{"id":59282,"date":"2025-03-20T20:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T09:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T09:41:02","slug":"the-rolex-legacy","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rolex Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Presented in a slipcase in celebration of 120 years, <strong><em>The Rolex Legacy<\/em><\/strong> offers a unique decade-by-decade journey through Rolex&rsquo;s heritage, featuring 12 chapters that tell the story of the brand and the exceptional watches that cemented its fame and prestige.<\/p>\n<p>Explore 120 meticulously photographed Rolex timepieces, showcasing the diversity of models, styles and finishes &ndash; from the legendary Submariner series to the elusive Rolex Unicorn and the iconic &lsquo;Paul Newman&rsquo; Daytona. Accompanying these extraordinary watches is the most extensive collection of Rolex ephemera ever assembled, tracing the company&rsquo;s history and influence with unparalleled detail.<\/p>\n<p>James Dowling (&lsquo;Mr Rolex&rsquo;) uncovers pieces in never-before-seen archives and specially commissioned photo shoots from around the globe, sharing personal encounters and stories from his quest to discover these beautiful specimens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presented in a slipcase in celebration of 120 years, The Rolex Legacy offers a unique decade-by-decade journey through Rolex&rsquo;s heritage.<br \/>1. 1905 to 1915<br \/>\n&bull; Why London?<br \/>\n&bull; Setting up the company<br \/>\n&bull; Marriage<br \/>\n&bull; The deal with Aegler<br \/>\n&bull; The wrist chronometer<br \/>\n&bull; World War I<\/p>\n<p>2. 1915 to 1925<br \/>\n&bull; World War I, the costs and tax increases<br \/>\n&bull; Moving to Switzerland<br \/>\n&bull; Relationship with Aegler<br \/>\n&bull; Expansion through the Empire<br \/>\n&bull; Birth of the Oyster<\/p>\n<p>3. 1925 to 1935<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the Oyster<br \/>\n&bull; Prince<br \/>\n&bull; Investment in advertising and marketing<br \/>\n&bull; Early automatic watches and Rolex<br \/>\n&bull; Birth of the Perpetual<\/p>\n<p>4. 1935 to 1945<br \/>\n&bull; Marketing the Perpetual<br \/>\n&bull; World War II and its effects on Rolex<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the Datejust<br \/>\n&bull; Rolex enters the US Market<br \/>\n&bull; The Wilsdorf Foundation<\/p>\n<p>5. 1945 to 1955<br \/>\n&bull; Relationship with JWT advertising<br \/>\n&bull; Rolex Vade Mecum<br \/>\n&bull; Repositioning of the brand<br \/>\n&bull; Wilsdorf steps back and Jenneret\/Heiniger take over<br \/>\n&bull; Birth of the &lsquo;Professional&rsquo; Rolex Explorer, Submariner and GMT Master<\/p>\n<p>6. 1955 to 1965<br \/>\n&bull; An era of massive expansion<br \/>\n&bull; Birth of the Day-Date<br \/>\n&bull; Helsinki and the 1958 Master Catalogue<br \/>\n&bull; Wilsdorf passes away<br \/>\n&bull; &lsquo;Men who guide the destinies of the world&rsquo; campaign<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the failures, Milgauss\/TruBeat<br \/>\n&bull; Introduction of the 15XX calibre, the most important in the firm&rsquo;s history<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the lady&rsquo;s Datejust<\/p>\n<p>7. 1965 to 1975<br \/>\n&bull; Sea-Dweller<br \/>\n&bull; Daytona<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the &lsquo;Champions&rsquo; campaign<br \/>\n&bull; The &lsquo;Quartz crisis&rsquo; and Rolex&rsquo;s response<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the Cellini range<\/p>\n<p>8. 1975 to 1985<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the Explorer II<br \/>\n&bull; Oysterquartz<br \/>\n&bull; Introduction of the 30XX calibre<br \/>\n&bull; Rolex and Jack Nicklaus<br \/>\n&bull; Rolex awards for enterprise<\/p>\n<p>9. 1985 to 1995<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the Yachtmaster<br \/>\n&bull; The automatic Daytona<br \/>\n&bull; Andre Heiniger retirement<br \/>\n&bull; Patrick H takes over<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of calibre 31XX<br \/>\n&bull; Relaunch of the Rolex Prince<\/p>\n<p>10. 1995 to 2005<br \/>\n&bull; The rationalisation of factories begins<br \/>\n&bull; Introduction of Maxi-Dials &amp; ceramic bezels<br \/>\n&bull; The Aegler factory purchase<br \/>\n&bull; A century of Rolex<\/p>\n<p>11. 2005 to 2015<br \/>\n&bull; Yachtmaster II introduced<br \/>\n&bull; The Rolex 4130 movement<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of the Rolex Sky Dweller<br \/>\n&bull; Movement developments<br \/>\n&bull; Milgauss reintroduced<br \/>\n&bull; Patrick H passes away<\/p>\n<p>12. 2015 to 2025<br \/>\n&bull; Launch of cal 3255<br \/>\n&bull; New Air King introduced<br \/>\n&bull; Why did most models increase in size?<br \/>\n&bull; The reintroduction of coloured dials<br \/>\n&bull; Day-Date cloisonn&eacute; dial<br \/>\n&bull; The first titanium watch, Yachtmaster.<br \/>\n&bull; Moves upmarket with more precious metal watches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":59283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[5520],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-59282","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-jewellery-watches","7":"author-by-author-james-dowling","8":"publisher-acc-art-books","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Rolex Legacy - ACC Art Books US<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rolex Legacy - ACC Art Books US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Presented in a slipcase in celebration of 120 years, The Rolex Legacy offers a unique decade-by-decade journey through Rolex&rsquo;s heritage.1. 1905 to 1915 &bull; Why London? &bull; Setting up the company &bull; Marriage &bull; The deal with Aegler &bull; The wrist chronometer &bull; World War I 2. 1915 to 1925 &bull; World War I, the costs and tax increases &bull; Moving to Switzerland &bull; Relationship with Aegler &bull; Expansion through the Empire &bull; Birth of the Oyster 3. 1925 to 1935 &bull; Launch of the Oyster &bull; Prince &bull; Investment in advertising and marketing &bull; Early automatic watches and Rolex &bull; Birth of the Perpetual 4. 1935 to 1945 &bull; Marketing the Perpetual &bull; World War II and its effects on Rolex &bull; Launch of the Datejust &bull; Rolex enters the US Market &bull; The Wilsdorf Foundation 5. 1945 to 1955 &bull; Relationship with JWT advertising &bull; Rolex Vade Mecum &bull; Repositioning of the brand &bull; Wilsdorf steps back and Jenneret\/Heiniger take over &bull; Birth of the &lsquo;Professional&rsquo; Rolex Explorer, Submariner and GMT Master 6. 1955 to 1965 &bull; An era of massive expansion &bull; Birth of the Day-Date &bull; Helsinki and the 1958 Master Catalogue &bull; Wilsdorf passes away &bull; &lsquo;Men who guide the destinies of the world&rsquo; campaign &bull; Launch of the failures, Milgauss\/TruBeat &bull; Introduction of the 15XX calibre, the most important in the firm&rsquo;s history &bull; Launch of the lady&rsquo;s Datejust 7. 1965 to 1975 &bull; Sea-Dweller &bull; Daytona &bull; Launch of the &lsquo;Champions&rsquo; campaign &bull; The &lsquo;Quartz crisis&rsquo; and Rolex&rsquo;s response &bull; Launch of the Cellini range 8. 1975 to 1985 &bull; Launch of the Explorer II &bull; Oysterquartz &bull; Introduction of the 30XX calibre &bull; Rolex and Jack Nicklaus &bull; Rolex awards for enterprise 9. 1985 to 1995 &bull; Launch of the Yachtmaster &bull; The automatic Daytona &bull; Andre Heiniger retirement &bull; Patrick H takes over &bull; Launch of calibre 31XX &bull; Relaunch of the Rolex Prince 10. 1995 to 2005 &bull; The rationalisation of factories begins &bull; Introduction of Maxi-Dials &amp; ceramic bezels &bull; The Aegler factory purchase &bull; A century of Rolex 11. 2005 to 2015 &bull; Yachtmaster II introduced &bull; The Rolex 4130 movement &bull; Launch of the Rolex Sky Dweller &bull; Movement developments &bull; Milgauss reintroduced &bull; Patrick H passes away 12. 2015 to 2025 &bull; Launch of cal 3255 &bull; New Air King introduced &bull; Why did most models increase in size? &bull; The reintroduction of coloured dials &bull; Day-Date cloisonn&eacute; dial &bull; The first titanium watch, Yachtmaster. &bull; Moves upmarket with more precious metal watches.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ACC Art Books US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T09:41:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9781788843416-04-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1704\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/\",\"name\":\"The Rolex Legacy - ACC Art Books US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9781788843416-04-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-20T20:11:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T09:41:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9781788843416-04-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9781788843416-04-1.jpg\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":1704},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Books\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/books\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Rolex Legacy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/\",\"name\":\"ACC Art Books US\",\"description\":\"One of the world\u2019s leading publishers and distributors of books on the arts and visual culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Rolex Legacy - ACC Art Books US","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/the-rolex-legacy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Rolex Legacy - ACC Art Books US","og_description":"Presented in a slipcase in celebration of 120 years, The Rolex Legacy offers a unique decade-by-decade journey through Rolex&rsquo;s heritage.1. 1905 to 1915 &bull; Why London? &bull; Setting up the company &bull; Marriage &bull; The deal with Aegler &bull; The wrist chronometer &bull; World War I 2. 1915 to 1925 &bull; World War I, the costs and tax increases &bull; Moving to Switzerland &bull; Relationship with Aegler &bull; Expansion through the Empire &bull; Birth of the Oyster 3. 1925 to 1935 &bull; Launch of the Oyster &bull; Prince &bull; Investment in advertising and marketing &bull; Early automatic watches and Rolex &bull; Birth of the Perpetual 4. 1935 to 1945 &bull; Marketing the Perpetual &bull; World War II and its effects on Rolex &bull; Launch of the Datejust &bull; Rolex enters the US Market &bull; The Wilsdorf Foundation 5. 1945 to 1955 &bull; Relationship with JWT advertising &bull; Rolex Vade Mecum &bull; Repositioning of the brand &bull; Wilsdorf steps back and Jenneret\/Heiniger take over &bull; Birth of the &lsquo;Professional&rsquo; Rolex Explorer, Submariner and GMT Master 6. 1955 to 1965 &bull; An era of massive expansion &bull; Birth of the Day-Date &bull; Helsinki and the 1958 Master Catalogue &bull; Wilsdorf passes away &bull; &lsquo;Men who guide the destinies of the world&rsquo; campaign &bull; Launch of the failures, Milgauss\/TruBeat &bull; Introduction of the 15XX calibre, the most important in the firm&rsquo;s history &bull; Launch of the lady&rsquo;s Datejust 7. 1965 to 1975 &bull; Sea-Dweller &bull; Daytona &bull; Launch of the &lsquo;Champions&rsquo; campaign &bull; The &lsquo;Quartz crisis&rsquo; and Rolex&rsquo;s response &bull; Launch of the Cellini range 8. 1975 to 1985 &bull; Launch of the Explorer II &bull; Oysterquartz &bull; Introduction of the 30XX calibre &bull; Rolex and Jack Nicklaus &bull; Rolex awards for enterprise 9. 1985 to 1995 &bull; Launch of the Yachtmaster &bull; The automatic Daytona &bull; Andre Heiniger retirement &bull; Patrick H takes over &bull; Launch of calibre 31XX &bull; Relaunch of the Rolex Prince 10. 1995 to 2005 &bull; The rationalisation of factories begins &bull; 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