It’s 1908 and Hans Wilsdorf is sitting on the open top deck of a double-decker bus being pulled by horses along Cheapside in London.
The Wilsdorf and Davis watch company he started with his brother-in-law is hardly a success. Hans wants to start a new watch company that can set a new standard for luxury and accuracy. He thinks about a new brand name by combining letters in the alphabet. It has to be symmetrical, easily pronounceable and short enough to fit on the face of a watch.
It’s when he stops thinking and permutating that the brand name comes to him - Rolex.
One of the world’s most valuable brand names conjured out of thin air.