In the 1950s Albert Wajs founded the company as a supplier of stainless steel bracelets. He partnered with Joseph Ollech in 1956 and expanded into the manufacture of wristwatches from retail space in Zurich. Watches were offered by mail order from Switzerland through magazine ads to customers in the United States and UK.

The company specialized in automatic and manual-wind mechanical military and dive watches. They were sold on PX's on US military bases during the 1960s. The company's M 65 military watch was popular with US soldiers. The Vietnam War era marked an all-time high in sales. Breitling Navitimer stock was used to produce Ollech & Wajs chronometer style watches, called “Aviation”. During the first season of the 1970s British television series The Professionals, actors Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins wore what appear to be Ollech & Wajs Caribbean 1000 wristwatches.

O&W finally ended production in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, the company resumed under the name A.I. Wajs.