Rolex Oyster

Rolex and its founder Hans Wilsdorf knew they had a world-beating watch in the new Oyster. They used their unique advantage for all it was worth. In one of the first marketing coups to come from it, Rolex asked Mercedes Gleitze—first woman to swim the English Channel—to wear an Oyster on a Channel swim. She did and Rolex followed up with a first page advertisement featuring a photo of Ms. Gleitze in the London Daily Mail, trumpeting its achievement:

“Rolex introduces for the first time the greatest triumph in Watch-making – ROLEX ‘OYSTER’ – The Wonder Watch That Defies The Elements. MOISTURE PROOF WATER PROOF HEAT PROOF VIBRATION PROOF COLD PROOF DUST PROOF--Miss Mercedes Gleitze carried an “Oyster” throughout her recent Channel Swim. More than ten hours of submersion under the most trying conditions failed to harm its perfect timekeeping. No moisture had penetrated and not the slightest corrosion or condensation was revealed in the subsequent examination of the Watch.” With this ad, Rolex pioneered the modern concept of sports celebrity marketing.

It was the Rolex Oyster and later Rolex Oyster Perpetual models that made the Rolex reputation for excellence. The Perpetual was the Oyster combined with an automatic winding mechanism that was wound by the wrist motion of the wearer. It was so famous that by the late 1940s Ernest Hemingway would immortalize it in his book, Across the River and Into the Trees when comparing the watch to the human heart: “It's just a muscle. Only it is the main muscle. It works as perfectly as a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. The trouble is you cannot send it to the Rolex representative when it goes wrong..."

The Oyster waterproof case was the basis for all of the subsequently successful models: The Datejust, the Explorer, the Submariner, GMT, Day-Date, etc. Today it lives on in the markings of the dials that read “Rolex Oyster Perpetual” followed by the model name. The modern Rolex Cellini dress watches are not Oysters, but the rest of the line is. This includes the overwhelming majority of watches sold by Rolex. Today’s standard Oyster model Rolex is guaranteed to be water resistant to 100 meters, a depth unimaginable in the 1920s. Diving model Oysters go even deeper. The standard Submariner is guaranteed to 300 meters, and the new Deepsea to a staggering 3900 meters.

A lot of other watch companies make pretty luxury watches, but nobody makes tough-as-nails mechanical watches that endure punishment and laugh at the elements like Rolex. That distinction is crucial, and Rolex owes much of its success to that unique market niche that the Oyster case helped define.