Riding with the wind to perform feats that seem humanly impossible, the world-class riders at the FEI world cup presented by Rolex stun the bewildered crowd with a spate of skillful moves. In a bid to support events that promote and showcase exceptional talent Rolex endorses such sporting events and propounds its philosophy of pursuing perfection.

The Rolex FEI World Cup Final is considered to be the most prestigious equestrian event and draws a tremendous number of spectators along with numerous world-class competitors from all across the globe. The Rolex is the principal partner of the Rolex FEI World Cup for 2009 that saw a fierce competition amongst the riders, who gave it their all in order to win the 102,000 dollar cash prize along with a Rolex watch. The Rolex FEI World Cup was held at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on the 21^st of April. The home crowd was on their feet to see the last American rider competing in the finals. American rider Steffen Peters and his horse Ravel rose to the challenge and performed tremendously. Immensely talented dressage rider, Steffen Peters is a three time Olympian who won the bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. An accomplished rider Steffen Peters was the Chronicle Horseman in 2006 and has the title of the US National Grand Prix held in Gladstone.

Flying through the piaffes and passages, Steffen Peters riding on the back of Ravel the 11-year-old Dutch gelding displayed near perfect foot work and fantastic movements in the incredibly tough competition. As the competition advanced Steffen Peters got better and better ensuring that every performance garnered enough points to beat the rivals. Ravel, the Dutch Warmblood gelding who is owned by Akiko Yamazaki rode with Steffen Peters for the first time during this competition. In an incredibly tough competition, Steffen Peters rose to the occasion and clinched the Rolex Grand Prix making him the first American rider ever to win this premier competition. In a skillful display of talent Steffen Peters went on to win 84.95 percent marks, which was enough to leave the other competitors behind and win the title at the Rolex Grand Prix challenge. Standing fourth at the Olympics Ravel, Steffen Peters’ horse, has continuously improved its performance and during a half pass piaffe at the end of the challenge, Ravel showed the crowd something more than just flawless performance. Changing the trot music from as Asian based theme to a song by Coldplay titled Viva la Vida, this stallion took on a new groove and danced its way through the difficult tasks. With a glint of strength in his eyes, amidst the throng of people Steffen Peters rode to victory with the Rolex Grand Prix title.

Even though Isabell Werth from Germany, who won the World Cup title in 2007 at the same venue, gave a stellar performance on her 15 year old Hanoverian gelding by the name of Satchmo, it still was not enough to secure the top honor. The nine time world champion Anky van Grunsven riding his horse Painted Black could only secure the third place with 82.50 percent marks. Etching a place amongst the legends of equestrian sports, Steffen Peters rose to win the world title in an incredible combat of skill, talent, endurance, heart, spirit and resolve.

Rolex has been a source of inspiration for many people around the world. Developing itself on the principals of dedication and flawless craftsmanship, Rolex has been instrumental in the evolution of timepieces. It comes as no surprise that as a brand Rolex doesn’t merely stand for astounding watches but also as a platform for meticulous craftsmanship that propounds timeless elegance and remarkable functionality. All the advertisements that have ever been put to print for Rolex have always stated the factual functions and performance of these ground breaking watches.

The 1968 Rolex advertisement is a perfect example of how Rolex utilized its functional and performance based design with Grand Prix racing. The advertisement has a clear cut message that indicates the responsiveness and the precision of the chronometer. It links the accurate sense of timing the formula one race car drivers have with flawless performance of the watch. The advertisement further goes on to state the features of the meticulously crafted Rolex Oyster. Constructed using the finest materials, the oyster case of the watch is built from either 18 carat gold or Swedish stainless steel. The most significant aspect of the advertisement is that it mentions the fact that the Rolex Oyster was crafted almost entirely by the hands of master craftsmen. The advertisement also talks about the incredible actuality that the Rolex Oyster is crafted using the utmost devotion and patience, so much so that each Rolex watch takes over a year to be completed. Jackie Stewart a Scottish daredevil had worked his way up the ranks from a mere mechanic. Jackie was a formidable competitor who was born to blaze the circuits. Stunning the awe-struck crowd with perfect control of the formula one car Jackie had 27 formula wins to his name that were unequalled for almost 20 years. The 1968 Rolex racing advertisement mentions that Jackie Stewart an unparalleled performer in the world of formula one racing endorses the Rolex brand and prefers to wear the scrupulously crafted Rolex Oyster Datejust.

This vintage advertisement employs a theme that associates the incredible speed the racers move around the circuit without losing control of their cars, with the performance of the Rolex Oyster that functions perfectly even in extreme conditions. The primary purpose of the advertisement is to highlight the high level engineering skill that has gone into crafting one of the finest watches the world has ever seen. What distinguishes Rolex from other brands is that right from the start it has never employed clever marketing tactics or strategies in its advertisement. Even though it uses some of the best people in the business to endorse its product it does so only to make the public aware of its flawless craftsmanship and dedicated engineering. Rolex has been able to reach unprecedented heights of success solely because of its determined vision of crafting the best and ushering in a whole new standard of performance and functionality. Apart from setting a precedent for the entire watch market Rolex symbolizes class and true sophistication. A theme for numerous books that have tried to outline what this premium brand defines; Rolex will go down in the pages of history as marvel that revolutionized time.