Rolex

Following the First World War, unfavorable British import duties on silver and gold prompted Wilsdorf to relocate the company to Geneva, where Montres Rolex SA was registered in 1920. The decisive technical breakthrough came in 1926 with the Oyster, the world's first hermetically sealed wristwatch case. To demonstrate its waterproofing, Wilsdorf arranged for Mercedes Gleitze to wear the watch during her English Channel swim in 1927, an early example of performance-linked marketing that would become central to the brand's identity. In 1931, Rolex introduced the Perpetual rotor, the first self-winding mechanism driven by the natural motion of the wearer's wrist, a principle that remains standard across the industry today.

The postwar decades saw Rolex develop the collections for which it is most recognized at auction. The Submariner appeared in 1953 as the first diver's watch water-resistant to 100 meters, and would go on to become one of the most replicated watch designs in history. The Datejust, introduced in 1945 to mark the company's fortieth anniversary, was the first self-winding wristwatch to display the date through a dial window. The Day-Date followed in 1956, available only in gold or platinum, and earned the informal name "President" after being presented to Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Cosmograph Daytona arrived in 1963, developed in response to demand from the motorsport world, and would eventually become the most sought-after Rolex reference on the secondary market.

The GMT-Master was created in 1955 at the request of Pan American World Airways, who needed a pilot's watch capable of displaying two time zones simultaneously. Its two-color bezel, differentiating day and night hours, became one of the most widely recognized design elements in watchmaking. In 1982, Rolex introduced the GMT-Master II, which allowed the local hour hand to be adjusted independently, making it more practical for transmeridian travel.

Since the death of Hans Wilsdorf in 1960, Rolex has been owned in its entirety by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private Geneva-based trust that channels profits toward charitable purposes. The company produces roughly 1.1 million watches per year and holds an estimated 32 percent share of the global luxury watch market by value. Rolex timepieces appear regularly at auction houses across Scandinavia, with vintage references from the 1950s through the 1980s commanding particular attention from Nordic collectors. The auction market reflects sustained demand across the full range of Rolex collections, from entry-level Oyster Perpetual references to rare, documented examples of the Daytona, Submariner, and GMT-Master.