Rolex's long-standing relationship with tennis dates back more than 40 years, to 1978, when it became the Official Timekeeper of The Championships, Wimbledon. Its support for the game now extends to all four Grand Slam® tournaments – the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open – as well as legends of the sport such as Rod Laver, Chris Evert and Swiss phenomenon Roger Federer, along with today's champions, including Garbiñe Muguruza and Dominic Thiem, and the next generation of stars, notably Bianca Andreescu and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Rolex is a key partner at leading team events, the Davis Cup, the Laver Cup and the ATP Cup, and of the organizations that govern the professional game worldwide. Rolex's contribution to excellence in tennis is based on a rich heritage of continuously championing supreme performance and innovation while respecting the sport's finest traditions.
Ferdinand Piëch was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche who founded Porsche. Piëch was an engineer and was responsible for creating the Porsche 917 that won Le Mans.
Ferdinand Piëch rocking his GMT-Master at Le Mans in 1969
The image above of Ferdinand Piëch wearing his GMT-Master was discovered by my pal Cam @ Craft & Tailored. Ferdinand Piëch was also involved in the design of many iconic German cars including the Porsche 911, as well as the Audi Quattro and Volkswagen Phaeton. In the photo below we see Ferdinand Piëch pictured in 1969 on the left with his cousin, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (middle) and his brother, Hans-Michel Piëch on the right. The three of them are largely responsible for the design of the Porsche 911.
Ferdinand Piëch in pictured below with his Porsche 917 race car on March 12, 1969 at the Geneva Motor Show Press Day event talking to Gerhard Mitter who was a Porsche racing driver.
Ferdinand Piëch was a billionaire who developed the Volkswagen Group which acquired other iconic brands like Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley. Ferdinand began his automotive career at Porsche but was forced to leave after a restriction said that no member of the Porsche or Piêch families could work in day-to-day operations at Porsche.
Ferdinand Piëch moved on to Audi where he eventually became the CEO. During his tenure at Audi Ferdinand grew Audi into much larger company that would compete successfully with Mercedes and BMW.
Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.
In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.
This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.
