Rolex
Rolex
Episode metadata
- Episode title: Rolex
- Show: Acquired
- Owner / Host: Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
- Episode publish date: 2025-02-24
- Episode AI description: Discover the paradox of Rolex, a luxury brand that thrives on the demand for outdated mechanical watches over digital alternatives. Learn about its extravagant comparison to the Birkin bag and the surprising origins of its founder. Delve into the brand's evolution during key historical moments like World Wars I and II. Explore the innovative marketing behind the Oyster dive watch and the cultural significance of the Daytona. Uncover how Rolex maintains its prestige while producing over a million units annually, all while giving back through philanthropy.
- Mentioned books: Electrifying the Wristwatch by Lucien F. Trueb, The Rolex Legacy by James Dowling, The best of times by Okinba Launko
- Duration: 04:59:34
- Episode URL: Open in Snipd
- Show URL: Open in Snipd
- Export date: 2025-11-27T20:41:36
Snips
🎧 34:13 - 35:39 (01:26)
What Kodak and Rolex looked for in a brand name
- A name that means nothing
- A name that is pronounceable in any language
- A name that is short
- A name that is easy to remember
- It should not resemble any other name
- It should not be associated with anything else
💬 Quote
I tried combining the letters of the alphabet in every possible way. This gave some hundred names, but none of them felt quite right. It was one morning when I was sitting on the upper level of a double-decker bus, [...] that a good genie whispered in my ear, Rolex.
📚 Transcript
Ben Gilbert: We need to coin the term for the industry. And he's inspired here by the Kodak camera, which by then had been around for a while and was made not by the Kodak company, but by the Eastman company. And Kodak, I believe, was the first invented
David Rosenthal: product brand name. And it was a name that meant nothing. Yeah, I think that's right. And it intentionally meant nothing. It was easy to pronounce. It was easy to say. You could
Ben Gilbert: see it once. It was very memorable. It worked in any language. It was five letters. It had a great sound to it. So supposedly, Eastman came up with the name Kodak with his mother using an anagram set. And he said that there were three principal concepts that he was looking for in the name. One, it should be short, easy to pronounce. It should work in any language, and it should not resemble any other name or be associated with anything else. Yep. Anyway, Hans takes inspiration from this and he decides that he needs a Kodak for his new wristwatch. And he writes, I tried combining the letters of the alphabet in every possible way. This gave some hundred names, but none of them felt quite right. It was one morning when I was sitting on the upper level of a double-decker bus, powered at that time by horses, driving alongside Cheapside in London, that a good genie whispered in my ear, Rolex. He's good at myth-making.
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