View Source: Rolex

!!Overview
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Rolex is maybe one of the most renowned watch brands in the world. There is hardly a person who had never heard this name at least once.

Everybody knows that Rolex are considered to be among the best mechanical wrist [watches | Watches], though this makes them to quite expensive ones.

The brand has achieved all the fame due to the difficult way the executives have chosen in order to reach there heights of the watch-making world. The price of the innovations brought by the watchmakers from Rolex into the watch industry is very high as there were many new things invented.
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!!History of Rolex Watches
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[Upload:lavrov/51ad085336d58cc836881db3b896c3d4_tn.gif align=right hspace=5 vspace=5 pop=yes]Rolex is a rather young watch-making company in comparison with other famous companies, such as [Vacheron Constantin] (founded in 1755), [Audemars Piguet] (founded in 1875), [Patek Philippe] (founded in 1839), [TAG Heuer] (founded in 1860), Longines (founded in 1832) or [Omega] (founded in 1848).

The brand Rolex started its existence in 1908, whereas the company started producing watches in 1905 when the German Hans Wilsdorf founded the watch-making enterprise along with his brother. At those times it was still to difficult to create a watch mechanism small enough to fit a wrist watch, so Rolex manufactures pocket watches of highest quality, which enjoyed a great popularity among rich people.

However the company owner was not going to wait until other watchmakers would invade the market with the 'world's-first' watches. Thus innovations in the industry were chosen as the main direction of the company's activity and hence growth of the company.

As already mentioned, everybody knows what Rolex is, though not everyone knows that thanks to Rolex the watch market is that what it is. The first men's wristwatch was the invention of [Cartier], whereas Rolex was the first to receive a Swiss chronometer patent for a wrist watch.

After making Rolex wrist watches most reliable and precise in the world, Wilsdorf has picked another challenge for him and his technicians. His next accomplishment was making the watches waterproof. He achieved this by screwing down the case back and the crown. The name for these timepieces Wilsdorf picked up after trying to open an oyster at a party.

This happened in 1926. The same year _Mercedes Gleitze_ had the Rolex Oyster on her wrist while swimming over the English Channel.

The new *Rolex Oyster* watches were not really praised by the public, whereas Wilsdorf believed in their potential success. He advertised these timepieces in his shops by sinking them into aquariums.

In 1931 came another revolutionary invention from Wilsdorf - *_the rotor_*. The rotor was a part of the watches' mechanism, which used the natural gravity to automatically wind up the watch on the wearer's wrist. This was the first *_Rolex Perpetual_* movement.

The year 1945 brought the *Rolex Datejust* model - this was the first ever chronometer certified watch with an automatic date change. In 1953 appeared the *Submariner* - another world's first watch - it is the first watch with an automatic movement able to resist the water pressure on the depth of almost 330 feet (100 meters).

Such models of watches as *Daytona*, *Cellini* and others have also assisted various courageous people in their pioneering missions. For example the Perpetual movements watches have accompanied Sir Edmund Hilary in his ascent on the _Mount Everest_ and Jacques Piccard during the exploration of the ocean's depths. The *Rolex Oyster Perpetual* watch has even broken the sound barrier and has been in outer space. These facts are not to wonder as every single Rolex watch is subjected to a series of tests based on various criteria of evaluation.

Among the ambassadors of Rolex watches there are most famous and extraordinary people to be found. _Roger Federer_ was among the latest to join other tennis players as _Andy Roddick_, _Marat Safin_, _Justine Henin-Hardene_, _Patrick Rafter_ and other prominent people from various entertainment fields and sports.

Thanks to the fact that Hans Wilsdorf has left the company to the Wilsdorf foundation the brand *Rolex* was able to be independent and to withstand the buys and merges, which have taken place in this branch. Today Rolex is *_the largest single watch brand_* having a year's profit of about 3 billion US dollars with an annual production of between 650 and 800 thousands watches.
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!!Recent Collections
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Rolex has earned itself a great fame during almost a century of existence and flourishing on the expensive market of wrist watches. This was possible to the fact of _perpetual_ innovational streak of the watchmakers, designers and technicians.

The most important words to name when speaking about Rolex watches' collections are the _Submariner_, _Air-King_, _Oyster_, _Datejust_, Cellini, _Yachtmaster_ and of course the _GMT Master_. All these watches cannot be called actual collections, though there are many variations of these models combining different properties and qualities for different needs.

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!!External Links
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[Official Site | http://www.rolex.com]

[Rolex Today - Professional Yachting | http://www.watchex.net/index.php?page=articles&catid=7&id=12]
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!!Category
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CategoryBrandProfile
Most Popular Products
Rolex Daytona 116520 Watch for Men $10825 - $12950	Rolex Submariner 18K 16618 Wrist Watch for Men $14825 - $22700
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner Date Wrist Watch $4825 - $7225	Rolex Explorer II 16570 Wrist Watch $4949 - $4949
Rolex Datejust 18K Gold Watch for Women $15675 - $58519	Rolex Sea-Dweller 16600 Wrist Watch $5999 - $6114
Rolex Yacht-Master 169623 Wrist Watch $6709 - $6950	Rolex Daytona 116528 Wrist Watch for Men $23649 - $24969
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