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“Rolex’s Underwater Adventure ” WEIRD Marketing Strategy #11 In 1927, a young British secretary called Mercedes Gleitze took a place in the annals of watchmaking history with a sporting exploit that brought the first waterproof watch to the world’s attention. Mercedes wore a Rolex Oyster, spending more than 10 Hours in the chilly waters between France and Great Britain. At the end of the swim, the waterproof wristwatch was declared to be perfectly working. She was the first Englishwoman to manage the arduous swim, and she earned huge popular acclaim and Rolex used this opportunity to grab attention of the people. Although wristwatch are taken for granted nowadays, a century ago pocket watches were the norm. The practical timepiece championed by Rolex owes much of its success to the painstaking development of waterproofing.