One of the more unusual and lesser-known traditions associated with Rolex is its annual prize for an apprentice in Kulmbach, Germany, the Bavarian town where Hans Wilsdorf was born. On Friday, this year's recipient, Joshua Sobotta, was not a watchmaker but a brewer and maltster.
The Hans-Wilsdorf Schule, a public trade school located a short walk from the house where the Rolex founder was born, enrolls about 1,600 students in fields including metalworking and automotive technology. But its brewing and malting program remains one of its best known, with apprentices dividing their time between classroom instruction and brewery training in one of Germany's oldest brewing regions.
The annual ceremony, which dates to 1985, when brewer Maria Schmitt became the first recipient, has grown into a regional event attended by Rolex Germany representatives and senior public officials, with Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, among this year's guests.
Mr. Sobotta, who received an engraved Rolex Datejust, completed his apprenticeship at the Maisel brewery, founded in 1887 in Kulmbach by Hans Wilsdorf's uncles, Hans and Eberhard Maisel. Hans Wilsdorf's mother, Anna Wilsdorf, née Maisel, came from the prominent brewing family, making this year's winner not only a graduate of the school bearing the founder's name but also an apprentice trained at his family's brewery.