In 1908, a 27-year-old Bavarian invented a five-letter word that would fit on a watch dial in any language — and trademarked it before he had a factory to make the watches

In 1908, a 27-year-old Bavarian invented a five-letter word that would fit on a watch dial in any language — and trademarked it before he had a factory to make the watches

The word Rolex has five letters, two syllables, and works in every language a marketer might want to sell into. It is short enough to sit on a watch dial without crowding the hands, blunt enough to pronounce in German, French, Japanese, and Hindi without distortion, and abstract enough to mean nothing at all. A young Bavarian named Hans Wilsdorf registered it as a trademark in 1908 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, years before he had a factory…