Last year, the decision makers at Rolex decided the time was right for a shakeup.

Unlike with most "shakeups," however, there wouldn't be widespread corporate reorganization, and scores of merchandise wouldn’t be cut.

Instead, Rolex executives decided that it was time for the company to launch its first branded Facebook page, a herculean leap for a brand that has, for decades, closely monitored its reputation and only made tweaks — in both its watches and marketing strategies — after subjecting them to significant scrutiny.

"Creating buzz is not the intent," the brand told Mashable. "We craft our content thoughtfully, privilege quality over quantity, talk only when we have something to say and when we feel it's right."

Agency partners who’ve worked with Rolex tell a similar story. The heritage lifestyle label doesn't do random, they say, and its late arrival to the social media party was no mistake or oversight. Rather, they believe, Rolex's reticence was a calculated play. The brand knew it would not diminish its legacy or lose its loyal support base by staying away from social media at first. It wanted to know everything it could about social marketing and engagement data before it took the plunge.

Over the past century, precision has become Rolex’s guiding principle, encompassing everything from its watches to its product marketing. Here’s how the brand monopolized a message and withstood the temptations to cheapen it in the social media age.

Print Ads: Rolexes and Achievement

A 1927 print ad depicting Mercedes Gleitze's momentous swim Image: Rolex

Since 1905, the hallmark of Rolex’s messaging has been the supreme craftsmanship and innovativeness of its watches, as well as the milestones they’ve witnessed.

In 1927, for example, Mercedes Gleitze became the first British woman to cross the English Channel. She did so wearing a state-of-the-art Rolex Oyster, the first waterproof watch ever invented.

After Gleitze’s historic swim, Rolex took out a front page ad in England’s Daily Mail to trumpet the feat and showcase its new watch. In doing so, Rolex introduced what would become known as the “testimony concept.” In the 1927 placement, the copy describes the qualities of the watch (waterproof), while the witness (Gleitze) provides testimony that Rolex’s claims of a waterproof watch are true.

“More than ten hours of submersion under the most trying to conditions failed to harm its perfect timekeeping,” the ad proclaims. “...Perfect timekeeping under all conditions is at last a possibility.”

The next decade, a Rolex would again be worn during a historic feat. In 1935, British racecar driver Malcolm Campbell broke the world’s speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Campbell, an avid Rolex fan, wore an Oyster during the record-breaking race and timed his laps with the accessory.

Famed British racer Malcolm Campbell wore a Rolex during a record-breaking run in 1935.

In a subsequent Rolex ad celebrating Campbell’s achievement, the driver is shown in his famous Bluebird car. Below him is a re-printed letter that Campbell sent to Rolex lauding the company’s watch.

“I have now been using my Rolex Watch for a while,” he says, “and it is keeping perfect time under somewhat strenuous conditions.”

In the following decades, Rolexes would be worn during epochal climbs, deep-sea dives and intercontinental flights.

In the 1950s, Rolex began capitalizing commercially on the history its watches had been apart of.

Members of John Hunt's expedition wore Oysters as they ascended Mount Everest Image: Rolex

In 1953, for example, when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Rolex honored the men by modeling a watch, the Oyster Perpetual Explorer, after them (the men’s expedition was equipped with Oysters).

Oceanographer Jacques Piccard wore an Oyster during his trip to the Mariana Trench. Image: Rolex

Then, after oceanographers Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, wearing Oysters, reached Marianas Trench, Rolex modeled three subsequent watch lines after them: the Submariner, the Deep Sea Special and the Sea-Dweller.

Rolex on Film: A Witness to History

In recent TV ads, Rolex has reinforced the notion that its watches are iconic and witnesses to history, a tenet that has become central to its brand storytelling. Though the past often seeps into Rolex’s present-day marketing, the company says it isn’t trying to sell empty nostalgia.

“Brands with rich histories always walk a tightrope between the future and the past,” it tells Mashable. “And true history is not about nostalgia.”

Instead, Rolex positions its watches as accessories to history, not motionless spectators.

One of the company’s best-received campaigns is a series of commercials with the tagline, "It doesn't just tell time; it tells history."

The watchmaker produced a few different variations on the theme, including individual videos that highlight the achievements of professional athletes like tennis player Roger Federer, who has been the omnipresent face of Rolex since 2006, and golf legends Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

In the Woods commercial, the narration cleverly describes the common ground between the watches and Woods.

“This watch has seen ... uncanny precision and impossible physics, on golf’s most hallowed grounds,” the narrator says, reminding the audience of the traits shared by Woods and a Rolex.

Though Rolex has become an indelible presence at sports events like tennis’ Australian Open and golf’s Open Championship, the brand has channeled other icons as well, drawing them in from political, artistic and cinematic spheres.

In another commercial that highlights luminaries throughout history, Rolex again plants its product as a witness to history, much like it did with its print ads in the 20th century.

“This watch is a witness to words that have moved nations,” the narrator states as snapshots of Winston Churchill and Martin Luther king are flashed.

“It’s dared men faster ... further,” he adds as portraits of James Cameron, Jackie Stewart and Paul Newman play over the words.

Rolex on Social Media: No Random Acts of Content

When Rolex made its long-awaited jump into social media, it didn’t roll out all of its assets at once. Instead, it segmented its approach, starting with a YouTube launch in 2012.

When it introduced its branded YouTube channel, Rolex was wise not to bloat the page with product ads, which consumers generally shy away from. Instead, Rolex used the platform to launch in-house documentaries about topics that matter to the brand and its devotees, like Himalayan expeditions and deep-sea missions to investigate the polar ice caps.

"Our communication on social media enables a better understanding of the brand, its universe, and its values," Rolex tells Mashable.

Agency sources say Rolex, on YouTube and its new Facebook hub, practices extreme caution and strategy calculation. Rather than publishing content for content's sake, the brand meticulously selects what media tells the brand's story best.

Post by ROLEX.

Rolex also prides itself on social listening, i.e., scraping brand mentions from its own and other social networks and using that data — what people are saying and how they're saying it — to identify what consumers want to see from the brand on social media.

Last July, after mining Facebook comments, Rolex observed that users wanted to learn more about the distinctive features of its watches. One in particular, the quirky roman numerals on Rolexes, piqued commenters’ curiosity. In response, Rolex launched a “Did You Know” series to explain why Rolex uses IIII, the “Clockmaker’s Four,” instead of IV.

The post was a hit. Out of all the content on Rolex’s Facebook page, the Clockmaker’s Four explainer garnered the most likes — nearly 119,000. For Rolex, the success was a sign that its careful social listening paid off and created brand advocates.

Though Rolex has only been on Facebook for a year, it’s already made a splash. In the social network's “prestige category,” Rolex has the highest engagement rate.

Agency sources say the brand believes its starting to listen to the right conversations on its social channels, which also include a Pinterest page. The goal for Rolex, they say, is to identify what will matter to its customers not tomorrow, but ten years down the road.

What do you think of Rolex's organic approach to marketing? Tell us in the comments.