“Rolex: The Impossible Collection”, clocking in at $1,200, is a coffee table flex for watch aficionados.
A certain rarified air surrounds style icons, from the ground up: The right pair of boots, an iconic pair of blue jeans, an eye-catching watch. And for some, that rarified air includes collecting Rolex watches in the flesh.
For watch enthusiasts elsewhere pining for a new Rolex, a fresh Assouline book makes it easier to admire the world’s most envy-inducing timepieces from afar.
There’s no shortage of eye-catching, groundbreaking Rolex timepieces on display in Rolex: The Impossible Collection (Second Edition), a handsome $1,200 tome that celebrates the watchmaker’s 100 most legendary pieces.
The photo-filled book traces everything from modern achievements (tennis great Roger Federer sporting Rolex after winning the 2017 Australian Open) to impossibly precise timepieces that defied convention throughout the 1900s.
It’s nearly impossible to quantify the scope and legendary status of Rolex timepieces: Sir Edmund Hilary wore a Rolex to summit Everest in 1953, George Lazenby as James Bond famously sported the Rolex Submariner, and Rolex produced the very first wristwatch in the early 1900s.
Where the dawn of modern watchmaking exists, there lies Rolex — witness how the most iconic Rolex watch models continue to gain value on the secondary market.
That next-level status includes the Rolex Submariner, which was the most coveted watch on the secondary market last year.
Luxury-focused journalist and watch expert Fabienne Reybaud delivers accompanying text spotlighting what publisher Assouline calls the “most coveted and most legendary brand of watches in the world.”
The second edition itself builds off a first edition sure to stir envy among the most devout Rolex fans, and indeed, anyone who appreciates fine craftsmanship and stylish design (both understatements in their own right).
The significance of the company, founded by Hans Wildorf in 1905, is not lost on Reybaud’s complementary prose or on the publisher itself.
“It comes as no surprise that Rolex is the most collected watch label in the world,” Assouline said, noting that the impressive, lavish volume includes “never-before-seen images of the world’s rarest timepieces.”
This display of those exceedingly rare timepieces, even in luxe book form, doesn’t come cheap: The beautifully crafted volume can be found online now at Assouline.
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