, several navies issued Tudor Submariners to their divers, including the US Navy SEALs and the French Marine Nationale. History Origins The Tudor trademark was registered in 1926 by Swiss watchmaking company ''Veuve de Philippe Hüther'' on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex watches. In 1936, Wilsdorf took it over and went on to found the company Montres Tudor SA in 1946. Tudor's purpose was to offer a more affordable watch than Rolex while maintaining Rolex-like quality. Tudor watches were originally equipped with off-the-shelf movements paired with Rolex cases and bracelets, allowing Tudor to provide reliability and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montres Tudor (SA)
Montres Tudor SA, or simply Tudor, is a Swiss watchmaker based in Geneva, Switzerland. Registered in 1926 by Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex, the brand remains a sister company to Rolex; both companies are owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. Tudor was initially known for watches produced for the military and professional divers. From the 1960s to 1980s, several navies issued Tudor Submariners to their divers, including the US Navy SEALs and the French Marine Nationale. History Origins The Tudor trademark was registered in 1926 by Swiss watchmaking company ''Veuve de Philippe Hüther'' on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex watches. In 1936, Wilsdorf took it over and went on to found the company Montres Tudor SA in 1946. Tudor's purpose was to offer a more affordable watch than Rolex while maintaining Rolex-like quality. Tudor watches were originally equipped with off-the-shelf movements paired with Rolex cases and bracelets, allowing Tudor to provide reliability and qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolex Oysterquartz
The Rolex Oysterquartz was a quartz watch made by Rolex. Unusually, its movement features a mechanical lever escapement driven by a simple permanent magnet moving coil motor mechanically similar to a d'Arsonval galvanometer. History At the end of the 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was affected by the quartz crisis. Japanese watchmakers supplied the world market with large quantities of quartz watches. Rolex duly put forward a new line of watches, producing the Datejust Oysterquartz. It faced the Asian, markets seeking to keep alive interest in Swiss watchmaking, an industry that seemed dominated by the Japanese quartz watch. The Datejust Oysterquartz dates to the beginning of the 1970s. The design differs greatly from the classic Rolex line and carved characteristics of the period: a completely angular case, an integrated band with a polished finish and sapphire glass. The whole range consisted of three versions: gold, steel with white gold bezel, and steel and yellow go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercedes Gleitze
Mercedes Carey (née Gleitze; 18 November 1900 – 9 February 1981) was a British professional swimmer. She was the first known person to swim the Straits of Gibraltar and the first British woman to swim the English Channel. The name of Mercedes Gleitze was used to market Rolex's new waterproof case, the "Oyster". She established endurance records for swimming including a record of 46 hours in 1932. She was able to raise funds to found the Mercedes Gleitze Homes in Leicester via sponsorship. The Mercedes Gleitze charity is now linked to the Family Action charity. Early life Mercedes Gleitze was born to Heinrich and Anna (born Kurr) Gleitze in 1900 in the English south-coastal town of Brighton. She and her two elder sisters came from German heritage and Mercedes spent time with her grandparents in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria and two years studying at the Maria Stern Convent School in Nördlingen. Her father was a German immigrant from the county of Göttingen. He was a baker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or other type of bracelet, including metal bands, leather straps or any other kind of bracelet. A pocket watch is designed for a person to carry in a pocket, often attached to a chain. Watches were developed in the 17th century from spring-powered clocks, which appeared as early as the 14th century. During most of its history the watch was a mechanical device, driven by clockwork, powered by winding a mainspring, and keeping time with an oscillating balance wheel. These are called '' mechanical watches''. In the 1960s the electronic ''quartz watch'' was invented, which was powered by a battery and kept time with a vibrating quartz crystal. By the 1980s the quartz watch had taken over most of the market from the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omega Electroquartz
The Omega Electroquartz was introduced in 1969 as the first production Swiss quartz watch. It was the collaboration of 20 Swiss watch companies and the movement was utilised by Rolex, Patek Phillipe and Omega SA amongst others. The Beta 21 movement used in the Electroquartz was accurate to 5 seconds per month, far better than any automatic or manual wind movement of the day. Introduction The Omega Electroquartz was the first Swiss quartz watch produced as part of a range called beta 21 watches, the beta 21 was developed at CEH research laboratory by twenty Swiss watch manufacturers. The first production watches were introduced to the market in 1970 very shortly after the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch, the Seiko-Quartz Astron 35SQ in December 1969. The beta 21 is noteworthy and significantly important to the history of watch making as well as the Astron as it marked the first quartz watch produced on an industrial level and began the quartz crisis Numerous Swiss manu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automatic Watch
An automatic watch, also known as a self-winding watch or simply an automatic, is a mechanical watch where the natural motion of the wearer provides energy to wind the mainspring, making manual winding unnecessary if worn enough. It is distinguished from a ''manual watch'' in that a manual watch must have its mainspring wound by hand at regular intervals. Operation In a mechanical watch the watch's gears are turned by a spiral spring called a mainspring. In a ''manual watch'' energy is stored in the mainspring by turning a knob, the ''crown'' on the side of the watch. Then the energy from the mainspring powers the watch movement until it runs down, requiring the spring to be wound again. A self-winding watch movement has a mechanism which winds the mainspring using the natural motions of the wearer's body. The watch contains an oscillating weight that turns on a pivot. The normal movements of the watch in the user's pocket (for a pocketwatch) or on the user's arm (for a wris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watchmaking
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their parts, by hand. Modern watchmakers, when required to repair older watches, for which replacement parts may not be available, must have fabrication skills, and can typically manufacture replacements for many of the parts found in a watch. The term clockmaker refers to an equivalent occupation specializing in clocks. Most practising professional watchmakers service current or recent production watches. They seldom fabricate replacement parts. Instead they obtain and fit factory spare parts applicable to the watch brand being serviced. The majority of modern watchmakers, particularly in Switzerland and other countries in Europe, work directly for the watchmaking industry and may have completed a formal watchmaking degree at a technical school. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mechanical Watch
A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time, as opposed to quartz watches which function using the vibration modes of a piezoelectric quartz tuning fork, or radio watches, which are quartz watches synchronized to an atomic clock via radio waves. A mechanical watch is driven by a mainspring which must be wound either periodically by hand or via a self-winding mechanism. Its force is transmitted through a series of gears to power the balance wheel, a weighted wheel which oscillates back and forth at a constant rate. A device called an escapement releases the watch's wheels to move forward a small amount with each swing of the balance wheel, moving the watch's hands forward at a constant rate. The escapement is what makes the 'ticking' sound which is heard in an operating mechanical watch. Mechanical watches evolved in Europe in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. Mechanical wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
