Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres Tudor SA design, manufacture, distribute and service wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands. Founded by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, England in 1905 as Wilsdorf and Davis, Rolex moved its base of operations to Geneva, Switzerland in 1919.
Standing the test of time, Montres Rolex makes watches recognized worldwide as accurate, durable, expensive, and often-imitated. Founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1905, the Swiss company is credited with making the wristwatch popular. Rolex -- the first to create a waterproof, airtight, and dustproof watch -- makes men's and women's watches, stopwatches, pocket watches, and clocks. Brands include Explorer, Day-Date, Yacht-Master, GMT-Master II, Milgauss, Submariner, and others. Rolex gold, bronze, and stainless steel watches are available with diamonds or other precious stones. Secretive, it only sells its watches through authorized Rolex dealers. It was headed by finance-director-turned-CEO Bruno Meier until 2011.
The leading name in luxury watches, Rolex has been the pre-eminent symbol of performance and prestige for over a century. Rolex men’s and ladies’ watches combine style and elegance with precision and reliability.

Forbes ranked Rolex No.57 on its 2012 list of the world's most powerful global brands.[3] Rolex is the largest single luxury watch brand, producing about 2,000 watches per day,[1] with estimated 2012 revenues of approximately US$4.5billio
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Rolex watch models[edit]

Rolex Daytona stainless steel (ref. 116520)

Rolex Sea Dweller Deepsea with 3,900m depth rating (ref. 116660)

Rolex Yacht-Master

Rolex Daytona chronograph stainless steel, white dial (ref. 6263)
Rolex has three watch lines: Oyster Perpetual, Professional and Cellini (the Cellini line is Rolex's line of 'dressy' watches) and the primary bracelets for the Oyster line are named Jubilee, Oyster and President.
Modern models[edit]
The name of the watch lines in catalogs is often "Rolex Oyster Perpetual ______" or "Rolex ______"; Rolex Oyster and Oyster Perpetual are generic names and not specific product lines, except for the 36mm Oyster Perpetual model, which goes by no other name and is a model unto itself. The Air-King is the least-expensive member of the Oyster Perpetual family and is meant for understated elegance and simplicity. The Date is related to the Air-King but adds a date display.[23] Certain models from the Date and Datejust are almost identical, however the Datejust has a 36 mm case and a 20 mm bracelet compared to the Date's 34 mm case and 19 mm bracelet. modern versions of the Oyster Perpetual Date and Datejust models share Rolex's 3135 movement, with the most recent change to the 3135 movement being the introduction of Rolex's "parachrom bleu" hairspring, which provides increased accuracy. As the Date and Datejust share a movement, both have the ability to adjust the date forward one day at a time without adjusting the time; this feature is not confined to the Datejust. The Datejust is available in a wider range of metals and has a greater range of dials available. * Air-King * Air-King-Date available for 1988 * Date * Oyster Perpetual[24] * Datejust * Datejust II * Datejust Turn-O-Graph * Lady Datejust Pearlmaster * Daytona * Paul Newman Daytona * Day-Date * Day-Date II * Day-Date Oyster Perpetual * Explorer * Explorer II * GMT Master II * Masterpiece * Milgauss * Oysterquartz * Sea Dweller * Sea Dweller DeepSea * Sky-Dweller * Submariner * Turn-O-Graph * Yacht-Master * Yacht-Master II
Cellini models[edit] * Quartz Ladies * Quartz Mens * Cellinium * Cestello Ladies * Cestello Mens * Danaos Mensuj * Prince
Pricing[edit]
Rolex watches vary in price according to the model and the materials used. In the UK, the retail price for the highly sought-after stainless steel 'Pilots' range (such as the GMT Master II) starts from GBP £5,250. Diamond inlay watches go for considerably more. The book "Vintage Wristwatches" byAntiques Roadshow's Reyne Haines listed a price estimate of Rolex watches that ranged between $650 and $75,000, while listing Tudors between $250 and $9,000.[25] The most expensive Rolex ever produced by the Rolex factory was the GMT Ice reference 116769TBR with a retail price of $485,350.00. A Forbes Magazine article on the Swiss watch industry compared the retail value of Rolexes to that of competing brands Corum, Universal Genève andIWC.[26]
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Significant events[edit]
Rolex is the official time keeper of Wimbledon and the Australian Open tennis grand slams, as well as two of the four majors in golf: the Open Championship and the U.S. Open. They are also the title sponsor to the 24 Hours of Daytona, from which the Daytona model takes its name, along with the Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2013, Rolex became the official timekeeper to the FIA Formula 1 motor racing championship. Rolex has also been the official timekeeper to the Le Mans 24 Hours motor race since 2001.[27]
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh had a specially designed experimental Rolex Oyster Perpetual Deep-Sea Special strapped to the outside of their bathyscaphe during the 1960 Challenger Deep / Mariana Trench dive to a world-record depth of 10,916 metres (35,814 ft). When James Cameron conducted a similar dive in 2012, a specially designed and manufactured Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller Deep Sea Challenge watch was being "worn" by his submarine's robotic arm.[28]
Tenzing Norgay and other members of the Hillary expedition wore Rolex Oysters in 1953 at altitude 8,848 m on Mount Everest while there are attestations and speculation that Sir Edmund Hillaryeither carried a Smiths Deluxe or a Rolex to the summit, or both.[29]
Mercedes Gleitze was the first British woman to swim the English Channel on 7 October 1927. But, as John E. Brozek (author of The Rolex Report: An Unauthorized Reference Book for the Rolex Enthusiast) points out in his article "The Vindication Swim, Mercedes Gleitze and Rolex take the plunge", some doubts were cast on her achievement when a hoaxer claimed to have made a faster swim only four days later. To silence her critics, Mercedes Gleitze attempted a repeat swim on 21 October in the full glare of publicity, thus touted the "Vindication Swim". Hans Wilsdorf knew a good marketing opportunity when he saw one and offered her one of the earliest Rolex Oysters if she would wear it during the attempt. After more than 10 hours, in water that was much colder than during her first swim, she was pulled from the sea semi-conscious seven miles short of her goal. It was during this swim that she wore the Rolex watch, contrary to popular opinion. Although she did not complete the second crossing, a journalist for The Times wrote "Having regard to the general conditions, the endurance of Miss Gleitze surprised the doctors, journalists and experts who were present, for it seemed unlikely that she would be able to withstand the cold for so long. It was a good performance". This silenced the doubters and Mercedes Gleitze was hailed as a heroine. As she sat in the boat, the same journalist made a discovery and reported it as follows: "Hanging round her neck by a ribbon on this swim, Miss Gleitze carried a small gold watch, which was found this evening to have kept good time throughout". When examined closely, the watch was found to be in perfect condition, dry inside and ticking away as if nothing had happened. One month later, on 24 November 1927, Wilsdorf launched the Rolex Oyster watch in the United Kingdom as the focal point of a full front page Rolex advert in the Daily Mail and the Rolex Oyster began its rise to fame. The Vienna Herald described the 1969 Apollo moon landing as: 'an event almost as significant as the time a woman swam most of the English Channel with a waterproof watch on."'[30]