The Oyster Myth (II)

Among the many alternatives to Rolex Oyster, we can point to the Compressor and Super Compressor case designs from case manufacturer Ervin Piquerez S.A. (EPSA). It developed a patented case sealing method that actually became more watertight the deeper the watch was submerged: the deeper you went, the more pressure was applied to the case back, pressing it against the O-ring gasket. Another advantage of this configuration is that the O-ring did not have full pressure on it constantly, a factor that extended its lifespan. EPSA made these cases from the late 1950s into the early 1970s. Many companies used them with results that were comparable or even better than the Rolex solution, as an official evaluation for the adoption of a diver watch by the U.S. Navy showed in 1959. After extensive testing, the winners were revealed to be not the Rolex Submariner Ref. 6538 but the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms (no screw-down crown) and the Enicar Seapearl 600 (Compressor case/no screw-down crown).

Omega’s solution

Numerous other attempts were made to cruise past the Rolex patents. Panerai developed its patented crown guard. Mido, whose Multifort model, launched in 1935, was branded the first waterproof, antimagnetic and impact-resistant watch, used a specially treated natural cork to seal the winding stem. The Multifort became the best-selling Mido watch until the 1950s. Blancpain used a double O-ring system in its legendary Fifty Fathoms. The Polerouters from Universal Geneve didn’t use a screw-down crown either. Ultimately, though, Omega stood out as the greatest advocate of different technical solutions… which proves the power of Rolex marketing.

Omega was no stranger to waterproof watches, having introduced in 1932 a waterproof wristwatch based on Swiss patent CH 146310, granted to Louis Alix. The Omega Marine was the first watch to be specifically tested and qualified for diving. Its design overcame the problem of how to waterproof the winding stem without infringing Rolex patents by the simple solution of sliding the entire inner case inside a second outer casing. The year of its release, the Marine accompanied Yves Le Prieur, the father of modern diving, on many of his dives. As early as 1936, American explorer Charles William Beebe took the Marine to a depth of 14 meters, citing the watch’s resistance to such an environment as “veritable progress in the science of watchmaking”. Following on from the 1932 Marine, in 1939 and 1941 Omega launched the Marine Standard, a simplified rectangular waterproof watch. More interesting, perhaps, is the 1937 Naïad. It featured a snap-on case back and gaskets that sealed against the stem tube of the crown. The Naiad crown would be adopted and improved on in every subsequent Omega waterproof/water-resistant watch up to the mid 1960s. The Holy Trinity of Omega also used Naïad crowns with the same system of internal gaskets that sealed against the stem tube but with the refinement that the seal became tighter as pressure increased.

Marketing is king

The system was ingenious as it combined the force of nature (pressure) with man-made materials (rubber gaskets). The design of the Naïad crown was sound in theory, and worked well in practice until the sealing pack aged and lost its physical property. When this happened, the seal against the stem tube was insufficient to keep out water if the watch was submerged just below the surface, and so word got around that the Naïad crown was ineffective in shallow water. David Boettcher sets the record straight: “[This problem] resulted from customers not having their watches serviced and the seals replaced at the recommended intervals. (…) The eventual replacement of the Naïad crown on watches like the Omega Seamaster with a screw-down crown was mainly to appeal to public perception; the Rolex [Submariner] had a screw-down crown, which Rolex made a lot of in advertising, so the Seamaster also acquired a screw-down crown in order to compete for sales”.

The inability of Omega – undoubtedly a great company and Rolex’s main competitor in sports watches – to stand behind its invention highlights just how powerful Rolex marketing can be. The plethora of technical solutions to combat water ingress, from Omega and other Swiss companies, failed to engage customers not because they were ineffective, but because the customer had been “trained” to seek a standard that Rolex offered. The screw-down crown is not a cure-all in dive watches. It is the quality and positioning of the O-ring that crucially impacts water-resistance. A screw crown simply prevents accidental disengagement should the watch take a knock while underwater. It is, of course, a great addition and invention but not to the extent Rolex would have us believe.

Genius at work

So was Rolex the sole creator of the waterproof wristwatch? On the one hand, Rolex used previous patents, therefore the company based its solutions on the work of others. There had been many earlier waterproof watches reaching back as far as the mid nineteenth century, although none had any real commercial success. Perhaps the most complete was the 1917 Submarine Commanders. On the other hand, Rolex was instrumental in using these patents and, through the improvements it made, making them fail-safe. It was probably Wilsdorf who had the idea of pulling all these ideas together to create a complete and fully waterproof watch. The answer is therefore “yes and no”, though probably to a greater extent “yes”.

Hans Wilsdorf was the marketing genius who promoted the waterproof watch as something the average person wanted or needed. At the same time, he convinced public opinion that he alone was responsible for the creation and development of this type of watch, and that consequently the technical solutions he applied and had the patents for were the best available. Add to this the inability of other companies, including Omega, to stand behind their inventions and overturn public perception, including through marketing, and we are closer to understanding how Rolex came to its dominant position.

The Oyster Perpetual justifiably changed the face of the wristwatch, and this is due to Wilsdorf’s hard work and vision. It cemented the popular belief that Rolex is at the forefront of innovation. It also established the company for a general audience, more so than any other watch company in the world: Rolex is still one of the few brands with such an unparalleled level of global recognition. However, this happened not purely out of technical brilliance, but from a fusion of technological solutions and marketing together with a clear vision and a very conservative strategy. This cocktail, which is still extremely popular and highly addictive, proves that it is not only how you create a product but also how you sell it to your client. It’s all a matter of perception, and when it comes to shaping opinions and attitudes, thereby engineering the consent of its clients, Rolex wears the crown. It stands behind its products, does not change them erratically, and above all continues to offer an outstandingly well-made wristwatch. All Hail the Oyster Perpetual!