Hans Wilsdorf

Early life...

Hans Wilsdorf was born in Kulmbach, Germany, to Protestant parents, Anna and Johan Daniel Ferdinand Wilsdorf and was the second son of a family of three children.

Wilsdorf excelled in mathematics and languages, which inspired him to travel and work in foreign countries. Hans began his career as an apprentice with an influential international pearl exporting company. The experience Hans gained played a crucial role in of his future dealings.

n 1900 Wilsdorf began his career in Swiss watchmaking when he moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds to work as an English correspondent and clerk with the watch firm of Messrs. Cuno Korten, at the 49, rue Leoppold Robert, where he was paid a salary of 80 Swiss Francs. At the time, Cuno Korten exported around one million francs worth of pocket watches annually. Cuno Korten worked with all grades of watches, and manufactured a small number of watches from the ground up.

1908 - Founding Rolex

During the first decade of the 1900s pocket watches were ubiquitous, and wrist watches, referred to at the time as a "wristlet" were frowned upon. Hans Wilsdorf was an early believer in the potential of the wrist watch, and made it his mission in life to popularize them.

In 1902, during his stay at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Hans Wilsdorf heard of one Hermann Aegler, based in Bienne, Switzerland, who had begun producing 'ebauches', which are the rough movements for high-quality, small lever escapement watch movements.

In 1905, Wilsdorf traveled to Bienne, Switzerland and placed an order with Hermann Aegler, resulting in the largest order ever made for wristlet watches. This was the beginning of a long-standing partnership between Aegler and Rolex, until a century later when Rolex bought Aegler.