As Rolex ascends the luxury pyramid, Tudor reprises its role as protector and creative lab of the group

Most of today’s buyers are too young to remember, but Rolex was not a luxury brand from its inception. I, on the other hand, am actually old enough to remember that when I was 5, my parents decided to move to Bienne — the small Swiss town where Rolex is still manufacturing its movements, and where its big rival, Omega, has its headquarters. We moved into an apartment where we could see a huge factory with a sign that says “Rolex”. Guess what? My parents didn’t know what Rolex was. At the beginning of the 1970s, the brand had a positioning like Longines today — mid-range or accessible luxury, however you want to look at it.