In 1905, Hans Wilsdorf establishes a watchmaking firm in London. Three years later, in 1908, Hans comes up with the name Rolex for his watches. In 1926, the Oyster was created, the world’s first waterproof case. A year later, English swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swims across the English Channel wearing the Oyster Rolex watch. In 1931, the Perpetual Rotor came about, which is the first automatic winding mechanism. In 1945, the Oyster Perpetual Datejust was created, a watch that displayed the date as well as the time. In 1953, the Oyster Perpetual Submariner was created, a water resistant watch that can go to depths as low as 100 meters. Two years later, the Oyster Perpetual GMT Master was created, which told time in two different time zones. In 1963, Andre J. Heiniger takes control of the business and remains a crucial element in the Rolex industry for the next thirty years. A building is opened on Fifth Avenue in New York in 1977. Two years later, in 1979, Rolex became the timekeeper for Wimbledon. In 1992, Patrick Heiniger becomes the CEO for Rolex. In 1995, the new headquarters was established in Par Monceau, Paris. Among its collections are the Oyster, the Oyster Professional, Cellini, all of which have several different types of models. The Oyster Perpetual has Air-King, Perpetual, Date, Datejust, Datejust Turn-O-Graph, Day-Date, Lady-Datejust, Lady-Datejust Pearmaster. The Oyster Professional includes the Explorer, GMT-Master II, the Submariner, Submariner Date, Sea-Dweller 4000, Yacht-Master, and the Cosmograph Daytona. And finally, the Cellini collection includes Cellinium, Quartz, Cellissima, Classic, Danaos, Cestello, and Orchid.
