What Makes Rolex Great? Part-IV
7 min read
Part Four - Industrialization of hope via Rolex Awards for Enterprise
There is a particular kind of ambition that Rolex has cultivated for more than a century. It is visible in its watches, certainly: in the pursuit of chronometric precision, mechanical exception, robustness and long-term reliability. But the more revealing expression of that philosophy may exist outside the watch itself.
Since 1976, Rolex has used its name, resources and global network to support people attempting things for which there is often no established commercial market, no obvious institutional pathway and, sometimes, no guarantee of success. The Rolex Awards for Enterprise were created to identify precisely those individuals: people pursuing difficult, original projects with the potential to improve human life, expand knowledge or protect the natural world.
Half a century later, the programme has evolved from a single celebration into one of the longest-running private initiatives supporting environmental conservation, scientific research, health, technology and exploration.
By 2026, Rolex has supported 165 Laureates whose projects have had an impact across more than 67 countries. The cumulative results attributed to those projects include more than 50 million trees planted, 137 endangered species and 32 major ecosystems protected, 57,600 square kilometres of Amazon rainforest protected, hundreds of new species discovered, 25 challenging expeditions completed and 50 innovative technologies developed.
That is an unusual set of numbers for a watch company. It is also an important clue to understanding what Rolex means when it talks about being “perpetual.”
From the Oyster to enterprise
The Awards were created by André J. Heiniger, then Rolex’s chief executive, as part of the company’s 1976 celebration of the Oyster - the first waterproof wristwatch produced by Rolex. What was intended as a one-time event attracted such international interest that Rolex converted it into a continuing programme.
The connection with the Oyster is more than chronological. Introduced in 1926, the Oyster represented a decisive change in wristwatch design: the case was conceived as a sealed environment capable of protecting the movement from dust and moisture. Fifty years later, Rolex applied a related idea to social and scientific enterprise - not by funding completed achievements, but by helping individuals undertake difficult work whose outcome remained uncertain.
That distinction remains central. The awards do not primarily function as prizes for established celebrity or retrospective accomplishment. They support original projects that are new or still in development. Candidates must be at least 18 years old, but there are no academic or professional qualifications, nationality restrictions or gender limitations. Applications may be submitted in English, simplified Chinese or Spanish.
The programme therefore operates less like a conventional lifetime-achievement award and more like a form of strategic venture philanthropy. It looks for three elements in combination:
- An original and visionary project.
- A credible prospect of benefiting humanity or the planet.
- The leadership, technical ability and determination to execute it.
The selection process is administered from Rolex headquarters in Geneva. Applications are analysed by researchers, evaluated with the assistance of specialists and then considered by an independent, interdisciplinary jury. Since 1976, approximately 37,000 people have applied. Past jurors and advisers have included mountaineers Sir Edmund Hillary and Junko Tabei, astronaut Chris Hadfield, environmental leader Yolanda Kakabadse, geneticist Steve Jones and Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Brian Schmidt.
Historically, five Laureates were selected in each biennial edition. Each received project funding and entry into a network of previous Laureates who could provide knowledge, collaboration and institutional reach. In 2026, the programme entered a new phase: it was renamed the “Rolex Awards” and moved from a biennial to an annual format. The revised structure broadens its emphasis across environmental conservation, science, health and technology.
A measurable global record
The strongest argument for the awards is not their association with a prestigious watch company. It is the measurable record produced by the projects they have supported.
By the 2026 anniversary, Rolex reported that Laureate-led initiatives had contributed to:
- More than 50 million trees planted.
- The protection of 137 endangered species.
- The protection of 32 major ecosystems.
- The conservation of 57,600 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest.
- Hundreds of new species discovered.
- Twenty-five challenging expeditions completed.
- Fifty innovative technologies developed.
- Benefits reaching millions of people worldwide.
Individual examples demonstrate how varied the portfolio is. Felix Brooks-church, a 2021 Laureate, developed a “dosifier” that adds micronutrients to staple flour in rural Tanzanian mills. Rolex reported that the system had helped more than 7 million people address malnutrition without increasing the price paid by consumers.
In Chad, climate and Indigenous-rights advocate Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim brought together 100 local and Indigenous communities to map natural resources in the Sahel. The resulting knowledge was adopted by the national government, illustrating the programme’s preference for solutions that combine scientific or technical methods with local expertise.
Kenyan entrepreneur Beth Koigi, a 2023 Laureate, developed atmospheric-water technology capable of producing more than 200,000 litres of clean water per month for more than 1,900 people. Her Rolex-supported project sought to extend that technology to approximately 3,000 people in 10 communities.
The Awards have also supported research with potentially transformative medical and environmental applications. Marine biologist Emma Camp has studied exceptionally resilient corals that survive in conditions considered hostile to most reef-building species. Neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine has developed bioengineering systems intended to reconnect the brain with the muscles of the lower body after spinal-cord injury.
These projects share a defining characteristic: they are not simply symbolic gestures. They seek to produce systems, evidence, technologies or community models capable of working beyond the individual who created them and of producing measurable impact.
From individual achievement to Perpetual Planet
The Awards became part of a larger Rolex environmental philosophy with the launch of the Perpetual Planet Initiative in 2019.
The evolution is significant. Rolex’s historical relationship with exploration was originally rooted in testing watches under extreme real-world conditions. The company supported explorers including those associated with Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench. Over time, that interest in exploration increasingly became an interest in understanding and protecting the environments being explored.
Today, the Rolex Awards sit within Perpetual Planet alongside wider partnerships involving oceans, landscapes, science, health and technology. Rolex currently describes the initiative as having more than 30 partners and 165 Rolex Awards Laureates.
The programme therefore represents a philosophical extension of the Rolex watch itself. A mechanical watch attempts to preserve a stable measurement of time through engineering, the Awards attempt to preserve knowledge, ecosystems and human capability through investment in people.
The 2026 laureates
The 2026 cohort is particularly significant because it marks the programme’s 50th anniversary and its transition into a yearly awards structure. The five Laureates are women from Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru, China and the United States. Their projects address biodiversity loss, habitat protection, epidemic preparedness and the relationship between environmental health and human livelihoods.
Binbin Li (China): An environmental scientist working with local communities to create sustainable livestock grazing that protects giant pandas and their mountain habitats.
Farwiza Farhan (Indonesia): A forest conservationist mobilizing grassroots communities and women to defend the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra.
Pardis Sabeti (United States / West Africa): A medical geneticist using pioneering technology and portable diagnostic tools to detect and contain infectious disease outbreaks.
Rachel Ikemeh (Nigeria): A conservationist credited with protecting the Niger Delta red colobus monkey and expanding community-led conservation.
Rosa Vásquez Espinoza (Peru): A chemical biologist whose research linked Amazonian deforestation to the decline of stingless bees, helping secure legal protections for them.
What makes Rolex great - beyond the watch
For a luxury-watch company, philanthropy can easily become an exercise in corporate image. The Rolex Awards are more interesting because their structure makes the underlying philosophy measurable.
Rolex’s defining idea has never been merely the construction of an expensive object. The Oyster, the Explorer, the Submariner and the company’s other landmark watches acquired their meaning partly because Rolex repeatedly placed engineering in circumstances where failure had consequences.
The Awards apply the same intellectual framework to human enterprise.
Find an individual willing to attempt something difficult. Give that individual resources before the outcome is certain. Subject the proposal to independent scrutiny. Provide access to an international network. Then allow the person enough time and freedom to turn an unconventional idea into something consequential.
A Rolex measures time, but the Awards invest in what can be accomplished within it.
And perhaps that is the most authentically Rolex aspect of the programme: the belief that the most valuable achievements are not necessarily those that have already been completed, but those that are sufficiently difficult, original and worthwhile that someone has the courage to begin them.
You can find the other parts of the What Makes Rolex Great? series here: Part-I, Part-II, Part-III.
