Hans Wilsdorf (22 March 1881 – 6 July 1960) was a German watchmaker, best known as the founder of Rolex and Tudor. Wilsdorf's philosophy for the companies was "only great marketing is needed to make a company successful".[1]
Early life
Hans Wilsdorf was born in Kulmbach, Bavaria,[2] to Protestant parents, Anna and Johan Daniel Ferdinand Wilsdorf and was the second son of a family of three children.
His mother died when he was a boy and he became an orphan when his father died soon after when Hans was twelve years old.
Wilsdorf's fate was placed in the hands of his uncles who sold the prosperous family iron tools business which had belonged to his grandfather, and later to his father. Hans and his brother and sister, for education, were sent to boarding schools.
Wilsdorf published his autobiography in 1946 as part of a four-volume set of books named Rolex Jubilee Vade Mecum. In his autobiography Hans said "Our uncles were not indifferent to our fate; nevertheless, the way in which they made me become self-reliant very early in life made me acquire the habit of looking after my possessions and, looking back, I believe that it is to this that much of my success is due."