Talking about Rolex

Millions of watches sell well, Rolex or Rolex. Although some people like it and some people hate it, from the market level, Rolex is undoubtedly the ceiling of luxury watches.

But it is precisely because Rolex has a particularly wide audience that there are always some controversies and pursuits around it, such as marketing strategies, such as "brain powder", such as technical style or style. With these controversies and pursuits, many interesting and cold knowledge about Rolex has been forgotten. In fact, there are many anecdotes behind Rolex's glamorous image and numerous controversies, which are worth mentioning alone.

Everyone knows that Rolex is a Swiss watch. And each Rolex is engraved with a line at six o'clock, "Made in Switzerland" (made in Switzerland). But few people know how Rolex got to Switzerland except die-hard cousins.

Yes, Rolex is not in Switzerland. Not only is it not here, but it also doesn't want to go to Switzerland.

Hans Wilsdorf, the most important founder of Rolex, was born in Kurmbach, Bavaria. Wilsdorf may not be an outstanding watchmaker, but he is a watchmaker with a unique vision. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he saw Britain, which made its fortune by colonization, where many markets were holding a lot of pounds to add a little interest to life; At the same time, he also saw the technical turning point of watch popularization, and watches began to go out of women's jewelry boxes, challenging the traditional position of pocket watches in mainstream applications. In this context, Wilsdorf founded Rolex in Britain-even the name Rolex, according to his own statement, was invented by him while traveling by car in Britain one day.

Rolex, which has just changed from agent to production, is mainly imported from aigler, Switzerland, assembled in the UK and put on the market. The business was successful, and Wilsdorf had no intention of moving-he was an "English fan" himself, and going back to Germany or Switzerland was not considered. However, something unexpected happened. World War I broke out. Wilsdorf, who was German.

As an "overseas Chinese in the enemy country", Wilsdorf was not only closely watched during the war, but also restless after the war. After World War I, British officials not only continued to vilify Germans, but also imposed extremely harsh tax regulations on German expatriates and companies in Britain. If you stay in Britain, you can't do business without being angry.

So, in 19 19, Wilsdorf moved the company to Geneva, Switzerland, which later became known as "Swiss Rolex".

Now speaking of Rolex, it may be one of the manufacturers with the highest proportion of assets and parts in the field of mechanical watches. Regardless of the movement, even the gold used in watches is extracted by themselves.

However, the original Rolex was simply imported and assembled. The Swiss Eigler movement was imported to Britain, and then it was preserved together with the watch case and other parts made by manufacturers such as Denison. But over time, due to the pursuit of word-of-mouth and supply chain control, Rolex gradually integrated the manufacturing of most parts into its own door. Some have established their own production lines, while others have acquired them.

In the acquisition, the most crucial link was that in 2004, Rolex acquired Aigler, who had made the movement for them for many years. Speaking of it, aigler is actually a much older manufacturer than Rolex. 189 1 When Jean aigler, the founder of aigler, died young, Rolex co-founder Wilsdorf 10 was a child. But sometimes, it's better to come early than to come opportunely-this point is most clear to those old factories that have been pressing Rolex all the year round but were eventually killed.

Are there any parts made by third parties on Rolex watches now? According to common sense, there should be. In fact, even top watchmakers do not specialize in making small parts such as clockwork and hands, so although Rolex hands may still be made by a third party, this does not prevent Rolex from becoming one of the manufacturers of mechanical watches with the highest self-produced rate of parts.

Before the crisis, Rolex's image was unstable. At that time, Rolex wanted to win the first place in everything in technology, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was a geek brand. Even at the beginning of the crisis, Rolex made its own quartz watch.

However, in many cases, Rolex's bold attempts at new technologies are not "first" but "first use"-some technological innovations appeared before Rolex's application, but Rolex won the first place by mass-producing and practical them first.

For example, the concept of "watch" itself, until the end of the nineteenth century, watches were used by women to play, and they should be worn in practical occasions. At this time, the watch movement often adopts "cylindrical escapement", which is far less accurate and durable than the lever escapement used so far. Why didn't the watch at that time use a lever? Because the lever escapement was too big at that time.

But by the beginning of the 20th century, in fact, there were manufacturers who could make small-sized lever escapement movements, and Eigler was one of them. Rolex seized this opportunity and became one of the earliest entrants in the modern watch industry.

Another example is the diving watch that Rolex is proud of. Rolex's "Oyster" is not the first diving watch, but there are many schemes to make the watch withstand underwater environment. It is not the first diving watch produced on a large scale. 1927 The consumption pattern of crossing the English Channel with female athlete Mercedes gliese is still in the prototype and customized production stage. The first 100-meter diving watch produced industrially was Omega 1930 Ocean.

However, Rolex is a coincidence. The scheme of oyster shell+screw crown is extremely simple, and it has achieved an excellent balance between ease of use and reliability. Rolex's diving watches (water ghosts, sea messengers, etc.). ) until today, it is still their fist product.

Another very clever example is the self-winding movement. Before the appearance of "automatic oyster", people have been exploring the self-winding movement for decades and produced many schemes. Among them, the Harewood movement of 1923 already has most features of the automatic winding movement of later generations, except for two points: the 360-degree rotating pendulum is compatible with manual winding (the Harewood movement can't twist the crown, only shake it ...).

What Rolex has done is precisely to improve these two key inconveniences. Since then, 360 swing and compatibility with manual winding have become the standard of automatic winding mechanical watches.

Of course, how Rolex became a company that now holds advanced technology to manufacture conservative products is another story.

Rolex can withstand the pressure of established manufacturers, survive the crisis, and stand at the peak of the luxury watch market, with many advantages behind it. But their real advantage is not that Swedes or Germans are obsessed with excellent stereotypes.

Whether Rolex can achieve what it is now, the most important thing is accurate vision. If we just blindly pursue quality or technology, we will either fail to survive the timely crisis in the 1970s or become the top brand in a very small market. And if you only know flexibility and can't find the right direction, you will become Longines or Omega and fall off the altar.

In the final analysis, the reason why Rolex is so awesome is not the belief of "once and for all" of fans, nor a product or a strategy, but the brilliant brains in that building in the Swiss mountains.