Rolex's story begins in 1905 in London. Hans Wilsdorf, then just 24 years old, founded "Wilsdorf & Davis" with his brother-in-law Alfred Davis. At the time, wristwatches were uncommon among men; pocket watches were the standard. Wilsdorf's vision was simple but radical: make a wristwatch that was precise, durable, and elegant.
In 1908, Wilsdorf chose the name "Rolex": short, memorable, and pronounceable in every language. By 1910, Rolex became the first wristwatch to receive a Swiss Chronometer Certificate from the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, proving that wristwatches could match the precision of pocket watches.
In 1919, Wilsdorf moved the company to Geneva, where it remains today. In 1926, Rolex introduced the Oyster, the world's first waterproof and dustproof wristwatch, made possible by a hermetically sealed case and screw-down crown. To prove the technology, Wilsdorf gave an Oyster to British swimmer Mercedes Gleitze for her "vindication swim" of the English Channel in October 1927 — a second crossing, undertaken to answer public doubt about the one she had already completed. The cold stopped her after ten hours and twenty-four minutes, but the watch, worn around her neck, came out of the water keeping perfect time, and Rolex announced it on the front page of the Daily Mail. In 1931, Rolex patented the first practical self-winding rotor, the "Perpetual" mechanism, which remains the foundation of almost every automatic watch today.
Over the following decades Rolex built its iconic catalogue: the Datejust (1945, the first self-winding chronometer wristwatch to display the date in a window on the dial), the Explorer (1953, for mountaineers) and the Submariner (1953, an early purpose-built dive watch waterproof to 100m), the GMT-Master (1955, for pilots), the Day-Date (1956, the "President"), and the Cosmograph Daytona (1963, for motorsport). Each was built for a specific profession; all became cultural icons.
Today Rolex is the most recognized luxury watch brand in the world. Despite producing roughly one million watches per year, waiting lists for popular references (Daytona, Submariner, GMT-Master II) stretch for years, which has made the pre-owned Rolex market one of the most liquid luxury-asset markets in the world. Bedesten Watches has sold authentic Rolex watches in Istanbul since 1999; Daytona, Submariner, GMT-Master II, Datejust, Day-Date and more are available in our collection.
