So it was that Hans Wilsdorf, at an age of 19, started work as an English correspondent and clerk with the firm of Messrs. Cuno Korten in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. His friend earlier comment had been no idle boast, as this firm was a very large exporter of watches with a turnover of nearly Frs1m a year. It was in this position that Mr Wilsdorf interest in watches was undoubtedly sparked. As he commented,

‘it provided an excellent opportunity to study the watch making industry closely
and examine every type of watch produced both in Switzerland and abroad’

By 1903 Mr Wilsdorf had settled in London working for another watch making firm. After gaining experience from this and his previous employment and growing in self confidence he set about to established his own firm. With financial help from his brother-in-law, Alfred Davis, the company known as ‘Wilsdorf and Davis’ was foundered
.
The firm did not initially produce wristwatches because wristwatches were not thought masculine by the public and also the technical difficulties that many watch makers believed existed in trying to make this type of timepiece. Such problems as the difficulty of producing a movement small enough to be housed in a case to be worn on the wrist and the likely hood of moisture and dust entering this case and thereby ruining movement were cited. However, unlike other producers of wristwatches, this was not to deter Mr Wilsdorf.

The first stumbling block was surmounted with the acquaintance of Hermann Aegler. While working in La Chaux-de-Fonds Mr Wilsdorf had come to hear of this gentlemen and his ability to produce rough movements that would be small and cheap enough to be used in the production of wristwatches. In 1905, Mr Wilsdorf, full of conviction of the possibilities of the wrist watch, placed an order worth several hundred thousand French Francs for these movements, an order which at this time was the largest ever booked.

On the 22nd of March 1881, Mr Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of the Rolex Watch Company, was born.

Sadly orphaned by the age of 12, he continued on with a full education at a leading boarding school in Switzerland and after leaving secured his first job as an apprentice in a large firm of pearl importers. However, it was due to friendship, struck while at school, that would see Mr Wilsdorf enter the world of watches. His friend turned to him one day and said,

‘When we’re finished with all this school business, you’d better come and join us. We export watches all over the world’

The second difficulty in producing this type of watch, a case impenetrable to moisture and dust, was not to be achieved for another twenty years. But, in the meantime, one of the major events in Rolex history occurred.

Although the firm was very successful being known as Wilsdorf and Davis, Mr Wilsdorf sort to establish a trade name that would identify the company and the products that it made.

Therefore, on 2nd July 1908 the now famous name of ‘Rolex’ was coined. There are many speculations as to the precise meaning of this name, to which I will not add, but what is known is that this name was chosen for very sound reasons. Mr Wilsdorf wanted a name that was,

‘short, yet significant, not cumbersome on the dial (thus leaving room enough for the inscription of the English traders name) and above all a word easy enough to memorise, with a pleasant sound and have its pronunciation unchanged whatever European language it is spoken’