Inside Rolex’s Shanghai exhibition celebrating the Oyster’s 100th anniversary

Before modern-day brand ambassadors, there was Mercedes Gleitze.

In 1927, the 26-year-old secretary and first British woman to swim across the English Channel famously wore a Rolex Oyster on her highly publicised “vindication swim”, two weeks after her record-setting first crossing had been challenged.

The model’s waterproof case, clamped shut like an oyster shell, had been invented the year before – then Gleitze rocketed it to fame on the world stage.
Gleitze’s watch is one of over 100 Rolex...