Is Rolex a Swiss Company? Here’s the Answer!

Is Rolex a Swiss Company? Here’s the Answer!

Are you wondering whether Rolex is a Swiss company? As you may know, most luxury watch brands are based in Switzerland. This doesn’t come as a surprise as Switzerland is considered to be the capital of watchmaking and is home to a great history and expertise in watchmaking. 

The short answer is yes, Rolex is a Swiss company. But the fact is that it hasn’t always been. Rolex actually started out as a British company.

Today, Rolex is a 100% privately owned Swiss company based in Geneva, Switzerland. The company name is Rolex SA and is owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. This foundation is registered as a charity and does therefore not pay any corporate income taxes. Hans Wilsdorf – the founder of Rolex, set up the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation upon the death of his wife in 1944. This is a private trust to which Hans Wilsdorf left all of his Rolex shares in order to ensure that some of the company’s profits would go to charity. Since Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, the foundation is owned and managed by Rolex S.A.

Let’s have a look at the history that led up to Rolex becoming a Swiss company.

Rolex history and background

The story of Rolex begins when Alfred Davis and his brother-in-law Hans Wilsdorf started a company named Wilsdorf and Davis in London, England 1905. This is what would eventually become Rolex. The main focus for the Wilsdorf and Davis company at the time was to import Hermann Aegler’s Swiss movements to England and place them in watch cases. Hans Wilsdorf was a firm believer in the fact that the wristwatches – which were not very popular at the time, partially due to their poor accuracy – would take over the market and almost completely replace the pocket watches.

Wilsdorf and Davis sold these early wristwatches to jewelers who, in turn, put their own names on the dials. The company changed its name to Rolex Watch Co. Ltd in November 1915 – still based in England. But in post-war England, in 1919, the country imposed a 30% import tax on luxury items which made it unsustainable for Rolex to stay in England. And what is more appropriate for a relocation than the capital of watchmaking, Switzerland from which they already sourced their movements?

Before this, Hans Wilsdorf had already opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

Rolex moved the company to Geneva, Switzerland in 1919, and in 1920, the company name was changed to Montres Rolex S.A. It was later changed to Rolex S.A., which is the name that Rolex still has to this day.

So to conclude the answer to this question, yes, Rolex is a 100% Swiss company today. The shares of Rolex are owned and managed by the Hans Wilsdorf foundation, which is a Swiss foundation. But the Rolex company actually started out as a British company.