Rolex Perpetuating The Arts for Over Four Decades

Rolex Perpetuating The Arts for Over Four Decades

The Complete History Of Rolex Part 2: The André Heiniger Years

Note from Jake: I just completed a huge update to this amazing story, and I am certain you will love it. As I write this I am preparing to publish another epic story on Rolex Leadership which will boggle your mind!!! I don't have an exact date in mind, but plan to publish it sometime during the upcoming holiday season. In the meantime enjoy!

...Second Director of Rolex...

The André Heiniger Story

"Second Ghost In The Machine"

1921-2000

Rolex is an amazing company with an incredible history, coupled with an awe-inspiring legacy of success and achievement. In The Complete History Of Rolex Leadership Series on Jake's Rolex World, I have been exploring the history of Rolex's internal leadership, beginning with the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf.

Only six men have officially run Rolex in its illustrious history over the past 116 years. André Heiniger became the third Director General of Rolex in 1964, four years after founder, Hans Wilsdorf, passed away at age 78. André-Jean Heiniger's dedicated career with Rolex spanned 50 years from 1948 to 1998!!!

André-Jean Heiniger was born in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland on September 12, 1921, and was married to Odette Montandon. He earned a B.A. degree in Business Administration at Basel at the Mayenfels Institute in Pratteln, and also went to school in England. Heiniger spoke many languages fluently including French, German (German-Swiss dialect) Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and English, and has been described at a soft-spoken man. 

The photo below of André-Jean Heiniger was taken just after he took over as the official Managing Director of Rolex in 1964 when he was 43 years old. 

André Heiniger 1963

After college André went to work for a watch company in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland where he worked for 6 years specializing in manufacturing, and business administration. In 1948 he met Rolex Founder, Hans Wilsdorf who offered him an opportunity to develop the Argentinian market in South America, where he lived and worked for the next 6 years in Buenos Aires, Argentina while building out the South American market for Rolex.

While living in Beunos Aires, André and his wife Odette welcomed their only child in to the world when Patrick Heiniger was born on August 26, 1950. André-Jean moved has family back to Geneva and was appointed Director of Watches on January 11, 1955.

The photo below shows Rolex founder, Hans Wilsdorf attending his 75th Birthday Party in 1956. In this photo we see André-Jean Heiniger on Wilsdorf's left looking down at a Camera in his hand. This is the only photo I have ever seen that shows Heiniger with Wilsdorf.

The best scholarship to date suggests Rolex Founder, Hans Wilsdorf was so impressed with André-Jean Heiniger he chose him as his successor to run Rolex shortly before his death in 1960. The strange thing is Heiniger was not officially appointed Director General of Rolex until 1964. This appears to suggest Rolex was leaderless for the four years between 1960 to 1964.

The challenge is when a profound leader like Wilsdorf dies it can leave a huge void unfilled with 'big shoes to fill.' There is a previously undocumented flip side to the official narrative, which I learned from a source whom wishes to remain anonymous that suggests there was perhaps some infighting amongst the top Rolex leadership, and after significant wrangling Andre Heiniger prevailed—which would explain why he wasn’t officially appointed Director General for 4 years after Hans Wilsdorf’s death in 1960 until 1964. “  

The video interview below features Rolex Founder, Hans Wilsdorf right around the time he chose to pass the baton to Heiniger to succeed him as the leader of Rolex. To the best of my knowledge this is the ONLY video footage of Wilsdorf to ever be seen by the public.

Rolex was originally headquartered in London, England, but in 1928 Hans Wilsdorf decided to move Rolex Headquarters to Geneva in Switzerland. Rolex Headquarters remained at the humble location in the center of Geneva (as pictured below on the top floors) from 1928 to 1964. It is interesting to consider that Rolex successfully commercialized the waterproof Oyster case, from this building, as well as launching the Perpetual movement, along with the Datejust, Day-Date, Submariner, GMT-Master, and Explorer.

Rolex Headquarters in Downtown Geneva opened in 1928 and moved in 1965

It is fascinating to note that in the photo above there are zero cars parked along the sidewalk, but many bicycles, and of course we see the trolley tracks...

In the photo below we see Hans Wilsdorf in his Genevan Headquarters office in late 1953 reviewing watches with J. Farren-Price who was Australia's original Rolex agent.

"First we shape our dwellings, then our dwellings shape us." 

–Sir Winston Churchill

In 1964, after becoming Director General of Rolex Heiniger made a bold move and chose by moving Rolex's International Headquarters from downtown Geneva to the outskirts of Geneva where he erected a radical new state of the art Rolex Campus that was designed to stand the test of time.

André-Jean Heiniger built Rolex's bold new state-of-the-art International Headquarters in 1965 (pictured below) and in many ways it was designed and built like a Rolex—including its Bauhaus influenced late art-deco timeless design language. 

Ironically, Rolex today makes more Rolex watches per year—exclusively in Switzerland—than the made during their first half-century when the photo above was taken in 1965!?!! This is due in large part to intelligent long-term investments André-Jean Heiniger made in continuously improving Rolex's infrastructure.

The following two Rolex ads appear courtesy of the Concannon Collection and they offer insight into how proud Rolex was of the development and design of their new World Headquarters in Geneva. 

I highly recommend clicking on the magazine graphic above and reading the whole thing, which is absolutely fascinating. In particular, I am most fascinated with the last two paragraphs which say:

"The Rolex watches of today have reached such heights of precision, accuracy, and ruggedness that it is difficult to predict what the watches of tomorrow will be like.

Whether they will be in cases of titanium or solid synthetic diamond. Whether they will be powered by atomic energy or by sun. But one thing is certain. The finest watches of tomorrow will be built by the men at Rolex."

As Rolex kept growing and expanding André-Jean Heiniger kept modernizing and improving Rolex's headquarters. Years later he added a glass elevator well on the front facade that offers breathtaking views of Lake Geneva.

The following documents which appear courtesy of The Souham / S3C Private Collection offer valuable insight into André-Jean Heiniger's amazing career achievements which come forth from a biographical review from St. John's University which granted him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree which he was very proud of. 

Document above and below appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

In 1986 André-Jean Heiniger was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rolex as well as remaining the Managing Director of Mountres Rolex S.A. In modern nomenclature Managing Director would be the same as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 

The Quartz Crisis

How André-Jean Heiniger Protected Rolex

A Swiss consortium named Beta 21 worked on developing Quartz technology which included many famous Swiss brands like Patek Philippe, Omega and Rolex. In 1967 they developed a the first Quartz based functional proof-of-concept prototype named the CEH 1020 which was built by François Niklès and Jean Hermann in July of 1967. 

Long story short, the Swiss could not figure out what to do with the Quartz technology as they were rightfully worried it might obsolete their core manufacturing prowess with mechanical movements. The Japanese saw this as an opportunity and took advantage by flooding the international marketplace with cheap quartz watches. André-Heiniger took decisive action by moving Rolex upscale and converting it from a company that made 'Good Watches' to a Luxury Goods company. Ironically Rolex had invested a tremendous amount of resources into developing super innovative Rolex prototypes that to this day have never seen the light of day.

One really great question in my mind has always been if Hans Wilsdorf had lived 20 years longer, how would he have reacted to quartz technology. Would Wilsdorf have embraced Quartz, or would he have rejected it? At this point the question is purely academic, but one thing we know to be a fact is André Heiniger took advantage of the "Quartz Crisis" opportunity by consolidating Rolex's position in manufacturing and in the marketplace.  

As an insurance policy, Rolex introduced a number of Oyster Quartz models that were innovative, but Heiniger strategically positioned them as an inferior option by keeping their retail prices lower than the comparative mechanical models. This strategy went on for a quarter century, until Rolex in 2004 completely discontinued all quartz watches under Patrick Heiniger's leadership.

 

1971 Rolex Explorer II

Reference 1655

Rolex introduced the Explorer II in 1971 under André Heiniger's leadership and it had an orange hand to keep track of the time of day and night time. The current orange hand Rolex Explorer II  is based upon this cool retro-design.

Rolex Day-Date Ad

January 1973

This fascinating Rolex advertisement 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 Heiniger's office.

If Only These Walls Could Talk

Below is a higher-resolution photo of the executive offices at Rolex Headquarters in Geneva in 1973. It is clear, that at least back in 1973, Rolex was very proud and interested in their history. What I want to know, is where are all those photos today? I want to see them and learn more about the amazing history of Rolex. I imagine André Heiniger's office is the one at the end of the corridor?

1976 Rolex Awards For Enterprise Founded

In 1976 André Heiniger founded the Rolex Awards for Enterprise to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the waterproof Rolex Oyster watch. Originally they were named "Spirit of Enterprise Awards", but were changed to "Rolex Awards for Enterprise."

In the photo below we see André Heiniger in 1976 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster where Rolex announced the Spirit of Enterprise Awards. In this photo we see (from left to right) racing legend, Sir Jackie Stewart, Odette Heiniger, André Heiniger, Her Imperial Highness, Princess Napoléon, and legendary Olympic Skier, Jean-Claud Killy. Photo appears courtesy of S3C Private Collection.

Photo appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

The photo below shows the judges for the original Rolex awards. From left to right we see Luis Marden (whose real name was Annibale Luigi Paragallo). Luis Marden was a famous American photographer for National Geographic, as well as being a diver and filmmaker. Next up we see Professor, Oliver Reverdin who was a scientist, journalist and politician, then Professor Derek Jackson who was a spectroscopist and atomic physicist. Next we see André Heiniger with Professor Jacques Piccard on the end. Photo appears courtesy of S3C Private Collection.

Photo appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

Luis Marden who is pictured above on the far left is featured below in the 1976 Rolex Submariner ad.

Below is a photo from the 1978 Rolex Awards for Enterprise and we see Andre Heiniger (second from left) standing next to legendary Swiss explorer, Jacques Piccard.  On the far left we see Kenneth Marten, who was a 1978 Rolex Laureate along with Bill Lasley who has a mustache along with Francine Patterson who has long blond hair.

Photo appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

1978 Rolex Awards Ad

The next two images below were published in 1978 by Rolex in magazines. The first image is fascinating because it appears to be a wrist shot of sorts, but if you examine it closer, you might notice the remarkable similarity to the Rolex crown logo.

In the photo below from 1980 we see André Heiniger with legendary tennis star, Bjorn Borg on June 11 0n the evening of Men's singles finals at Wimbledon. The 1980 Wimbledon Men's final match was between Björn Borg and John McEnroe was a dramatic struggle which went on for a long time with Borg prevailing. 

Photos appear courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I always found the body language in the photo below to be ironic as Björn Borg had just slayed McEnroe in the Men's Wimbledon Finals and in the moment that photo was taken was King of the World, yet he has his arms crossed in a defensive posture. Couple this with André-Jean's body language which is the complete antithesis of Borg, in the sense he looks like he just won Wimbledon :-)

In the photo below taken back in the early 1980s, we see Björn Borg and John McEnroe and they are both wearing Rolex Datejust watches.

André-Jean Heiniger's Rolls Royce pictured on the cover of a Rolex DAY-DATE Booklet

There is a famous story where a friend of André Heiniger asked him "How's the watch business doing?" to which André Heiniger responded "I have no idea." His friend laughed, not realizing that André was being serious. André continued "Rolex is not in the watch business. We are a luxury business."

This next photo is of somewhat profound significance as it was taken at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, Sardinia and shows André Heiniger and his wife Odette in 1995 with then President of Rolex Italy, Gian Riccardo Marini who went on to become the CEO of Rolex in May of 2011. 

André and Odette Heiniger are pictured below with His Highness, The Aga Khan at the same event.

André Heiniger's son Patrick Heiniger became the Managing Director of Rolex in 1992 when the Rolex Board of Directors appointed him to replace his father. Patrick Heiniger stepped down as CEO of Rolex on December 17, 2008.

André Heiniger is pictured below with his son Patrick Heiniger who became the CEO of Rolex after him. Golf legend, Arnold Palmer is pictured on the left wearing a tuxedo jacket.

Arnold Palmer, André Heiniger and Patrick Heiniger pictured above

André Heiniger stayed on as the Chairman of Rolex until he retired from that role in 1998, and then became Chairman emeritus until he passed away three years later On January 3, 2000 at the age of 79. Over the 34 years André Heiniger ran Rolex he assisted in turning it into the ultra-succesful company it is today. I am looking forward to shedding much more light on this illustrious Rolex historical figure.

The reason the sub-title of this part of this story is "The Second Ghost In The Machine" is because so little has ever been published about André Heiniger. André Heiniger was a very private man who maintained a very low-key public presence.

To date, André Heiniger has remained an enigmatic figure, and one could argue that history–like with Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex before I wrote Part 1 of this Rolex Leadership Series–almost seems to have forgotten him. I intend to change that in 2012 by walking you through his amazing career achievements and exploring what made him tick.

André Heiniger is pictured below with his wife, Odette Heiniger, Colonel Gerard Leigh and Price Charles of Wales at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor, U.K.

Photo appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

In this next photo, we see Gérard Souham, André Heiniger, Jan Nelson and Prince Charles.

Photo appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

Photo appears courtesy of Souham / S3C private collection 

In the next image we see André Heiniger with HIH The Princess Napoleon at a Polo match.

A Tale of Two Rolex Submariner Models

 "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

—Maximus (Gladiator)

A Tale of Two Rolex Submariner Time Machines

An Emotional Letter from a Reader

On What We Leave Behind

Michael is a reader who wrote-in and included the photo above of his two deeply meaningful Rolex Submariner models. Michael originally asked me not to publish his letter, but I thought it was such a nice note I reached out to him and asked his permission to publish it, to which he responded: 

'I think it is a sad story and your readers would not want to read such a story, but if you think so you can publish it.'

I found Michael's letter emotionally moving in a loving way and I can relate to his story. The interesting thing is that jewelry items—including fine watches—are built to last indefinitely (if taken care of properly) but we as human beings sadly are not. 

I own a bracelet that belonged to my Aunt Dora Jane who raised me, and it was on her wrist all the time. So much so, it was a trademark part of her personality. 

Today, when I hold my Aunt's bracelet in my hands and look at it, two things come to mind: 

First, it Deja Vu's me out in a great way as I feel her energy emanating from it! Great memories of the time we shared together come streaming back and bathe me is a tidal wave of positive nostalgia. Yes, I have some sad memories of her, but I don't tend to focus on them—kind of like Barbara Streisand's hauntingly magnificent lyrics from "The Way We Were" from 1975 which you can enjoy below:

Secondly, it trips me out, how in life we all leave behind relics of our life when we depart this existence, and it never ceases to amaze me how a piece of jewelry can so easily outlast a human, while acting as a nostalgic memento or miniature time machine that can transport us back so far on our own timeline. 

So Micheal, I don't find your story to be sad. I find it to be an uplifting celebration of your parents who's memory is enshrined in your two beautiful timeless Rolex Submariner models.

Below is Michael's note he sent in:

Dear Jake,

First of all, I would like to thank you for your work with your passionate blog. I am a very big fan of your blog.

As a child, I grew up in the last years of the Cold War next to an Air Force base in West Germany. In my childhood I always watched airplanes with my father and was fascinated. This was also my first contact with ROLEX, after I got to know some pilots with their GMT MASTERS. That is why I am so fascinated by your reports on very different people. 

In addition, of course, there are the James Bond films. And so I had always dreamed about my own SUBMARINER. 

Unfortunately, my father died early. When I graduated from university, my mother gave me my first Submariner, as a gift and I didn't even take the watch off to shower or sleep. That was about ten years ago.

It became a 14060M. Unfortunately, my mother also died last year after a serious illness. As a reminder for all the wonderful hours with my dearly loved parents, I was able to buy my second with my own money. 

My licensed dealer, was very patient with me and I was one of the first owners of a 124060. There are around 10 years between the watches and both fascinate me.

Attached is a photo of the two watches with a toy from the Cold War era, a Soviet BTR-60 tank as it can be found today. Perhaps, the quality of the picture is sufficient for your blog and you will give me great pleasure in publishing it. The letter is FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Always wanted to write this term. ;-) Please go on with your blog! 

Kind regards, 

Michael

ROLEX DEEP SEA SPECIAL #1 At Christie's Geneva

ROLEX 

DEEP SEA SPECIAL #1

At Christie's Geneva

My absolute favorite horological researcher and writer is non other than Jose from Perezcope.com. I feel very privileged to not only call Jose a great pal, but I have the absolute pleasure of working with him on a regular basis to separate-the-fact-from-the-fiction regarding Rolex history.

As two of the most passionate Rolex historians, Jose and are 1000% committed to separating true ends from false ends. The immense challenge we face is we inherited a world where we—along with everybody else—were spoon-fed a great deal of Rolex history that had no basis in reality and had been falsely perpetuated by many intellectually lazy or dishonest people who pretended to know what they were talking about, but were really just making up details that would result in them putting forward their false narrative opinions as if they were facts. 

Jose and I have both fallen into the trap where we read or were told something that didn't quite sit right with us, but we trusted the source, whether it be auction houses, museums, or fellow horological journalists or book writers who put forth ideas as truth and went along with their false narrative as we didn't know any better. The thing though, is that if you keep trying to put together puzzle pieces that just don't fit you realize you have to find the correct pieces, and Jose and I have both been doing quite a bit of that lately. 

In other words, as time goes by, we constantly revisit old stories and seek clarification and often discover new information that radically changes the narrative, and that is exactly just what happened with Jose's new story he just published named 'The REALITIES OF THE ROLEX DEEP SEA SPECIAL NO.1 AT CHRISTIE'S GENEVA.

In this Fascinating story Jose separates fact from fiction on the reality of the DEEP SEA Number 1. I worked with Jose on his story by providing him with documentation from my archives and I stand behind his thesis 1000%! Jose and I are also aware of more history surrounding the ROLEX DEEP SEA Prototypes we have NOT published yet, but will reveal in the future, which is pretty mind-boggling once we put all the pieces of the puzzle together...The Best Is Yet To Come!!!

Protecting Marine Life in The Bahamas

Protecting Marine Life

in The Bahamas

Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), in partnership with Rolex, works to inspire communities to protect the marine environment of the beautiful low-lying islands. Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, director of the non-profit organization, highlights its grass-roots programmes such as Eco-Schools Bahamas and coral-reef restoration initiatives. Both partners work to galvanize the next generation of underwater explorers and conservationists to combat climate change and sustain a Perpetual Planet.

Perezcope.com Goes Deep on Dr. Joe MacInnis' Single Red SEALAB SEA-DWELLER

 

Perezcope.com Goes Deep

Dr. Joe MacInnis

Single Red SEALAB SEA-DWELLER

Last Friday I published my definitive story on Dr. Joe MacInnis' Single Red SEALAB Rolex Holy-Grail SEA-DWELLER which offers tremendous insight into the genesis of the Rolex SEA-DWELLER. Jose from Perezcope has been by my side every step of the way as we stepped through all the discoveries not only with Dr. Joe's watch, but for years now on unearthing the real history of the Submariner and SEA-DWELLER. 

Dr. Joe MacInnis' Single Red SEALAB SEA-DWELLER

Reference 1665 [Serial Number 1602912]

The beauty of Jose's story, as usual, is he had access to 100% of my research findings, but drew fascinating different points, which are BRILLIANT! I highly recommend checking out his story titled "DR. JOE MACINNIS’ “SEALAB 3” ROLEX SINGLE RED SEA-DWELLER"

Also, I will be making a game-changing announcement soon that involves Jose and I working together on a super exciting new Rolex project, so stay tuned...

The Beatles Get Back By Peter Jackson

The Beatles 

Get Back 
By Peter Jackson

What is more iconic than Rolex? Not much. But if you said The Beatles, you might be half right. I recently posted this AMAZING Peter Jackson Beatles documentary trailer on PatekMagazine.com that just dropped for his upcoming Beatles documentary which will debut on Disney+ in November. So if you are feeling nostalgic this autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere), like me, this should put a big smile on your face!!! I've yet to find a photo of a Beatle wearing a Rolex, but hey, who knows what the future will bring ;-)