Company Overview
Rolex is a private company by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, that specifically produces luxury watches. Rolex does everything from designing, manufacturing, and distributing all of their watches.
Company History
The watchmaking idea was founded in London, England, in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, along with his bother in law, Alfred Davis. They established what was known as Wilsdorf & Davis, which was a watch distributor. In 1908 Hans came up with a company name and logo suitable to fit on a watch. At the time many people were using watches on chains, and Hans saw something more innovative. In 1910 one of Rolex’s watches was the first to be granted the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision(Rolex History, Rolex). In 1919 Rolex moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where the headquarters exist to this day. The year of 1926 was one of Rolex’s most successful years, with the invention of waterproof and dust proof watches. This design was named the “Oyster,” hence the idea of it being able to be submerged in water like oysters. Soon after in 1927, one of these watches was worn by a swimmer who crossed the English Channel, and was in perfect condition after she had successfully crossed it. What really interested customers was in 1945 when Rolex was the first to come up with a watch with the date on it. This was when watches began to hold purposes and reason. During 1950 to 1965, watches were beginning to be made for all types of activities such as driving, flying, exploring, boating. Although watches were primarily for men’s styles, Rolex came out with a women’s watch, called the Lady-DateJust which also included the date on the watch. In 1967 a watch that could go to sea depths of 610 meters was invented. Rolex made a watch called the 904L steel, which was made of the finest metals which is unable to corrode. Rolex started to team up with sailors to come up with a watch that would work for them, thus the creation of the Yacht-Master which contained a compass. To this day, Rolex has continued to alter their already one-of-a-kind watches into its own type of art, the art of watchmaking.
Company Work Culture and Environment
According to the Rolex website, Rolex highly incorporates itself around more than 150 sporting and cultural events. It built a relationship with the community and businesses by supporting these types of events.
Rolex pairs up with Protégés Art Initiative and holds an art sponsorship program in which different art performances take place. There are artists displaying work throughout the length of the program. Rolex spends around $70,000 with intentions to mentor young, inspired artists. Rolex has intentions of continuing to produce artists for the future, and to further encourage people to get in depth with their cultures. Rolex has provided interviews with current mentors of the program. In an interview with Olafur Eliasson, a well known artist, he states, “It is my experience that teaching and sharing knowledge is as rewarding as learning. Teaching is always connected to getting new knowledge myself,”(New Mentors Announced in Venice, Rolex Co)
Rolex also gave out Rolex Awards for Enterprise to individuals who are working to beat everyday obstacles people face. These awards can be for projects as advanced as discovering something new or even helping out the community. For example, Rolex recognized Neeti Kailas for innovative techniques to check newborns for hearing problems(Awards for Enterprise, Rolex Co). There have been 130 chosen to be awarded for their benefit to the community since 1976.
Company Values
Rolex believes it builds a successful relationship with its consumers and partners by sponsoring many major sporting events and competitions. Their objective is to help out to advertise the sporting events in exchange for the exposure the company receives. The company can get its name out and advertised while bringing in people for the events.
This image represents the main message supported by Rolex. The idea is that Rolex produces one of a kind specialty watches. They almost consider their knack of watch crafting an art.
Company Growth and Stability
Rolex has always been considered a private charity. This being said, it does not have to pay fees like other corporations. Also, it keeps almost all of it financial information secret, so it is very hard to find any of this data. Rolex hit big with their inventions of the dustproof airtight watch in 1926, and the date screen for the watch in 1945. These inventions really proved their innovative techniques. Rolex has just about always boomed in production. Rolex and formula 1 racing have been partners for over 50 years and their partnership has been beneficial for both of them. Recession of 2008 negatively affected the amount of sales rolex had, but not enough to put the company into a detrimental situation. When Rolex recently boosted it’s manufacturing site in Bienne, Switzerland, it made it able to hold around 2,000 employees(Simonian, Issue 85). This made it possible for the company to completely rely on itself for production of materials. Now Rolex is considered the top luxury watch brand with over 6,000 employees and revenues around $5 billion(Simonian, Issue 85).
Company Caveats
Downsides of Rolex are since their witches are classified as luxury watches, they are listed with very high prices. Not everyone can afford high class watches, so the demand for these watches is already limited based on the general salaries of everyday people. Also, since these watches have such high prices, people look for counterfeit watches to show themselves as high-class(Tunca, Impression Formation in a Wolrd Full of Fake Products). Counterfeit watches can go for prices as low as $200 compared to the original Rolex prices of between $750 and $75,000.
Company Reputation
Rolex is known for being very valuable. That being said, many famous and wealthy people wear these watches to show they are high in status. The company sponsors many sporting events to show people with high status such as Tiger Woods, who at the time will be wearing a Rolex watch. Rolex sponsors tennis events such as the Wimbledon, gold events like the Open., and even yachting events such Rolex's own Farr 40 World Championship.
Company Competitors
According to the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, Rolex is still on top of its competitors, Omega and Breitling. Recent statistics show Rolex has certified over 800,000 watches while the other companies produced 450,000 and 155,000 respectively. Other competitors who are far behind Rolex are Mido and Tissot. The top three competitors have been Rolex, Omega, and Breitling, for the past many years. Rolex has been on top for a while and continues to be on the incline.
Company Investments
As stated earlier, one of the investments of the company is the art program that Rolex spends $70,000 just for young artists to see that others have made it possible to succeed, just like Rolex did with the art of watch making. Also stated earlier, Rolex invested around $30 million to be the official timekeeper of the Formula 1.
Company Locations
Rolex headquarters has remained in Geneva, Switzerland, while having 4,000 watch makers in 100 different countries. Most of their business takes place in Europe. Based on the pictures below, it is clear that most of the Rolex locations are primarily on the coasts of the United States, and in Europe.
Rolex is a private company by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, that specifically produces luxury watches. Rolex does everything from designing, manufacturing, and distributing all of their watches.
Company History
The watchmaking idea was founded in London, England, in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, along with his bother in law, Alfred Davis. They established what was known as Wilsdorf & Davis, which was a watch distributor. In 1908 Hans came up with a company name and logo suitable to fit on a watch. At the time many people were using watches on chains, and Hans saw something more innovative. In 1910 one of Rolex’s watches was the first to be granted the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision(Rolex History, Rolex). In 1919 Rolex moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where the headquarters exist to this day. The year of 1926 was one of Rolex’s most successful years, with the invention of waterproof and dust proof watches. This design was named the “Oyster,” hence the idea of it being able to be submerged in water like oysters. Soon after in 1927, one of these watches was worn by a swimmer who crossed the English Channel, and was in perfect condition after she had successfully crossed it. What really interested customers was in 1945 when Rolex was the first to come up with a watch with the date on it. This was when watches began to hold purposes and reason. During 1950 to 1965, watches were beginning to be made for all types of activities such as driving, flying, exploring, boating. Although watches were primarily for men’s styles, Rolex came out with a women’s watch, called the Lady-DateJust which also included the date on the watch. In 1967 a watch that could go to sea depths of 610 meters was invented. Rolex made a watch called the 904L steel, which was made of the finest metals which is unable to corrode. Rolex started to team up with sailors to come up with a watch that would work for them, thus the creation of the Yacht-Master which contained a compass. To this day, Rolex has continued to alter their already one-of-a-kind watches into its own type of art, the art of watchmaking.
Company Work Culture and Environment
According to the Rolex website, Rolex highly incorporates itself around more than 150 sporting and cultural events. It built a relationship with the community and businesses by supporting these types of events.
Rolex pairs up with Protégés Art Initiative and holds an art sponsorship program in which different art performances take place. There are artists displaying work throughout the length of the program. Rolex spends around $70,000 with intentions to mentor young, inspired artists. Rolex has intentions of continuing to produce artists for the future, and to further encourage people to get in depth with their cultures. Rolex has provided interviews with current mentors of the program. In an interview with Olafur Eliasson, a well known artist, he states, “It is my experience that teaching and sharing knowledge is as rewarding as learning. Teaching is always connected to getting new knowledge myself,”(New Mentors Announced in Venice, Rolex Co)
Rolex also gave out Rolex Awards for Enterprise to individuals who are working to beat everyday obstacles people face. These awards can be for projects as advanced as discovering something new or even helping out the community. For example, Rolex recognized Neeti Kailas for innovative techniques to check newborns for hearing problems(Awards for Enterprise, Rolex Co). There have been 130 chosen to be awarded for their benefit to the community since 1976.
Company Values
Rolex believes it builds a successful relationship with its consumers and partners by sponsoring many major sporting events and competitions. Their objective is to help out to advertise the sporting events in exchange for the exposure the company receives. The company can get its name out and advertised while bringing in people for the events.
This image represents the main message supported by Rolex. The idea is that Rolex produces one of a kind specialty watches. They almost consider their knack of watch crafting an art.
Company Growth and Stability
Rolex has always been considered a private charity. This being said, it does not have to pay fees like other corporations. Also, it keeps almost all of it financial information secret, so it is very hard to find any of this data. Rolex hit big with their inventions of the dustproof airtight watch in 1926, and the date screen for the watch in 1945. These inventions really proved their innovative techniques. Rolex has just about always boomed in production. Rolex and formula 1 racing have been partners for over 50 years and their partnership has been beneficial for both of them. Recession of 2008 negatively affected the amount of sales rolex had, but not enough to put the company into a detrimental situation. When Rolex recently boosted it’s manufacturing site in Bienne, Switzerland, it made it able to hold around 2,000 employees(Simonian, Issue 85). This made it possible for the company to completely rely on itself for production of materials. Now Rolex is considered the top luxury watch brand with over 6,000 employees and revenues around $5 billion(Simonian, Issue 85).
Company Caveats
Downsides of Rolex are since their witches are classified as luxury watches, they are listed with very high prices. Not everyone can afford high class watches, so the demand for these watches is already limited based on the general salaries of everyday people. Also, since these watches have such high prices, people look for counterfeit watches to show themselves as high-class(Tunca, Impression Formation in a Wolrd Full of Fake Products). Counterfeit watches can go for prices as low as $200 compared to the original Rolex prices of between $750 and $75,000.
Company Reputation
Rolex is known for being very valuable. That being said, many famous and wealthy people wear these watches to show they are high in status. The company sponsors many sporting events to show people with high status such as Tiger Woods, who at the time will be wearing a Rolex watch. Rolex sponsors tennis events such as the Wimbledon, gold events like the Open., and even yachting events such Rolex's own Farr 40 World Championship.
Company Competitors
According to the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, Rolex is still on top of its competitors, Omega and Breitling. Recent statistics show Rolex has certified over 800,000 watches while the other companies produced 450,000 and 155,000 respectively. Other competitors who are far behind Rolex are Mido and Tissot. The top three competitors have been Rolex, Omega, and Breitling, for the past many years. Rolex has been on top for a while and continues to be on the incline.
Company Investments
As stated earlier, one of the investments of the company is the art program that Rolex spends $70,000 just for young artists to see that others have made it possible to succeed, just like Rolex did with the art of watch making. Also stated earlier, Rolex invested around $30 million to be the official timekeeper of the Formula 1.
Company Locations
Rolex headquarters has remained in Geneva, Switzerland, while having 4,000 watch makers in 100 different countries. Most of their business takes place in Europe. Based on the pictures below, it is clear that most of the Rolex locations are primarily on the coasts of the United States, and in Europe.