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Rolex

Explore episode Mar 5, 2026
Technology
Rolex's Three Pillars: Precise, Waterproof, Self-Winding

Rolex · Mar 5, 2026 Technology

Three innovations — the chronometer-certified movement, the Oyster waterproof case, and the Perpetual self-winding rotor — together created the modern wristwatch. Each solved a real problem: accuracy, dust/humidity protection, and the fatal flaw of a screw-down crown that no one would bother re-tightening. Without all three working together, the product simply wouldn't have taken off.

8m 52s

Where this was said

World War I: Crisis and the Move to Switzerland

At 59:22 · chapter starts 54:18

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 — just three weeks after Rolex receives the first Class A precision certificate for a wristwatch from the Kew Royal Observatory — triggers world war. In Britain, anti-German hysteria makes the Wilsdorf name a liability (the Royal Family itself renames from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor). Britain also imposes a 33% watch import tariff and bans imports of gold and silver. Meanwhile, millions of soldiers across Europe discover the utility of wrist-worn watches. Wilsdorf responds by rebranding to Rolex in 1915, moving assembly to Bienne in 1916 to be near Aegler, and finally relocating the company HQ to Geneva in 1919.

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