Who owns Rolex

A watch brand whose popularity and reputation are unparalleled: Rolex. The Swiss company based in Geneva enjoys an impeccable reputation worldwide and is celebrated for its highly precise, high-quality and stylish wristwatches. This article is dedicated to the history of the famous watch manufacturer and, in this context, also takes a closer look at the structure of the company.

The History of Rolex: A Brief Overview

The Rolex watch brand is inextricably linked with the name Hans Wilsdorf. No wonder, after all, the history of today's Rolex SA began with the company Wilsdorf & Davis. Wilsdorf & Davis was founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis. Wilsdorf had just moved to London at the time and was planning to set up a small but fine watch manufacturer. With this in mind, the Wilsdorf & Davis company mainly produced stainless steel wristwatches, whose mechanical movements came from the Aegler company in Biel.

The decision to concentrate production on wristwatches was extremely unconventional at the time. After all, pocket watches were the most popular watch until then. The wristwatch was an exciting innovation and it was hard to predict whether it would sell. The courage to innovate played a central role right from the first years of Rolex's history - at that time it was still called Wilsdorf & Davis.

The name Rolex, which has now become synonymous with luxury watches of the highest quality, came into play in 1908. In 1919, the company headquarters moved to Geneva, where Rolex was entered into the commercial register in 2020 as Montres Rolex SA and still has its headquarters today.

From the introduction of the first waterproof wristwatch in 1926 to the development of the self-winding mechanism with a perpetual rotor for mechanical watches to the deep-sea dive of the "Trieste", on whose outer wall a Rolex Deep Sea Special withstood the enormous strain in 1960, the history of Montres Rolex is marked by memorable events and impressive milestones. Over the years, the number of coveted collections and iconic watches from Rolex has grown steadily. Whether Day-Date, Explorer, Submariner, GMT-Master II or Cosmograph Daytona: There are many Rolex watches that have secured the status of a true legend.

The founding of Rolex and the role of Hans Wilsdorf

One thing is certain: Without the innovative spirit, ambition and foresight of founder Hans Wilsdorf, the success story of Montres Rolex SA could not have been written in this way. There are numerous myths surrounding Hans Wilsdorf and the founding of Rolex, some of which relate to the naming process. How did Wilsdorf come up with the idea of ​​naming his own brand Rolex? There is no definitive answer to this question yet. The company remains vague and simply states that Wilsdorf experimented with combining various letters and decided on Rolex based on a spontaneous inspiration.

What is undoubtedly proven, however, is that Hans Wilsdorf had the name of the brand written prominently on every watch from the very beginning. Unlike today, it was not yet very common at that time to display brand names on dials and cases. In this way, Wilsdorf certainly increased the recognition value of his watches and ensured that one glance was enough to recognize whether a watch was from Rolex.

Another business decision by Hans Wilsdorf that influenced the development of the Rolex company was the purchase of the watch brand Tudor in 1936. Wilsdorf acquired the company from the producer Philippe Hüther and made Tudor known as the sister brand of Rolex. Tudor still holds its own successfully on the market today and takes the place of the affordable alternative to Rolex.

In 1945 - around 15 years before his death - the Rolex founder finally established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, to which all assets and property rights were later transferred. We will look at the importance of the foundation for the Rolex brand in more detail later in this article.

The current Rolex corporate structure

The days when Hans Wilsdorf was in charge of the Rolex company are long gone and many a watch fan is wondering what the watch giant's corporate structure looks like now. Or to put it another way: Who actually owns Rolex? After all, Wilsdorf died childless, so no direct descendants could be named as heirs. Ostensibly, the company has belonged to the foundation mentioned above since Hans Wilsdorf's death. The profits generated with the brand flow into the foundation and are managed from there.

In accordance with Wilsdorf's wishes, the foundation's primary goal is to ensure the continued existence and development of the Rolex brand. In addition, Wilsdorf decreed that the successes of Rolex SA should also benefit the canton of Geneva through the foundation. But before we delve deeper into the tasks and impact of the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, let's turn to the people who run the company, which brings us to Jean-Frédéric Dufour. Dufour was appointed CEO of Rolex SA in 2015, after previously working for Chopard and Zenith , among others.

As the successor to Gian Riccardo Marini, who headed Rolex from 2011, Dufour is to end an era of rapid changes in the company's senior ranks. Before Marini, who only served as CEO of Rolex for four years, Bruno Meier led the company - for around three years. This rapid succession of appointments and replacements of the management was rather surprising and did not seem to fit with the core brand of Rolex SA. After all, Patrick Heiniger, perhaps the best-known Rolex CEO after Wilsdorf, held the post for a full 16 years until he retired in 2008.

With Jean-Frédéric Dufour, who rarely appears in public, things seem to have calmed down. The current man at the head of Rolex is not the first to be noticeably reserved and barely present in the media. On the contrary: the quiet, level-headed management style is typical of the Geneva-based company.

Rolex as an independent family business

Unlike many other brands of a similar size, Rolex retains the character of an independent family business rather than being fully committed to "shareholder value". Just as founder Hans Wilsdorf intended, the foundation that oversees Rolex makes it possible to think long-term and give the highest priority to the sustainable, stable development of the brand.

It is not the stock market or shareholders that determine where the Rolex company goes, but ultimately the foundation. A circumstance that certainly contributes to the company's ongoing success. After all, Rolex could hardly be more well-known and popular worldwide than the brand currently is - and has been for many decades. The recipe for success devised by Wilsdorf therefore seems to be working perfectly.

In Switzerland, Rolex is also known for its generosity and investments in the welfare of the community. As already described, Hans Wilsdorf was keen that the foundation be active beyond the purely business interests of Rolex SA and that the canton of Geneva also benefit from the company's profits. The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation remains true to this approach and supports charitable projects in the Geneva area.

Would you like a few examples? In 2017, the Foundation supported the construction of a campus for the School of Art and Design (HEAD) with a sum of around 100 million francs. Two years later, the Foundation invested several million in saving a cinema in Geneva and in 2020 it contributed 50% to the financing of the Geneva State Archives. In this way and similar ways, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation now supports various small and sometimes considerably large projects every year. This commitment is just one of the reasons why the name Wilsdorf will probably never be forgotten and will always be associated with much more than "just" luxury watches.

The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation and its influence on Rolex

The foundation is able to support charitable projects with such large sums of money thanks to the considerable profits that Rolex generates each year. Rolex SA is by far the foundation's most valuable asset, even though the Geneva-based brand itself does not publish official figures. Here, the manufacturer presents the public with a small puzzle: how high the profit is, how many watches leave the factory each year, or what the company's turnover is - these are all topics that Rolex tends to keep quiet about.

However, given how well-known and popular Rolex watches are around the world, there is no doubt that the Swiss company with the big name is of inestimable value. Value that the foundation has always had in a way that does not exclude social commitment and business success.

What is known about the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation is that it is governed by an eight-man board of trustees, chaired by the lawyer Costin van Berchem from Geneva. The members include people from the Wilsdorf family as well as members of other well-known Geneva families and respected politicians.

Since the Rolex company belongs to the Foundation, the Foundation and the company are inextricably linked and work together "by nature". The Foundation keeps its hand over the watch manufacturer, while the profits from the sale of luxury watches give the Foundation the opportunity to invest in the future of the brand and in social projects in and around Geneva.

Rolex and the Swiss watch industry

Nowadays, it is hardly possible to talk about the Swiss watch industry without the name Rolex coming up almost immediately. Rolex watches are quite simply the flagship of the watch industry on Swiss soil and continue to stand out from the multitude of successful watch manufacturers based in Switzerland. Connoisseurs from all over the world largely agree: when it comes to the quality, precision and sophistication of the calibres, hardly any watch comes close to an original Rolex. And that despite the fact that the competition is extremely strong. Among Swiss manufacturers alone, with numerous giants such as Patek Philippe , IWC , Omega , Tag Heuer , Jaeger-LeCoultre and Breguet, there is competition at an unrivalled high level.

The watch industry has a long tradition in Switzerland and generates around 4% of the gross domestic product every year. As the world's most famous export country for luxury watches, Switzerland is known throughout the world for its well-known brands and the stable-value watches that are delivered from Biel, Geneva and Co. to the most renowned jewelry stores around the world. The Swiss watch industry owes this fame not exclusively, but certainly to a large extent, to the Rolex brand.

Rolex and its brand philosophy

As already explained in more detail, innovations and historic events have played a major role in the development and history of the Swiss luxury brand Rolex. Closely linked to this are the brand ambassadors, who are an integral part of the company's marketing strategy. Of course, the faces have changed over the years, but the principle remains the same: Rolex relies on inspiring, well-known personalities from sports, entertainment, art and culture, wins them over and thus successfully draws the attention of broad target groups to the glamorous watches.

Of course, marketing is only a small part of what makes the Swiss-based watch manufacturer so successful. After Rolex was founded as a new, completely unknown watch brand, it was the courage to innovate that brought the company attention and prestige. Hans Wilsdorf was more than willing to leave the beaten track and took risks that ultimately made his own brand big.

Rolex has always placed quality above all else. The movements of the wristwatches set standards and reliably exceed the expectations that watch lovers have of a high-quality mechanical watch. With sophisticated movements and breathtaking complications, a Rolex watch convinces even the harshest critics.

It is also well known that anyone who buys a Rolex is buying pure quality and luxury. The Swiss manufacturer's watches are a status symbol, investment , technical masterpiece and chic accessory all in one, and the foundation finances charitable projects in Geneva and the surrounding area. A combination of luxury and social commitment that Wilsdorf could hardly have dreamed of when he founded the company in London.

The Future of Rolex: Tradition and Innovation

From London to Biel to Geneva, where Rolex is now based, the company has developed in a way that promises an immensely successful future. We can only speculate about what the manufacturer's plans for the near future will look like. Because, just as with profits and sales, Rolex is also cautious about shaping the future and is not publishing any clear indications.

Unless the company changes course completely and continues to focus on what has worked so well in the past, the secret to Rolex's success in the coming years will likely continue to be "tradition and innovation". The healthy mix of brand new ideas and traditional core values ​​at Rolex time and time again produces incredibly popular new wristwatches that leave no room for disappointment in terms of design, quality and functionality. So we can probably look forward to outstanding mechanical wristwatches in the future that have been created with know-how and attention to detail from the dial to the case to the movement - just as we know from Rolex.

Conclusion

The Rolex company, formerly based in London and now based in Geneva, has released numerous world-famous wristwatches over the decades and is one of the most successful watch manufacturers ever. A special feature of Rolex is that the company belongs to a foundation that is dedicated to social projects, among other things. The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, to which Rolex belongs, has been looking after the long-term success of the brand since the death of the brand's founder and supports charitable projects in and around Geneva.