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ecause Rolex does not open its archives outside the company, the research for my book, recently published by Editions Alphil, relied on a range of documentary sources. These enabled me to understand certain aspects of this singular brand.
Europa Star’s digital archives largely contributed to making this book a reality. In a previous column (read it here), I demonstrated how the changing gender of Rolex watches could be documented through these archival records. Here I’ll be looking at a critical period – 1945-1970 – during which Rolex put the Oyster at the centre of its narrative.
In the years following World War II, there was very little to distinguish Rolex’s communication from that of other watch brands. Like every other major manufacturer, Rolex focused on developing and producing quality watches, and this was the message it conveyed.
As was typical of the industry at that time, Rolex centred its advertising on its watches and their specifications. The Oyster Perpetual was at the heart of this strategy. Advertisements explained in layman’s terms the functioning of the waterproof case and the automatic movement, emphasising that these were patented innovations. Rolex’s participation in sporting achievements such as the ascent of Everest further confirmed this reputation for excellence.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1942
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- Archives Europa Star, 1951
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- Archives Europa Star, 1942
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- Archives Europa Star, 1953
Results obtained in Neuchâtel, Geneva, Kew and Besançon observatory timing trials, together with rate certificates issued by official testing bodies (which in 1973 became the COSC), were further testament to the quality and precision of Rolex watches. This industry acknowledgement featured prominently in advertising during the first half of the 1950s. Hans Wilsdorf himself was the star of a 1951 advertisement which described at length his role as the “promotor” of industrial wristwatch and chronometer production.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1951
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- Archives Europa Star, 1953
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- Archives Europa Star, 1955
In 1947 Rolex enlisted the services of the London subsidiary of the J. Walter Thompson (JWT) advertising agency. This would be a turning-point in the brand’s communication which, from its focus on product excellence, soon adopted a new format.
In 1952 JWT proposed an aesthetic and narrative framework for advertisements that could be adapted to various target countries and audiences. Rolex users from vastly different walks of life, from an Italian professor and amateur diver to a Swiss customer travelling through the Amazon jungle and a former RAF pilot, testify to the durability of their Rolex watch. Each of these “case histories” tells a unique story but conveys the same values in an identifiable format.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1952
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- Archives Europa Star, 1952
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- Archives Europa Star, 1952
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- Archives Europa Star, 1952
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- Archives Europa Star, 1955
Come the mid-1950s, JWT added a new dimension to Rolex’s communication that was designed to distinguish the brand from its competitors and establish a Rolex watch as the marker of personal success. Adverts no longer capitalised on the watches themselves but the powerful men who wore them, through the same use of case histories.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1957
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- Archives Europa Star, 1959
Times change and 1960s society no longer looked up to world leaders and the military. Sportsmen, adventurers and entrepreneurs were the new heroes and JWT repositioned the narrative of Rolex advertising to fit this mindset. The launch in 1976 of The Rolex Award for Enterprise (still in existence) is one expression of this new direction.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1978
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- Archives Europa Star, 1978
As well as documenting the evolution of Rolex’s communication, Europa Star’s archives illustrate the brand’s expanding retail network. Post-World War II advertisements show that Rolex sold its watches through independent agents in countries from South America to Asia.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1946
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- Archives Europa Star, 1951
After Hans Wilsdorf sent Export Manager Walter Luthy to open an office in New York, sales in the United States rapidly expanded. The US would be a key market for Rolex as of the 1960s.
In the following decade, during a period of crisis for the Swiss watch industry, Rolex became the biggest watch brand in the world, thanks to the American market. Managers were recruited and the brand purchased a building on Fifth Avenue.
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- Archives Europa Star, 1953
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- Archives Europa Star, 1975
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- Archives Europa Star, 1977
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LA FABRIQUE DE L’EXCELLENCE: HISTOIRE DE ROLEX, NEUCHÂTEL: ALPHIL, 2024
