Rotary Watches Ltd was established at

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

, Switzerland by Moise Dreyfuss in 1895. By the 1920s family members Georges and Sylvain Dreyfuss began exporting Rotary watches to Britain, which was to become the company's most successful market. Rotary later became the official watch supplier for the British Army. The well known “winged wheel” Rotary logo was introduced in 1925 and has since then undergone minor changes in appearance. Rotary became an international company selling watches in more than 35 countries. Since 2014, it has been owned by Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited (an investment holding company known as China Haidian Holdings until 2014).

Background

In 1940, Rotary became an official watch supplier for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Coinciding with the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the drafting of huge numbers into the army, the move put a Rotary watch in almost every household in Britain, leaving a lasting impression of the

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

in the UK. In 2006, Rotary Watches was elected as one of the UK's "

superbrands The Superbrands organization publishes surveys related to brands. The organization also publishes a series of brand-focused books and publications. Superbrands has offices in 90 countries. Background Superbrands was founded in 1994 by Marcel Kno ...

", and has retained its place in successive years. The “winged wheel” Rotary

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

was first introduced in 1925 and has since undergone only minor changes in appearance. In addition to its traditional brand, the company also produces watches under the more exclusive " Dreyfuss & Co" name. Rotary is a member of the

Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) is the Swiss watch industry's leading trade association, headquartered in Bienne, Switzerland. The Federation is a private, professional and non-profit association. The Federation of the Swiss Watc ...

. Rotary Watches' head office is now in the UK, and it is a wholly Chinese-owned company. Rotary offers a range of timepieces manufactured in Switzerland, together with a range of less expensive pieces made elsewhere, usually with movements from Japan or China which are then assembled in Japan or China. Rotary watches typically use either a

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

or automatic

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

, and often feature what Rotary refer to as the "Dolphin Standard" (equivalent to at least

ISO 2281 ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

), meaning they are

water resistant Waterproofing is the process of making an object or structure waterproof or water-resistant so that it remains relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environme ...

and may be suitable for all-day swimming and diving. Unique to Rotary is the "Revelation" design of reversible watch, which features two distinct movements and

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

, allowing the wearer to change style at will or easily switch between two different

time zones Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

Subsidiaries

* Dreyfuss & Co.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.rotarywatches.com Companies based in the canton of Neuchâtel Swiss watch brands Swiss companies established in 1895 Manufacturing companies established in 1895 Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland Watch manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom British brands