The Real Story Of Mercedes Gleitze And The Rolex Oyster

There aren’t many stories about Rolex that haven’t already been told to death.

We know all about Mr Wilsdorf, his foundation and the incredible legacy he’s created. We know he was an orphan andthat a genie once whispered "Rolex" in his ear. When I worked at an authorised dealer, management taught us to always tell these stories he same way. It was essential to hit all the milestones from the founding in 1905, Hans moving the company to Switzerland in 1919 and of course, the release of the perpetual movement in 1931.

Along with it being boring after telling them over and over again, the problem was that these stories all came directly from the brand, and it felt as if details were intentionally left out.
The reasoning behind the move from London to Geneva is a great example. Yes, it was to be closer to the watchmakers, but you can’t tell me that the favourable corporate tax of Switzerland wasn’t a massive deciding factor. Imagine the billions of dollars saved over the last 100 or so years. Any mention of this in the marketing material? Absolutely not, and I get it.

There is one storytelling omission that I could never get past, however. As the story go’s, Rolex wanted to promote the launch of their newly released waterproof watch case, the Oyster, by putting it, well, underwater. To make it more exciting than filling up hans’s kitchen sink and throwing it in, they gave the watch to British swimmer Mercedes Gleitze to take with her as she swam across the English Channel. The problem is, she didn’t actually make it all the way across.

The First Waterproof Watch Case

Let’s get this straight, watch movements and the outside world don’t get along. Moisture and dust from the atmosphere can wreak havoc, causing corrosion, emulsification of oils and condensation — All enemies of accuracy and time telling. With the increasing popularity of wristwatches, there was a growing need to make them more durable and able to withstand the rigours of the early 20th century.
Some companies did this by creating two cases, one inner and one outer, to seal off the elements. This, as you can imagine, made the watches pretty bulky and complicated, so it didn’t catch on. The solution came in 1926 when Hans Wilsdorf released his Oyster, a hermetically sealed watch case that was made possible thanks to three distinct innovations.

1. The Screw Down Crown  
It isn’t widely known, but Rolex didn’t actually invent the screw down crown. Like many features that they have become known for, Rolex simply borrowed the existing technology and made it more reliable and mass-producible. Watchmaker Paul Perregaux and Engineer Georges Peret registered a patent for an early version of the screw down crown in 1925, which Hans Eventually bought and improved upon.

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2. The Screw Down Case Back  
Instead of the snap on case backs common at the time, the Rolex screw down case back made it possible to put pressure on a rubber gasket. This sealed out dust and moisture and made the case back just as resilient as the rest of the watch.

3. The Crystal Sealing System  
This is my favourite innovation that made the Oyster case work. Think of it like a delicious waterproof sandwich. The case had a thin groove or ‘compression seat’ cut into it, in which the crystal would sit on top of a gasket — At first in lead, and then rubber. Then, the bezel was screwed on to squeeze it all together. *Sidebar, the watchmakers needed to be able to grip the bezel to screw it on, hence the ‘fluting’ we see today on watches like the Date-just.

All of this made a case that was impervious to water ingress, an impressive feat for the time. But the most impressive innovation that contributed to the Oyster Case and Rolex in the early 20th century, was the way they advertised it.

Rolex’s First Ambassador

Rolex needed to prove to the world that their Oyster case was waterproof, and instead of expecting everyone to take its word for it, which was the advertising norm at the time, it did something a little different. Hans, always on the lookout for marketing opportunities, read reports of Mercedes Gleitze’s successful swim across the English Channel on October 7, 1926. Unfortunately for her, only a few days later, a woman named Dr. Dorothy Cochrane Logan claimed she had swum the channel faster than Mercedes, no doubt to try to capitalise off the media attention the event garnered.

Turns out Dr. Logan was batshit crazy and her claims were false, but in the process, our mate Mercedes was put under a microscope and doubt grew that she successfully completed the swim. I guess, “post it on the gram, or it didn’t happen” was a thing back then too.
What was a kick in the teeth for Gleitze was the perfect opportunity for Rolex to get involved. Only a couple of weeks after her first ‘alleged’ attempt, Mercedes was planing a vindication swim, to prove to all the haters that she could and did, actually do it. What a badass.

Did Mercedes Gleitze Actually Swim Across The English Channel With A Rolex Around Her Neck?

The answer is no, but I don’t blame her. I watched Dunkirk for the first time last week, (my god, it is a good movie) and what stuck with me was how far the stretch of water is from England to France. It’s a long bloody way — 34 kms at its narrowest point. That’s no swim in the park.
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Rolex took the opportunity to prove their Oyster case in real-world conditions and gave Mercedes a watch to wear around her neck for the swim. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it all the way, and had to abort the swim due to exhaustion and freezing cold water. A disappointing result, but if I’m honest, an obvious one. Of course she failed, she swam for 15 hours two weeks earlier, her hair hardly had a chance to dry. Cut her some slack!

Despite Gleitze’s failure, Rolex saw the swim as a big success. After ten hours in the freezing cold water, the Rolex Oyster that was draped around her neck was in perfect working order. In November of the same year, Rolex took out a full-page ad in the Daily Mail to celebrate their achievement. In doing this, they inadvertently created the ‘ambassador’ based advertising model still used to great success today with athletes like Roger Federer and Tiger Woods.

The ad had the headline “The Wonder Watch That Defies the Elements” in bold and a picture of the watch perched inside an oyster shell for some reason, not sure what the connection there is…
Anyway, the copy continues by mentioning how the watch was completely dry inside and that for no cost, you could order a colour Brochure displaying all the available models. There was no mention of Gleitze’s failure to complete her vindication swim.

Being hermetically sealed the Rolex ‘Oyster’ is proof against changes of climate, dust, water, damp, heat, moisture, cold, sand or grease; it can, in consequence, be worn in the sea or bath without injury, nor would arctic or tropical conditions affect the wonderful precision of its beautifully poised movement. The introduction of the Rolex “Oyster” model marks a unique development in the forward stride of the chronometric science, and perfect timekeeping under all conditions is at last a possibility.

Along with the ad, Wilsdorf placed watches within aquariums at jewellers to demonstrate the effectiveness of the oyster case. A sight that must have been wild in the late 1920s and one that catapulted Rolex’s reputation and brand recognition into the next century.

Gleitze’s failed swim was the catalyst for Rolex’s subsequent world domination and proof that failures can lead to great success. If Mercedes wasn’t compelled to prove herself with a vindication swim, Wilsdorf wouldn’t have had the opportunity to prove Rolex’s watchmaking prowess. Now that I think about it, however, maybe we have more reason to thank Dr. Logan for trying to defraud the public than we do for Mercedes. After all, if it wasn’t for her, there would have been no failed vindication swim for Rolex. Just a successful one.

When I was sitting in front of clients, ‘selling’ them on the story of Rolex’s Oyster Case, I would lean in and whisper like it was some big secret. “She didn’t actually make it to Dover that day in late October”. Always afraid that my manager would hear that I’m saying something that didn’t come in the press material, my tone was hushed. But do you know what, whenever I did, the client would lean in a little with me, drawn in by the secret I was telling them. After all, vulnerability breeds connection, and connection is what watches are all about.

Connection to technology, connection to people, and connection to stories, successful or not.

Swim on Mercedes!

Cya in the next one.