Happy New Year To You All!
Another Rolex Mystery
The Great Names Gallery
Landmarks In The History of Rolex
I hope you all had a great holiday season, and I have a special New Years surprise for all of you! Every time I start thinking I have seen it all in the world of Rolex I realized it's the exact opposite, and this is a great example!!! This mystery image was brought to my attention by Nick Gould who discovered a link to it that was first published two weeks ago on the Matthew Taylor Vintage instagram account.
Matthew said he discovered this mysterious photo a few years ago—despite the fact he only recently published it for the first time, two weeks ago—and it was from a watchmakers workshop in South Africa. Matthew speculated it is a photo of Rolex founder, Hans Wilsdorf's office at Rolex Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The photos below shows Hans Wilsdorf in his actual office at Rolex headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland in 1952 and 1953, and we see, based upon this photos that the glass showcase exhibition cases behind the old boy are indeed accurate, but obviously the artwork/signed photos on the wall are NOT a match. It's fascinating to note that Hans Wilsdorf always wore a Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet as we see below on his wrist.
One detail I noticed in the original image at the top of this story, is there is a photo of Hans Wilsdorf front and center on the wall behind him, but to the best of my knowledge, Wilsdorf, at least while he was alive, did NOT have a photo of himself on the wall behind him. In reality he kept a placard titled "PALMARÈS", which is French for record of achievements in that same place (pictured in the photo above Wilsdorf's head), and this is what leads me to believe what we are really looking at in that photo is a recreation of his office either in the original Rolex Museum, which no longer exists, or an area at Rolex Headquarters that displayed his office.
I say this must be a recreation of Hans Wilsdorf's office, as Rolex had a different International Headquarters in 1960, when Wilsdorf passed away, which is pictured below in Downtown Geneva. This Rolex Headquarters was opened in 1928 and moved in 1965.
The Rolex International headquarters we think of today is pictured below, just after it was erected in 1965, and is where Rolex headquarters remain today.
The fascinating Rolex Magazine advertisement pictured above was published in a magazine in January of 1973, and it says:
"There's a private corridor outside the Managing Director's office in our Geneva headquarters which is lined with the signed portraits of most of the world's leading Heads of State."
Obviously this is André-Jean Heiniger's office, who Wilsdorf left the leadership of Rolex to.
If Only These Walls Could Talk
Below is a higher-resolution photo of the executive offices at Rolex Headquarters in Geneva in 1973. This was arguably an extension or continuation of the "Great Names Gallery" seen in Wilsdorf's office.
Matthew Taylor Vintage published a detailed analysis of all the people pictured on the wall in the original photo seen below, and he identifies many of them, but there are several that remain unidentified. In the future, I will do my best to identify them, but it's totally fascinating to see this amazing historical Rolex image that offers us the first glimpse at just some of Wilsdorf's personal memorabilia collection that feature famous people who wore Rolex watches, including Sir Winston Churchill as well as President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
I believe the desk, and chair and cabinets in the photo above were all from Hans Wilsdorf's personal office located at the old Rolex Headquarters in Geneva, I have NEVER seen the collection of images seen on the wall behind his desk displayed in his office.
My best guess is Rolex posthumously curated this collection from his career, and put it together and the best supporting evidence is the title in the center rear case that reads, "LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF ROLEX", which can be seen in the photo above. There are many other famous people not seen on the wall behind his desk that wore Rolex which have not been documented to date, but I will share more about them in the future.
Nick Gould and I noticed and discussed the photo above had a similar vibe to the ROLEX AND NASA image pictured below that was featured for years at Rolex headquarters.
Below we see a close up of the top image in the photo above that shows Jack Swigert's NASA Apollo 13 flown GMT-Master Moon Watch.
Mystery Solved
Update January 1, 2024: Nick Gould solved the mystery, at least to a certain extent, regarding the nature of the mystery photo, as it is addressed in the following letters from Rolex Director, René-Paul Jeanneret written to the Prime Minister of Australian, Harold Holt. In this first letter dated May 6th, 1966, Jeanneret informs the Prime Minister of Australia, Harold Holt that he has gifted two Rolex Submariner models to Holt and his wife, who were both skin diving enthusiasts. Jeanneret then asks Holt for "one small favor", and that is if he would send in a singed photo that they would like to add to their Rolex "Great Names...Hall of Fame".
In this letter Jeanneret thanks Holt for his signed photograph he sent into Rolex Headquarters in Geneva, and tells him that his photo:
"Will soon occupy a place of honor in our gallery of 'great names', now being reorganized — for private showing only. It will be in the management wing of the new Rolex Headquarters (of which the attached photograph will give you an idea)."
Jeanneret also sent the following letter, offering detailed background on June 16th, 1966 mentioning the Rolex Great Names Hall of Fame:
So essentially Jeanneret told Holt that they were reorganizing the gallery and moving it from the old Rolex Headquarters to the new one in 1966, just after it was erected.
Jeanneret then goes on to express his love for 'that wonderful hobby, skin diving'. Jeanerret is one of the founding fathers of Rolex and is one of four of the most important men who formed Rolex into what it is today. René-Paul Jeanneret represents such an important role in the history of Rolex, I have a volume dedicated just to his career achievements at Rolex!
Happy New Year To You All !
Below we see a Season's Greetings Rolex Magazine ad from Hans Wilsdorf that was published 76 years ago in 1948, and in it Wilsdorf wishes "Happy New Year to you all !" I join Hans Wilsdorf, eight decades later, in wishing you the same "Happy New Year to you all!!!"
I don't mean to be too redundant as I recently published another story on Wilsdorf, but I mentioned in that story I have been working for some time on a series of 15 books that actually delineate all the "LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF ROLEX", as this series covers the entire arc of Rolex history, and is akin to a Rolexpedia. Volume 1 of my upcoming series details Wilsdorf's life and times as well as many of his amazing lifetime achievements, and we see the book cover art below.
Below we see the only known video footage of Hans Wilsdorf speaking, which was filmed in 1959, just a year before he passed away. Hans Wilsdorf was a beautiful man who left behind one of the most endearing and timeless legacies!
