1. rolex and motor sports
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Rolex is proud to be a major force at play behind the finest events,
drivers and organizations in motor sports. Whether supporting
the leading motor sports series, Formula 1™; iconic endurance
races, such as Les 24 Heures du Mans; or maintaining tradition
with the historic Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Rolex has
cultivated a privileged relationship with this fast-paced world.
History
The roots of this alliance date back to the early 20th century when Rolex
was founded by Hans Wilsdorf, a visionary with an extraordinary spirit
of enterprise. At a time when the pocket watch prevailed, Mr Wilsdorf
foresaw the importance of providing an increasingly mobile public with
an accurate wristwatch and took up the enormous challenge.
In 1910, a Rolex wristwatch obtained the first certificate ever granted to
such a watch by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland.
In 1926, Rolex invented the Rolex Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch
in the world, thanks to a case equipped with an ingenious patented

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Rolex and Motor Sports
system consisting of a screw-down bezel, case back and winding crown.
To prove his invention, Hans Wilsdorf equipped Mercedes Gleitze with
an Oyster when she swam across the English Channel a year later. The
Rolex watch emerged from more than 10 hours in the water in perfect
working condition, and the young Englishwoman became the brand’s
first Testimonee – a witness to the watch’s uncompromised performance.
Rolex improved the Oyster in 1931 with the invention and patent of the
world’s first self-winding mechanism with a Perpetual rotor, the precur-
sor of contemporary self-winding systems.
With Hans Wilsdorf at the helm, Rolex continued to use the world as
a real-life proving ground for the Oyster, demonstrating time and again
its reliability in the most extreme conditions, on land, in the air, in the
depths of the ocean or on the summit of Mount Everest. By being associ-
ated with so many achievements, Rolex became the trusted reference
for chronometric precision, robustness and reliability around the world.
Meanwhile, Rolex evolved, as did its product, in a constant pursuit of
perfection. As part of this evolution, Rolex watches – made from only the
highest quality materials and designed by the industry’s best – became
symbols of elegance and prestige.
As such, Rolex sought to associate with activities that, like itself, were
motivated by passion, excellence, precision and performance. Naturally,
Rolex gravitated toward the world of motor sports, forming an alliance
that dates back to the late 1950s when the brand partnered the Daytona
International Speedway.
Rolex and Motor sports
In tribute to the Daytona International Speedway, Rolex added the name
“Daytona” to the dial of the chronograph it created for racing drivers, the
Cosmograph. Ever since then, the presence of the Rolex brand in auto-
mobile racing has grown steadily. Rolex has been the Title Sponsor of
the Rolex 24 At Daytona in Florida since 1992 and Official Timekeeper
since 2001 for Les 24 Heures du Mans, the world’s oldest sports car
race in endurance racing.
From 2013, Rolex is Official Timekeeper and Official Timepiece of
Formula 1™, the pinnacle of motor sports. This long-term partnership
is the culmination of the brand’s history of close ties with motor racing
and speed.

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Rolex and Motor Sports
Since the late 1960s, Rolex has counted motor racing legend Sir
Jackie Stewart, one of the most celebrated Formula 1™ drivers of the
last 40 years, among its family of Testimonees. Sir Jackie won three
Formula One™ World Championships (1969, 1971 and 1973) and 27
Grand Prix races. He is also widely recognized for his commitment to F1
driving safety during the 1970s.
Through its strong alliance with Les 24 Heures du Mans, Rolex also
proudly sponsors Danish driver Tom Kristensen, record eight-time win-
ner of the annual endurance race.
In keeping with its spirit of pushing the limits of performance, Rolex
joined the Bloodhound SSC World Land Speed Record project in 2011
as the Official Timing Partner. The Bloodhound team is aiming to set a
new record of 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h) with a cutting-edge
supersonic jet- and rocket-powered car. This maintains Rolex’s long-
standing presence at the frontiers of speed, stretching back to 1935
when Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the 300 mile per hour (483 km/h)
barrier at the wheel of Bluebird.
Rolex also sponsors events that celebrate the beauty of historic cars
rather than their racing performance. Among them is the Pebble Beach
Concours d’Elegance (US), launched in 1950 to showcase the most
avant-garde models of the period. Today, this prestigious competition,
held annually in Pebble Beach, California, features the most striking
of vintage cars. Rolex has been the Official Timekeeper since 1997.
Included in this event is the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance presented
by Rolex, which was created in 1997 to demonstrate the elegance of au-
tomobiles in motion. Rolex became Title Sponsor of this event in 2007.
Furthermore, Rolex is the proud sponsor of the Goodwood Revival (UK),
devoted to race cars built before 1966, as well as the Rolex Monterey
Motorsports Reunion (US), which brings over 600 cars to California’s
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
Driven by a passion for excellence and a great appreciation for motor
sports, Rolex, the world’s leading Swiss watchmaker, is committed
to cultivating the strong ties that bind these two prestigious worlds
in their shared pursuit of perfection.