It is a brand that needs no introduction and it is also a brand that has no shortage of books. Still, it will certainly attract the attention of its biggest fans. Rolex becomes the newest subject in Assouline’s Impossible Collection series with a massive 10-pound booklet that spotlights the world’s most famous watch brand.
Coveted
“For more than a century, Rolex has been known as the most coveted and most legendary brand of watches in the world.” A Rolex means many things: the quintessence of the luxury timepiece, a tool of power for people of influence, the symbol of passage to adulthood. New labels appear, styles come and go, but the brand at the top never changes. Think of the Daytona that belonged to Paul Newman who was auctioned by Phillips in New York in October 2017 for $ 17.8 million. It’s no surprise that Rolex is the most widely collected watch brand in the world.
Rolex history is rooted in the visionary spirit of its founder, Hans Wilsdorf. In 1905, young Wilsdorf in London founded a watch distribution company, but his real dream was to make wristwatches – back in their infancy, and not very precise – that would be technically durable, reliable and extremely elegant. The company first focused on producing movements of the highest quality, and this quest for precision soon led to the world’s first wristwatch to receive the Swiss chronometric precision certificate awarded by the official evaluation center in Bienne in 1910 Four years later, Kew Observatory in Britain awarded a Rolex watch with a Class A certificate, a distinction previously reserved only for marine chronometers.
Full of milestones
From that date, Rolex wristwatches are synonymous with precision. Over the past 100 years, Rolex’s milestones include: the first waterproof watch, the first self-winding mechanism, the first wristwatch to feature Mt. Everest, the first dive watch waterproof to 100 meters, the first to withstand 1000 Gauss magnetic fields, the first to descend the Mariana Trench. Do them well!
Each of the exceptional Rolex watch models in this beautifully handcrafted Ultimate Collection volume showcases the most valuable and technically innovative models the luxury watchmaker has produced, including watches never seen in print before. From the first wristwatch to the early 1900s and the first 1931 Oyster Perpetual, to an Explorer worn on Sir Edmund Hillary’s expedition to the top of Mt. Everest in 1953 and the Submariner worn by actor George Lazenby in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Surprising collectors around the world will be amazed. The models have been selected by specialist Fabienne Reybaud.
The book will cost you $ 845 and can be purchased at Assouline.com .
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