Rolex and Aegler (Rebberg)

Rolex and Aegler

Aegler is very important name in the history of Rolex. From the very start of Rolex, Aegler manufactured the watches that were sold as Rolex watches. Rolex didn't own the company or the factory, it was owned by the Aegler and Borer families. This situation continued until 2004 when Rolex bought the company.

On 1 January 1913, Wilsdorf & Davis established an office in Bienne at Fabrikgasse 3 b. The nature of the

business was given as Horlogerie en gros or wholesale horology. There can be little doubt that the reason for

establishing this office

was to improve the

efficiency of

communications

between the London headquarters of

Wilsdorf & Davis and the Aegler factory.

There is a separate page devoted to the history of the Aegler company at Aegler.

The larger movement with the perlage decoration on the bridge dates from circa 1918 carries the single name

“Rolex” so this is from a Rolex watch, not just a watch that was sold by the Rolex Watch Company. But notice that

the Rolex brand name is engraved on the ratchet wheel. This is an easy component to change, just a single

screw holds it in place. This was most likely an idea of Aegler's to reduce the amount of stock they needed to hold. They could hold ratchet wheels engraved with Rolex or any other name, and then when an order came in they could simply take unbranded movements and change the ratchet wheels to one with the name given on the order. This was a more cash efficient system than tying up lots of movements with names engraved on their bridges which then could only be sold to that customer.

Wilsdorf would have wanted the Rolex name engraved on the bridge of movement from the outset, but in the early days, before the 1920s, he was only one of many customers Aegler had and they could afford to refuse him. This is most likely the source of the story that Aegler at first refused to put the Rolex name onto their movements. They didn't want to engrave it onto the bridges because that stock could then only be sold to Rolex. But they put lots of different names on ratchet wheels, which could be easily exchanged, so it wasn't that they didn't want another company's name appearing on their movements at all, just not on the bridge where it was difficult to change or remove.

When Rolex became more important to Aegler as a customer they had to listen to him more seriously and the Rolex name got engraved on the bridge. The earliest watch that I have seen with Rolex engraved on the central bridge of the Aegler Rebberg movement had Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks in the case back with the date letter "d" for the year 1926 to 1927.