Rolex
Rolex SA () is a Swiss luxury watchmaker. Originally founded as "Wilsdorf and Davis" by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London in 1905, the company registered "Rolex" as the brand name of its watches in 1908. In 1919, the company moved its base of operations to Geneva, Switzerland in order to avoid heavy taxation from a recovering post-war Britain, and "Montres Rolex S.A." was registered as the new company name by Hans Wilsdorf in Geneva in 1920. Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust.
Rolex Daytona
After Zenith Radio resold Zenith in 1978, Ebel decided to purchase some unassembled Calibre 3019PHC movements in 1981, which Zenith assembled out of leftover spare parts. Rolex expressed interest in using the 3019PHC to power a new series of Daytonas, but would not award the ten-year contract to Zenith until they could resume production of new movements. Production resumed in 1986 after Vermot showed company leaders where he had saved the tooling and production notes. Rolex modified the movement by reducing the beats to 28,800 VPH to increase the power reserve, and made a few other changes, retaining only 50% of the original parts. The modified movement was designated Calibre 4030 by Rolex.