One of the most esteemed brands in luxury timepieces is Rolex. If you own a Rolex watch and are in need of some quick cash, you may be in luck. Rolex watches are not only an ideal item to use as collateral for a pawn loan, but they are also one of the most common items sought out in pawn shops for purchase. To understand more about why this brand has such a prestige surrounding it, you need to start at the roots of the brand’s history.
The History of Rolex Watch Company
The idea for the Rolex brand was founded by brothers-in-law Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in 1905. Hans and Alfred were owners of their own timepiece shop in London, England, where they sold quality imports from Switzerland. Hans wanted to reach beyond the current market offerings and develop a wristwatch that provided both esteemed elegance and unparalleled reliability. The name of this prestigious watch was registered as Rolex in 1915.
Inarguably, the largest factor that catapulted the Rolex brand name into households was its consistency in performance, which was not a coincidence. The development of the first Rolex watch was and continues to be focused on chronometric precision; in simple terms, precision in the time keeping mechanics of each watch. Rolex was the first brand to earn a chronometer certification for a wristwatch and continues to manufacture more certified chronometric wristwatches than any of its competitors each year.
In 1920, 5 years after the Rolex brand was registered and began its journey as an industry leader, they pushed the wristwatch industry farther yet by developing the first waterproof wristwatch. The watch could last 10 hours in the water without any affect to the integrity of the mechanics; the watch would be known as the Oyster. In 1953, Rolex would develop its first diving watch, The Submariner, capable of depths up to 100 meters. The Submariner is still one of the most popular watches amongst divers.
Other industry leading innovations by Rolex include the first self-winding watch in 1928, the first wristwatch with an automatic changing date (1945), and first wristwatch to show two time zones at once (1954). Since 1905, Rolex has been on the cutting edge of wristwatch innovation and continues to be the largest luxury wristwatch brand in the world. With this track record for innovation and precision, it is not hard to understand why this brand holds its value so well in a resale or pawn loan settings.