Rolex history for you to discover: 100 years ago, in 1914, the Kew Observatory in Great Britain granted a “Class A” certificate to a wristwatch for the very first time.

RolexThe achievement by a tiny Rolex watch marked the advent of the modern precision wristwatch. Get the full Rolex history on the  and see the brands major “Oyster” developments from 1926 – 2014. Until the 15^th July 1914 such a certification, which attested to the highest chronometric precision, had generally been awarded only to large marine chronometers after extremely rigorous tests. Rolex in fact was the first to prove that a wristwatch could be just as precise as a marine chronometer – something that was scarcely believable at the time.

Begin of the Rolex History

The first success already came in 1910 when Rolex succeeded in obtaining a chronometer certificate for a small watch from the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland.

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This proof of performance would contribute significantly to the rise of the wristwatch. On the strength of this success, Rolex would later then become the world’s largest manufacturer of chronometer-certified wristwatches. The Geneva based brand perfected the concept of the modern watch in 1926 by inventing the waterproof Oyster case to protect the precious movement and then, in 1931, by developing the self-winding Perpetual rotor movement. Today, all Rolex Oyster models are officially certified chronometers, the heritage of the pioneering role played by the Rolex history in bringing precision to the wristwatch.

A feat of miniaturized precision by obtaining the very first “Class A” rating certificate for a wristwatch from the Kew Observatory near London, on 15 July 1914, Rolex accomplished an exploit that would forever change the destiny of the modern watch.

45 days of testing in 5 positions

This first chronometer wristwatch met with flying colours the British observatory’s demanding criteria, the most stringent in the world: 45 days of tests, in five different positions and at three different temperatures (ice-cold, oven-hot and ambient). For the first time in history, a wristwatch fulfilled the requirements expected of the best marine chronometers. These navigation instruments, whose precision was used to determine the position of ships at sea (longitude), could not deviate by more than a few seconds per day without putting the safety of the ships at risk.

The tiny Rolex wristwatch certified by Kew 100 years ago recorded an average daily rate of only +1 second. This was the moment when the wristwatch gained legitimacy at Kew.

Hans Wilsdorf

The man behind this feat was the German (he was born and he grew up in Franconia in Germany) Hans Wilsdorf, who founded Rolex in 1905. By obtaining this first chronometer certificate from Kew, Wilsdorf demonstrated that, in terms of precision, a small wristwatch could rival the best of timepieces – including pocket watches, which were the norm at the time.

In those early days of the 20^th century, no one had yet managed to design a truly reliable and precise wristwatch. Wristwatches were not favoured at the time, as the small mechanism could not compete with the regularity and reliability of the larger pocket watch movements. However, since the beginning of his career, Hans Wilsdorf had been firmly convinced that the wristwatch would be future of the watchmaking industry. He devoted the energy of his youth to eliminating all the weak points of the wristwatch. The quest for precision was his first objective. Hans Wilsdorf, the visionary entrepreneur was firmly convinced that precision was essential to secure the acceptance and popularity of the wristwatch.

From a utopian dream to the chronometer wristwatch nearly two centuries after John Harrison designed the first marine chronometer, Rolex targeted equal precision for a wristwatch. Rolex is one of the historic leaders in timekeeping and a true pioneer in chronometer wristwatches; Rolex made certified precision its signature. By the early 1950s, Rolex had manufactured nearly 90 per cent of all chronometers officially certified in Switzerland since 1927 — the year specific criteria for wristwatches were introduced.

When, in 1951, the regulations changed and it became compulsory to obtain chronometer certification from an official body, Rolex went further and made sure its movements obtained certificates bearing the citation “particularly good results”. This distinction gave rise to the famous phrase still inscribed on Rolex dials today: “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified”. Since the creation of the COSC (Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute) in 1973, special citations are no longer given on the certificates. But the signature on Rolex dials remains as a reminder that since the early 20^th century, Rolex has played a central role in the development of the modern precision watch.

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Continue our Rolex history excursion let me now show the major Oyster developments from 1926 to 2014 on the next pages