Ulysse Nardin Caprice Automatic Mother of Pearl Dial Stainless Steel Ladies Watch 133-91-7-691

WORLDTEMPUS - 15 April 2011

Yesterday marked the unexpected passing of Rolf Schnyder, a man whose actions in the watch industry have changed the face of it forever. When Rolf Schnyder bought Ulysse Nardin in 1983, he saved not only a traditional family business in danger of going under in the flood of quartz. It was at that point that Rolf began showing his stuff, laying the groundwork for a wealth of visionary art that looks to the future without forgetting the past.

Rolf, who celebrated his 75th birthday this past year, still had the energy to lead his company's impulses and be present at all the important milestones it was involved in. On the Wednesday evening of Baselworld's press day, just three weeks ago, in front of hundreds of guests he spoke of the recent advances his company had made and looked eagerly toward an interesting future. His company's biggest advance of last year was announced just five months ago in Sion: it concerned another joint venture called Diamaze, this time in the realm of diamond use. Rolf made Ulysse Nardin's advances—which include the Sigatec joint venture for silicon—available for all to use. While he could have chosen to keep this progressive research exclusively for his own company's employ, he shared these services with any other firms who cared to use it.
Like all of us, Rolf has grown with this industry. Unlike all of us, he had the foresight and vision to make real changes and follow a direction of belief that has enabled the watch world to enjoy works of art that would otherwise have never come to be. One such example is his longtime friendship with Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, which resulted from his search for the right partner to help fulfill the original vision he had of mechanical art. Together they created masterpieces at a time when it was considered entrepreneurial suicide to do so.

Rolf Schnyder was born in Zurich in 1935. An entrepreneurial adventurer right from the beginning, he got to know the world of watches and other cultures through his marketing work with Jaeger-LeCoultre, after which he joined the Diethelm company in Thailand, where he also learned the local language. In 1966 he became responsible for Philip Morris's Asian dealings, though watches seemed to remain his focus. In 1968 he co-founded the first company in southwestern Asia to manufacture components for the watch industry. After setting up this enterprise, he left Thailand for Malaysia, establishing his own company in Kuala Lumpur in 1975. Precima specializes in the fabrication of dials, supplying a number of Swatch Group companies and other high-end brands, as well as electronic components that are supplied to the likes of ETA, Nivarox and Comadur. He later divested himself of these other entrepreneurial interests to devote his full energy to Ulysse Nardin
During a visit to his homeland in 1982 he discovered that Ulysse Nardin had been put up for sale. Backed by a number of investors and friends, he bought the company and its excellent reputation one year later, aiming to fill the then-empty shell with mechanical delicacies intended to aid in resuscitating the beached brand and, by extension, the lagging mechanical watch industry. Although Rolf's background to that point lay in marketing, he was in no way driven by market research—but rather a far-sighted dream.

Ulysse Nardin's ongoing research and longtime employees—who have remained loyal to Rolf and the company despite their own success—have made this company a leader in its field. The remaining leaders, among them Pierre Gygax, Lucas Humair, Susanne Hurni and Patrick Hoffmann, will continue to guide Ulysse Nardin as Rolf would have wanted within a predetermined structure. In fact, Rolf has left behind a plan for the continuation, parts of which fans of the brand will see when the timing is right. "He was an excellent teacher," Susanne told me this morning. "We will continue to work as he wished."
Rolf will be buried in Kuala Lumpur on Monday during a ceremony with his immediate family. Rolf lived in Malaysia with his wife and three children, but was often in Switzerland at his second home in Neuchâtel and other countries in the service of his beloved brand. A memorial in Switzerland is planned for a later date.