A German national, Hans Wilsdorf started Rolex in 1908. Wilsdorf was not along when he founded the company. His brother in law, Davis, was also involved with the company. The company carried both the founder’s name in its original name, Wilsdorf and Davis.
When Wilsdorf started the company, the technology was not advanced to the highest level. The Swiss watchmakers were mainly focusing on pocket watches as they were not confident that they would successfully manage the watch technology at a smaller scale. This restricted the accuracy for wrist watches. However, Hans Wilsdrof was a perfectionist. He had only one thing on his mind and that was to make accurate movements possible within smaller watches that can possibly fir the wrist watch. His ambition led him to unprecedented success within no time as he started manufacturing watches that were accurate and the movement of the hands was perfect.
Hans Wilsdrof started manufacturing watches for sporty, casual and formal wearing. The company started getting more success as Wildrof planned big things ahead of time. He actually pursued most of them in his life time.
Wilsdrof knew that he had to strive for accuracy as well as reliability. After he received Chronometer rating in 1910, he started focusing more on reliability because he had already achieved accuracy. The chronometer rating was a proof of that accomplishment.
Rolex received lot of attention when it first launched a water resistant watch. People were skeptical about the water resistant ability of a watch at that time. In fact, with the technology available during those times and its use in watch making industry, it was justified to have a skeptical attitude towards first water resistant watch.
However, the clever marketing campaign soon created huge brand following and brand awareness for Rolex. People could see aquariums displayed at the glass window of the shop where Rolex water resistant watch was resting. People could see these watches working even after remaining there in the aquarium for days. This was enough to convince them. Rolex never looked back from there and continued setting the standards for the watch making industry. These days, some of the leading watch makers follow the standards that Rolex once set.