Hans Wilsdorf, founder of the luxury watch brand Rolex, was allegedly a Nazi sympathiser and suspected spy for Adolf Hitler’s regime, according to a report in The Telegraph. Citing previously classified files from Britain’s National Archives, the report reveals that MI5 considered Wilsdorf “most objectionable” and “suspected of espionage” during World War II.
The documents, dating from 1941 to 1943 and marked with MI5’s civil service codename “Box 500,” suggest that British intelligence viewed Wilsdorf as a potential threat to Allied interests despite his status as a naturalised British citizen. One 1943 report stated: “Wilsdorf and his wife are majority shareholders, and he is suspected of espionage on behalf of the enemy.”
British Authorities Were Highly Doubtful of Rolex Founder Hans Wilsdorf During WW2
A 1941 letter from the Ministry of Economic Warfare’s Blacklist Section indicated that officials debated adding Wilsdorf to a wartime trade blacklist. However, they concluded that doing so might damage overseas trade with the British Empire, given Rolex’s global reputation.
The files also question the motivation behind Wilsdorf’s well-known wartime gesture of offering free Rolex watches to British prisoners of war in German camps. While the move has often been portrayed as patriotic, horological historian Jose Perez, who uncovered the MI5 file, suggested it may have been a calculated publicity effort.
Perez noted that from 1941 to 1946, Swiss watch imports to the UK were largely banned. “It might have been the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone — win favour with the British government and maintain Rolex’s visibility, even if payment for the watches was only due after the war,” he said.
Rolex Says It Will Inquire Into Accusations Linked to Nazis
Rolex has acknowledged awareness of the MI5 file and responded to the allegations by launching its own investigation. “Given the sensitivity of these allegations, we have already commissioned an independent, authoritative team of historians who are carrying out research into the exact role of Hans Wilsdorf during this period,” a company spokesperson stated.
Born in Bavaria in 1881, Wilsdorf was orphaned at a young age. He arrived in England in 1903, at a time when immigration controls were minimal, and began working in the watch trade in Hatton Garden. He later registered the Rolex name and married Florence Crotty, a British-born woman, building the brand into one of the most prestigious watchmakers in the world.
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