I’ve been rereading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged over the past month. Her emphasis on self-esteem and achievement and earning one’s rewards resonate across the decades. Hans Wilsdorf, the entrepreneur and innovator behind the Rolex watch, was the kind of industrialist  who would have merited Miss Rand’s admiration.  
 
Born in Bavaria in 1881 - orphaned at twelve - he left school for Geneva, Switzerland and began working for a pearl merchant. It was Wilsdorf’s proficiency in the English language that eventually got him a job with a watch company where he was hired to handle the correspondence with Britain and America. However, it was the delicate intricacies of the watch movements that snagged his attention, fascinated him, and motivated him to open his own watch company. It was Wilsdorf’s acumen that recognized the trend in the shift from pocket to wrist watches; the eventual demand for quality, accuracy, convenience, resilience, and beauty which led to the development of the Rolex watch.
 
Rolex innovations include the first waterproof watch case; the first wristwatch with a date on the dial; the first watch to show two time zones at once; and the first watchmakers to earn chronometer certification for a wristwatch.

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Hans Wilsdorf prized his Rolex watch for its accuracy, its elegance, and its potential to add value to its owner’s life and goals. He considered his watches to be symbols of achievement, deliberately priced just out of reach of most middle-class consumers.  A symbol to be earned through hard work and ambition, a Rolex is a mark of luxurious distinction, to be worn with pride by its worthy owner.
 

Rolex Watches 

 A History of Achievement and Merit

Wilsdorf’s watch company was founded in 1905 and the waterproof Rolex Oyster was introduced in 1926. In 1944, Wilsdorf established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, endowing the Foundation with all of his Rolex shares, while stipulating that a large percentage of the company’s income would be channeled to philanthropy. At the time of his death in 1960, Hans Wilsdorf, and thus the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, owned all of Rolex.

1950's Rolex

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To this day, philanthropy is an intrinsic part of the Rolex culture and philosophy. The company is still owned by a private trust, and its shares are not traded on any stock exchange. The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation streams much of the profits generated by Rolex into a broad range of charitable efforts. The proceeds quietly fund children’s charities around the world and are earmarked for cutting edge entrepreneurial, scientific, and cultural endeavors, mainly via the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise are a prime example of how big corporations invest profit in people, who, in the usual course of events, wouldn’t normally have any connection with luxury watches and the fashion industry. The biennial series of awards were established in 1976 to foster a spirit of individual enterprise around the world.
 
The regular Rolex Awards provide generous support to five Full and five Associate Laureates for new ventures or to complete ongoing projects that expand knowledge and improve human life. The accomplishments of the men and women who are nominated as Laureates and Associate Laureates benefit needy communities in the developing world.  

 Rolex Awards - A Philanthropic Passion

   The Rolex Awards recognize outstanding achievement and contributions of in five areas:

·       Cultural heritage
·       Environment and Earth’s physical surroundings
·       Exploration and discovery
·       Science and medicine
·       Technology and innovation.

In 2010, Rolex will launch the Young Laureates Programme, to foster innovation in the next generation for candidates who will be between the ages of 18 and 30 when they receive the Award. The original Rolex Awards for Enterprise is slated to continue in 2012, open to any eligible applicant of any age. The two variants of the Awards program complement each other and will alternate every two years. The former Laureates of the regular Awards will also mentor the Young Laureates, who, in turn, are expected to pass on their knowledge to other young people.

The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative is yet another international Rolex project. The goal of the Arts Initiative is to bring together extraordinarily talented emerging artists and superlative masters for a year of creative, one-to-one mentoring in Dance, Literature, Film, Music, Visual Arts and Theatre. The mentors include such acknowledged artists as Wole Solyinka, Toni Morrison, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, Pinchas Zuckerman, Youssou N’Dour, Jessye Norman and David Hockney.
      

Hans Wildorf’s passion for beautiful accuracy, his drive to make the world a better place and honor achievement are reflected in his Rolex watches, and his philanthropic legacy – A legacy that benefits innovators, recipients and their communities directly and indirectly – A tribute to achievement, competence and man’s love of life.