Think about any watch brand and its founder, and ask yourself, “Who was the person behind the brand, what was their occupation and where did they start the firm?” In pretty much every case the answers will be: they were a watchmaker and they founded the firm either in Geneva or the Vallée de Joux. And, if you think about it, it makes sense – who better to found and run a watch brand than a watchmaker, and what better place than the heart of the watchmaking world? So, why was Rolex founded in London, not Switzerland?
I think the simplest answer to that question is that Rolex was also founded not by a watchmaker but by a salesman. Because that’s what Hans Wilsdorf was – until the day he died, he listed his profession on legal documents as ‘merchant’, not ‘watchmaker’ or ‘CEO’.
The brands founded by Swiss watchmakers chose Switzerland as it was then, as now, the best place to make a watch. Wilsdorf picked London because, at the dawn of the 20th century, it was the best place in the world to SELL a watch.
It’s a logic that is often overlooked despite how simple it is. It reminds me of Willie Sutton who, from the 1920s to the 50s, robbed banks all over the US. When he was caught, he was asked why he kept on robbing banks. His answer has gone down in history: “Because that’s where the money is.”
And that was Wilsdorf’s reason for starting his firm in London in 1905; London wasn’t just the capital city of the UK, it was the capital city of the British Empire and the commercial capital of the world – it was where the money was.
Watchmakers focused on performance and accuracy, whilst Wilsdorf concentrated on usability and the commercial. He introduced the Oyster not because there was a demand for watches you could swim with, but because he knew that his clients in the far-flung reaches of the Empire lived in either humid or dusty environments and a waterproof watch was a very useful thing to have in both places.
The first Rolex Oyster Perpetual (1931)
Likewise, the Oyster Perpetual wasn’t invented because clients didn’t have the energy to wind a watch – it was introduced as a way of differentiating Rolex from everyone else. And, once you have a unique selling proposition to offer, it’s much easier to sell the product. And being at the centre of this network, in London, made that prospect easier as well.
Interestingly enough, Willie Sutton later denied having uttered the legendary line quoted above, asserting that the main reason he robbed all those banks was simply for the thrill of it. “To me,” he wrote in his memoirs, “the money was the chips, that’s all.”
