Keeping time with Rolex

Time is an enigmatic concept. The longer you want to stretch it, the shorter it seems to become. Either you have too much or too little of it.

It is never measured out in perfect portions. But sometimes it is easy to allow yourself the relief that everything is timeless in life, especially if you are in the verdant valley of the Alps in Switzerland, thanks to an invitation by Rolex. Time stood still as I took in the beauty of the famous Lake Geneva from the balcony of my room.

Just as Switzerland is world-famous for its pristine and timeless natural beauty, so is Rolex deeply respected globally for the masterpieces it creates keeping in mind not just time but also elegance, accurate proportions and incontestable reliability.

Excellence is often an overused term until you get to experience it firsthand. At the Rolex HQ, I came to truly understand what precision and accuracy means as I watched the team of dedicated workers perfecting every working part of a timepiece.

The creation of a Rolex watch is a complex and laborious operation that includes creating the bejewelled case and dial, the movements, the sealing of all the delicate parts and thorough testing for dust and waterproofing.

All of this is meticulously followed to its logical conclusion by hundreds of skilled watchmakers involved in the creation of the watch, a feat that has earned the brand a reputation for precision, accuracy and classical splendour.

Brands are not built in a day – or even in a century.
In the case of Rolex, it has taken around two centuries.

It all began when pioneer and visionary Hans Wilsdorf decided to challenge traditional wisdom that only favoured pocket watches, and attempted to create a watch that could be worn on the wrist. At the time, wristwatches were known to be inaccurate and nothing more than flimsy pieces of jewellery.

However, his perseverance paid off with Rolex, the brand he created, because he focused on quality and precision of the movements. In 1910, a Rolex watch was awarded the first official Swiss certificate granted to a wristwatch by the official rating centre in Bienne.

Four years later, in 1914, the Kew observatory in Great Britain awarded the Rolex watch a class 'A' precision certificate, a distinction which until then was reserved only for marine chronometers.

With time, the generic Rolex watch evolved with the introduction, alteration and incorporation of a variety of features until 1926, when the company came up with 'Oyster', the first waterproof and dustproof watch which proved its mettle when an English swimmer, Mercedes Gleitze, who crossed the English channel, wore it on her wrist while completing her feat.

Rolex believes in being a living laboratory, sensitive to the needs of a generation for which it pioneers new features and new watch types. The last two centuries have seen many first time features created by the watch company that have now become commonplace.

Features such as the perpetual rotor, a self-winding mechanism which allows watches to run non-stop because of the flick of the wrist, the day date indicator and several other types of watches for professional climbers, trekkers and scuba divers creating milestones each time for others to follow.

Therefore, it was only natural that Rolex which places such importance on excellence and achievement decided to institute an award that would honour members of society in other fields who set standards for other to follow.

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise was set up in 1976 by the then Commercial Director of the organisation, Andre Heiniger, to mark the 50th anniversary of its greatest innovation, the Oyster. This honour was introduced with the aim of encouraging a spirit of enterprise in visionary individuals around the globe.

The Rolex Laureate awards of $100,000 and the Associate Laureate awards of $50,000 are presented once every two years. They provide winners with an impetus to continue their work uninterrupted.

Over the years, people from around the world have been honoured in the fields of science and medicine, technology and innovation, exploration and discovery, environmental conservation and for safeguarding and contributing to cultural heritage.

For example, Adli Qudsi, a US-educated architect, was recognised in 1998 for his untiring efforts to conserve the ancient city of Aleppo in his hometown Syria.

Chanda Shroff, a septuagenarian from India, was honoured in 2006 for reviving traditional embroidering crafts of the nomads in Gujarat and bringing economic empowerment to them through the use of their skills.

This year, the Rolex Awards mean more to the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) because for the first time, six nominations have been shortlisted from this region and the awards will be given away in a glittering ceremony at the Madinat Jumeirah to be held in the first week of November.

The awards have come to the Middle East for the first time in its 32-year history under the patronage of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The success and prestige attached to these awards prompted the next chief executive officer, Patrick Heiniger, to institute yet another award category in 2002: the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. This is an international philanthropic programme that seeks out highly talented young artists around the world and brings them together in a one-to-one mentoring relationship with great masters for a year.

Every two years, a new advisory board of distinguished artists and practitioners suggests and endorses potential mentors. Once they agree, then Rolex works with them to establish a profile of the protégé they would like to work with.

Prominent artists from various disciplines such as Wole Soyinka, John Baldessari, Mira Nair, William Forsythe, Ann Teresa De Keersmaeker, Martin Scorcese, Kate Valk, Rebecca Horn and Youssou N'dour to name a few have associated themselves with this unique arts initiative.

Rebecca Irvin, who has been the director for both these awards, thinks of this as a unique learning opportunity for all. "We are beginning to see the fruits of the encouragement and support of distinguished masters in the last six years for the Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Young artists are expressing their talent in new ways; artists who are often working outside conventional frameworks of support are getting new opportunities; the eminent figures who give their time so generously are enjoying the experience of developing new creative relationships to enrich the practice. We at Rolex are proud that we are able to play our part in making this happen."

Six projects from this region on the Rolex Awards shortlist for 2008. More than 138 entries from 13 countries in the MENA region were received for the Rolex Awards this year, representing nine per cent of the 1,477 entries received globally.

Six projects in environmental awareness and conservation, cultural heritage and science were shortlisted for this biennial award that will be held this year in Dubai.

Rebecca, the director of the awards, who always felt that this region had not been adequately represented in the last 32 years, was thrilled with the response. "We believe the
diversity and richness of the entries prove that the Arab world's tradition of innovation, discovery and rich heritage is alive and well," she says.

The six shortlisted candidates are: Emirati environmentalist Habiba Al Marashi, Italian conservationist Gianluca Serra, Jordanian chemistry professor Talal Akasheh, Turkish fisheries enthusiast Mustafa Sari, mediaperson Najib Saab of Lebanon and German agricultural engineer Franziska Arici.
For more information on both these award categories, go to
www.rolexawards.com and www.rolexmentorprotege.com