Vintage Rolex: The Largest Collection in the World

Vintage Rolex: The Largest Collection in the World is an ode, a love letter, and a paean to family tradition while also being a celebration of the longevity of the Rolex brand.

This incredible monograph is eye candy for those fascinated by the brand as well as with timepieces or horology in general. The text is exceedingly brief given the physical size of the book, but in a case of less is more, this tome is encyclopedic and monumental in its scope.

Vintage Rolex: The Largest Collection in the World commemorates the silver anniversary of The Vintage Watch Company’s store in London’s Burlington Arcade and it does so in the grandest way: by laying bare one of the most incredibly extensive collections of Rolex watches in existence.

Any reader with knowledge of the branding business will speak of product recognition, discernible silent signals owning one gives off, or traits that are immediately recognizable as inherent to the brand. With literally 100s and maybe 1000s of images the reader learns that Rolex’s only constant was its logo and perhaps its crown. The seemingly endless variation in cases and hands, lugs, dials, colorations, and materials are staggering. Most associate the brand with a metal strap but that is the least of its most outstanding attributes. Creativity and variation run wild within the brand.

Rolex was not only a watch maker; the company was an innovator and inventor in its striving to further the definition of what a watch is meant for or could be used for—and it wasn’t just for telling time. The breadth of visuals is unparalleled in its clarity and their endless nuance and variety that the company employed while continuing to use and evolve during its ongoing popularity and status.

It is not difficult to understand how and why Rolex became a status symbol as well as one of those silent signals that speaks to the notion that one has arrived at a certain station of life that demands only the best.