René Beyer Belongs to the ages...

René Beyer

Belongs to the ages

1963-2025

I am deeply saddened to report that René Beyer, owner of the magnificent Beyer Jewelry store  in Zurich, Switzerland passed away. René, was an early fan and supporter of Jake's Rolex World, and I worked with him to celebrate Beyer's 250 anniversary back in 2010, when RolexMagazine.com was still in its infancy. René Beyer is pictured below back in 2010 while celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beyer. The Beyer store is pictured below in 1910.

Rolex Founder 

Hans Wilsdorf with The Beyer Family

Hans Wilsdorf founded Rolex in London, England in 1908 and moved its headquarters to Geneva in 1928. Hans developed a relationship with Theodor Beyer and Beyer started selling Rolex watches in 1932. The letter below is from Hans Wilsdorf to Theodor Beyer and was written on August 19, 1933.

The photo below is from 1954 and shows Hans Wilsforf, with Emile Beyer and her son Theodor Beyer who went on to run Beyer. Theodor Beyer went to work at Beyer in 1946 and he is the father of, Rene Beyer who just passed away. 

Beyer began selling Rolex watches in 1932, and has had an amazingly successful relationship ever since. Over the years Rolex made many special models that featured the Beyer dial designation as pictured below.

Rolex CEO Andre Heiniger 

The Beyer family was close with Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, and when Rene Beyer was a young man Rolex CEO Andre Heiniger gave him the stainless steel Rolex Oysterquartz Datejust in the picture below. This is kind of profound since we just saw Rolex launch the Rolex Land-Dweller which is based upon the integrated bracelet design language of this watch.

René Beyer is pictured below with his mother, Annette Beyer back in 2010. René was an amazing man and will be very much missed by the horological world. René was only 61 years old and died unexpectedly.

Hodinkee Interview

Fortunately, back in June of 2018, Hodinkee's Stephen Pulvirent interviewed René Beyer who was the CEO of Beyer watches which is located in Zurich. Stephen Pulvirent is a superb interviewer and René Beyer is an equally excellent interviewee, so enjoy!!!

1942 Swiss Rolex Poster

1942 Swiss Rolex Poster

Beyer, Zürich, Switzerland

The poster below was printed in Switzerland between 1942 and 1945, and this particular poster was published by Beyer, which was the only Rolex Authorized Dealer in Zürich, Switzerland at the time. Beyer is still in business today, and they have been in business for over 250 years, making them one of the oldest jewelry storers in the world!

The poster text is in German since Zürich's  primary language is German. Rolex is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, where the primary language is French.

A Vintage Rolex From Beyer in Zürich, Switzerland...

A Vintage Rolex

From Beyer in Zürich, Switzerland

Beyer in Zürich, Switzerland is one oldest watch retailer in the world and they and they are about to celebrate their 250th Anniversary in 2010. This vintage Rolex Oyster appears to be from the late 1920's or early 1930's.

It's very interesting (T. Walker Lloydism) how this watch and the one in the post below it both have special Rolex AD reseller dial designations on them, yet one is from Switzerland and the other is from South America.

Beyer Jewelers & Museum Celebrating 250 Years In Business: Zurich, Switzerland [Part 1 of 5]

[Part 1 of 5]

This is an amazing story about the oldest and most respected jewelry store in the world. Since its founding in 1760, Beyer has been passed down from father to son for seven generations, and each generation has been fully trained as a watchmaker.

Beyer is celebrating its 250th Anniversary In 2010!!!!

That's right, I said 250th Anniversary, which is a quarter of a Millennium!!! Just to put that into perspective, The United States did not even exist 250 years ago in 1760. Good things–as they say–endure!!!

Beyer CEO Rene Beyer is pictured above

Beyer sells 14 premiere watch brands including Patek Phillipe, Rolex, Cartier, Breget, A Lange & Sohn, IWC, Chopard, GP, Jaeger Le Coultre, Jaquet Droz, Piaget, Hublot, Brietling and Baume & Mercier. Beyer also sells beautiful ladies jewelry and they also make their own watches and jewelry which they sell under the Beyer label.

In this story we are going to explore three topics. First we are going to walk through the incredible history of Beyer; then we are going to explore the store itself, and then we are going to examine the Beyer Museum which is located in the same building as the Beyer Jewelry Store in Zurich, Switzerland.

The Beyer Museum maintains one of the greatest horological collections collections in the world, which includes some of the most historically significant Rolex watches, including Sir Edmund Hillary's Oyster Perpetual he wore when he conquered Mount Everest in 1953.

The Beyer Museum is filled with historical horological treasures and even owns one of the original 7 prototype Rolex DEEP-SEA Special watches that set the all-time dive record in 1960 while attached to the U.S. Navy Bathyscaph Trieste when it went down 7 miles to the lowest point on the ocean floor.

One of the exciting features we are working on adding to Jake's Rolex World Magazine is an international guide to some of the top watch, jewelry and horological museums in the world. This travel guide gives you a preview of what to expect and allows you to make travel plans to some of the most beautiful and interesting travel destinations in the world.

I could not be more excited to take you on a tour of Beyer in Zurich, Switzerland. First let's take a look at Zurich, Switzerland itself. Zurich is an extremely romantic travel destination, and in winter, Zurich becomes a winter wonderland, with amazing shopping, opera, food, and museums. Zurich is also close to St. Moritz and Gstadd which are great skiing and snowboarding destinations.

Zurich, Switzerland proper has a population of 360,000 people and the area surrounding Zurich, there are a total of 2 Million people.

Zurich, Switzerland In The Summer

Zurich, Switzerland summers are renowned for being beautiful as we see in the photo below. Switzerland in general is known for being an extremely clean and pristine country. Zurich has a great deal of amazing architecture and there are still many buildings in old Zurich from the 16th century.

Beyer Chronometrie AG is located in the heart of downtown Zurich, Switzerland at Bahnhofstrasse 31 - 8001, and is easily accessible from all parts of Zurich by tram. If you are not familiar with Zurich, it is located in northern Switzerland, closest to Germany.

Zurich is located close to Basel, Switzerland, so if you are attending Baselworld, you could easily continue on to Zurich. Geneva, conversely is located is south-west Switzerland near the border of France.

The photo below is of the front of the Beyer Chronometrie Store, and the Beyer Horological Museum is located on the same premise, on a lower level.

Table Of Contents

• Part 1: 250th Anniversary Celebration

• Next>>> Part 2: The Beyer Family–7 Generations Of Exclusive Service

• Part 3: The Beyer Store-Magnificent Watches & Fine Jewelry

• Part 4: The Beyer Museum–Horological History At Its Finest

• Part 5: Sir Edmund Hillary's Mount Everest Rolex–At Home In The Beyer Museum