Rolex started out as an homage company Just to be clear…
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Rolex started out as an homage company
Just to be clear upfront I’m a huge fan of Seiko and I honestly admire Rolex up until they changed into their modern version as an unobtainable (and garish) flex piece. I love the history but the facts are the facts.
People like to bash on modern AliExpress startups but let's remember that back in 1905 Rolex literally started out the exact same way.
The timelines get totally mixed up because people compare a mature luxury giant to these new budget brand, but back in 1905 Rolex was just a pure assembly house. They made zero parts and just bought off-the-shelf Swiss movements from Aegler then dropped them into third-party British cases and stamped their name on the dial which is the exact 1900s version of a modern microbrand.
They didn't even fully invent the waterproof Oyster case out of nowhere either since they just bought the screw-down crown patent from independent inventors and paid an outside factory to build the cases.
Same with Seiko. Early on they survived for decades by stripping down and reverse-engineering Western watches gear-by-gear. Even their iconic Turtle cushion case wasn’t some magical Japanese invention because Swiss brands like Doxa and Omega pioneered that exact flowing-lug look a decade before Japan did.
Credit where it’s due Rolex and Seiko eventually made massive money and pivoted then spent the cash to innovate and dominate. But they had to build that cash pile first through pure imitation.
Modern factories are just running the exact same industrial playbook just a hundred years later and at the end of the day people forget that even the biggest giants in the world started out as nothing but homage companies.
#luxury
Just to be clear upfront I’m a huge fan of Seiko and I honestly admire Rolex up until they changed into their modern version as an unobtainable (and garish) flex piece. I love the history but the facts are the facts.
People like to bash on modern AliExpress startups but let's remember that back in 1905 Rolex literally started out the exact same way.
The timelines get totally mixed up because people compare a mature luxury giant to these new budget brand, but back in 1905 Rolex was just a pure assembly house. They made zero parts and just bought off-the-shelf Swiss movements from Aegler then dropped them into third-party British cases and stamped their name on the dial which is the exact 1900s version of a modern microbrand.
They didn't even fully invent the waterproof Oyster case out of nowhere either since they just bought the screw-down crown patent from independent inventors and paid an outside factory to build the cases.
Same with Seiko. Early on they survived for decades by stripping down and reverse-engineering Western watches gear-by-gear. Even their iconic Turtle cushion case wasn’t some magical Japanese invention because Swiss brands like Doxa and Omega pioneered that exact flowing-lug look a decade before Japan did.
Credit where it’s due Rolex and Seiko eventually made massive money and pivoted then spent the cash to innovate and dominate. But they had to build that cash pile first through pure imitation.
Modern factories are just running the exact same industrial playbook just a hundred years later and at the end of the day people forget that even the biggest giants in the world started out as nothing but homage companies.
#luxury
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