Wolbrook counts more than 70 years of heritage in tool-watches, with American roots and French flair. The brand was born in the USA in 1949, and its fundamentals were set out in its very first advertisement: sturdy construction and constant accuracy make Wolbrook watches lifelong companions of their proud wearers, at moderate prices, with rugged dependability and quality craftsmanship — all movements triple checked for accuracy, of rugged construction and fully guaranteed, with all parts standard and interchangeable. Its first tool-watch, of 1949, was the ref. 358W2825: a waterproof, shockproof watch in an all stainless-steel case with a 17-jewel Wolbrook movement, large sweep second hand, luminous figures and hands and a matching mesh expansion band. In 1954 the brand introduced shock-resistance, guaranteeing that the balance staff and mainspring would never break, and in 1955 its sister brand Douglas was created to offer highly legible, waterproof and shock-protected tool-watches — with their iconic green luminescent indices — for professionals and for active men and women.

At the end of the 1950s, with the post-war French watch industry booming on the popularity of aquatic sports and developing real expertise in sport and dive watches, Wolbrook and Douglas began producing in France to take advantage of that know-how — the watchmaking 'French connection' that still defines the brand. In 1959 Douglas unveiled the roulette date disk and cyclops magnifying monocle on an unbreakable crystal, and in the early 1960s the two houses introduced the Skindiver watches, including the Skindiver Worldtimer: solid, water-resistant and highly legible, with luminous markers, a bold red sweep second hand, a 24-hour military time scale and a rotating bezel with time zones and elapsed time — a mix of diving and pilot watch features of the kind a NASA engineer and test pilot would choose. A Douglas Skindiver Worldtimer from the 1960s owned and worn by Neil Armstrong was auctioned in 2019 with its authenticity confirmed. Today the brand's mechanical watches and chronographs are assembled and regulated in France, across a line-up that includes the Skindiver Automatic, the Skindiver 38, the Skindiver WT, the Jetflyer automatic chronograph and the four-time-zone Pan4Timer.