When was Rolex founded?
Rolex
Rolex SA (/ˈroʊlɛks/) 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.[3][4][5] 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.[4][6][7] Since 1960, the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust.[5][8][9]
Raleigh Bicycle Company
In Frank Bowden's own lifetime, Raleigh publicity material stated that the firm was founded in 1888, which was when Bowden, as he himself confirmed, first bought into the enterprise. Thus, Raleigh's 30th anniversary was celebrated in 1918. The 1888 foundation date is confirmed by Bowden's great-grandson, Gregory Houston Bowden, who states that Frank Bowden "began to negotiate with Woodhead and Angois and in December 1888 founded 'The Raleigh Cycle Company'." The December 1888 foundation date is also confirmed by Nottinghamshire Archives. In recent years, the Raleigh company has cited 1887 as a foundation date but, whilst this pre-dates Bowden's involvement, the Raleigh brand name was created by Woodhead and Angois and the enterprise can, as demonstrated above, be traced back to 1885.