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***The below information had been written by someone else. I am not claiming any credit for this, only compiling this for all the members here in RG and for future references***
100 Superlative Rolex Watches by John Goldberger, who is one of the most knowledgeable Rolex experts on earth and happens to own one of the top Rolex collection in the world!!!
John is also close friends with the top 5 other Rolex collectors in the world and they allowed him to share their beautiful and extremely rare Rolex watches in his new book named 100 Superlative Rolex Watches. Many of these Rolex watches have never been seen by the public and the photography in John's book is amazing!!!
John's book contains 700 images and in the article below you will see more than 10% of the images from his Rolex book–which is a masterpiece in and of itself.
The Birth Of The Rolex Brand
The Rolex brand was formally founded in 1908 and is currently celebrating its 100 year centennial, thus John decided to name his book 100 Superlative Rolex Watches.
To put 100 years in perspective, in 1908 General Motors was founded, Henry Ford produced the first Model-T, the Grand Canyon National Monument was designated, Harvard Business School was founded, A long-distance radio message was sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time, the boy scout movement began, Mother's day was observed for the first time as a national holiday, and the first passenger airplane flew in 1908. 100 years is a long time.
PART 1 of 4: The $20 Million Rolex Book
The book itself is unusual for a coffee-table sized book in the sense it has a leather-like cover which makes the book extremely comfortable to handle. Since there is no paper cover the book does not slip and you don't have to worry about damaging the slip cover. The 100 Superlative Rolex watches showcased in the book have a current market value of approximately $20 Million in U.S. currency.
John Goldberger is pictured below and is one of the greatest watch connoisseur's on earth. He has a collection of Patek Phillipe, Rolex, Cartier, Omega and Longines watches. He already authored two books on Omega and one on Longines–both of which are available for purchase along with his new Rolex book at the end of this article.
Italian Rolex Renaissance
John was born and resides in Italy today. He is 50 years old and started collecting vintage watches 30 years ago when he was 20 years old. It appears as if the Italian marketplace was the first to really start collecting vintage Rolex watches, and drove the significant price increases starting in the mid 1980s.
The book begins with a great four page Rolex watch chronology from 1905 to date and it makes it really easy to understand the evolution of the brand. The chronology begins in 1905 because Hans Wilsdorf created his company named Wilsdorf & Davis in 1905 in London, England and brilliantly changed its name to Rolex in 1908.
This book has a superb and consistent layout and there are a total of 700 images in the book and photos of approximately 280 different Rolex watches. John had to choose 100 Rolex watches to showcase and the following four photos bellow illustrate how the 100 he chose are intelligently laid out.
On the left side page for every showcase watch there are four smaller images that show detail and different perspectives. The right page always has a very large and detailed portrait of the watch.
The four images on the left pages have all the historical data on the watch including the reference number, caliber number and year of manufacture.
John has photos of 180 other Rolex highly collectable Rolex watches that are not part of the 100 and he illustrates them as seen on the two pages below.
John Goldberger donates 100% of the profit he makes on the books to charity, which means he made the book to share these stunning Rolex watches with the collectable Rolex community out of the kindness of his heart.
Page 5 Rolex Zerograph [Reference 3346] Circa 1935
Despite the fact the watch above was made in 1935, it is remarkable how modern it looks. There are only 3 known examples of this watch in private collections.
Page 23 Rolex Oyster Star Indices. [Reference 6098] Circa 1952
his watch was made around the same time as the Reference 6062 Star indices Moonphase watch. There is another version with a black dial which can be seen 7 watches down in this article.
PART 2 of 4: The Rolex–Panerai Connection
Rolex made all the original Panerai watches for the Royal Italian Navy from in 1936 to 1956.
Page 24 Rolex Oyster in Stainless [Reference 2081] Circa 1928-1930
This watch above is amazing because it seems to be the watch the later Rolex made Panerai watches were based upon. The watch above is smaller at around 30mm than the 47mm Panerai's (as seen below) but the design language is clearly derivative and almost identical.
Page 27 Radiomor Paneria [Reference 6154] Circa 1956
This is the last Panerai Rolex made (pictured above). It was made for the Egyptian Army. This watch has a current value of $120,00 and is the second rarest collectable Panerai. According to the Author, only 30 of this Reference 6154 were ever made. The most collectable and valuable would be the one existing example of the first Panerai Reference 2533 prototype.
The Rolex diving watch pictured in the illustration above is not in the book. The illustration is from a rare 1935 Rolex brochure and the watch was a honking 47mm. This is the Rolex model Panerai used to make its first Rolex made Panerai (as seen below).
The illustration above appears courtesy of John Goldberger and according to John, he has never seen an actual example of the Rolex Reference number 2533 because it is so rare. I imagine since it was 47mm it probably did not sell very well, so maybe Rolex simply swapped out the dials, and movements and sold the resulting watches with no name on the dials to Panerai. This may explain why there are no known examples of the watch that appear in the 1935 Rolex catalog.
I was doing some follow up research to best understand the genesis of this first Panerai model made by Rolex and I found a Timezone.com vintage Rolex thread where James Dowling said "My research on Panerai leads me to think Panerai essentially took an existing Rolex model and had Rolex adapt it to their specific requirements. Amongst them was this reference 2533, which is essentially the Mk1 Panerai. But then, of course, Rolex already had the basis of this watch in their catalogue, in the form of the Rolex Oyster Pocket watch."
So there you have it! Apparently Rolex experimented with putting wire lugs on their 47mm Oyster pocket watch and created the Rolex Reference 2533, and this went on to become the basis of the Panerai diving watch.
After finally figuring out and understanding this design evolution I decided to create the following graphic to illustrate step by step how the 47mm Rolex Oyster pocket-watch evolved into the original 47mm Panerai.
And the evolution of Rolex Oyster Pocket-Watch into Panerai Diving Watch begins:
One of the obvious questions is "how did you attach and remove the leather band on these early wire lug Panerai watches if the wire lugs were soldered to the watch?" You guessed it!!! You had to sew the leather band onto the lugs. Panerai makes a very similar 45mm version of this watch today known as the Panerai Radiomir with the vintage wire lugs but they are no longer soldered on, but can removed with two very small screws in the watch body.
Page 27 Radiomor Panerai [Reference 2533] Circa 1936
This first Rolex Made Panerai, picture above is and Ultra-rare prototype of which there is only 1 known example on earth. Yes, you read that right–there is only one know example and you are looking at it picture above.
Page 31 Panerai [Reference 3646] Circa 1941
Rolex began making Panerai watches for the Italian Royal Navy in 1936 and the watch above is from 1941. It has Roman numerals and Arabic numerals on its dial with no Panerai designation. Its current market value is $80,000, and according to John Goldberger only 600 of the Reference 3646 were ever made.
The next three photos are of the Panerai Reference 6152 made by Rolex. In this first image you see the Rolex designation on the watch movement as well as on the back of the screw on back.
Page 32 Panerai Movement Photo [Reference 6152] Circa 1950
This next image is of the same watch pictured above and below. You can see the Rolex Brevet designation and Rolex crown logo on the winding crown. Brevet means patented in French.
Page 32 Panerai Brevet Winding Crown Side View with Rolex Crown Logo [Reference 6152] Circa 1950
Page 33 Panerai Radiomir [Reference 6152] Circa 1950
This Radiomir Paneria diving watch (pictured above) is 47mm and has a light brown dial. This watch has a current market value of $100,000 and according to John Goldberger only 300 of the Reference 6152 were manufactured.
The Wikipedia article seems to suggest that from 1936 to 1956 Panerai only produced a total of 300 watches. This did not make sense, John Goldberger said that this was not true and that they made many more. Here are the numbers John said were from a good Panerai source on the number of Rolex made Panerai watches:
1935 [Reference 2533] 1 Prototype
1938 [Reference 3646] 600 Watches
1943 [Reference 6152] 300 Watches
1943 [Reference 6152/1] 600 Watches
1954 [Reference 6154] 30 Watches
After 1954, Panerai kept producing their watches but Rolex no longer made them. Apparently Panerai stopped making watches for the Italian Militare in 1993 because it was not longer cost effective, and Panerai decided to focus on producing watches for the general public.
The watches were not very successful until 1995 when Sylvester Stallone noticed them in a Roman jewelry store and decided to wear the Panerai during shooting of the film Daylight. Stallone was so impressed that he ordered a bunch of watches with his Slytech signature on the verso (case back). Stallone gave them to friends as a gift, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and from that point the Panerai brand took off and became very popular.
It is interesting to note that prior to wearing Panerai watches, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger wore Rolex watches. Sly wore a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date and a Rolex Submariner, and Arnold wore a yellow gold Rolex GMT Master with a matching Jubilee bracelet.
Part 3 & 4 in next posts ----->>>>>>>>>>>>
100 Superlative Rolex Watches by John Goldberger, who is one of the most knowledgeable Rolex experts on earth and happens to own one of the top Rolex collection in the world!!!
John is also close friends with the top 5 other Rolex collectors in the world and they allowed him to share their beautiful and extremely rare Rolex watches in his new book named 100 Superlative Rolex Watches. Many of these Rolex watches have never been seen by the public and the photography in John's book is amazing!!!
John's book contains 700 images and in the article below you will see more than 10% of the images from his Rolex book–which is a masterpiece in and of itself.
The Birth Of The Rolex Brand
The Rolex brand was formally founded in 1908 and is currently celebrating its 100 year centennial, thus John decided to name his book 100 Superlative Rolex Watches.
To put 100 years in perspective, in 1908 General Motors was founded, Henry Ford produced the first Model-T, the Grand Canyon National Monument was designated, Harvard Business School was founded, A long-distance radio message was sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time, the boy scout movement began, Mother's day was observed for the first time as a national holiday, and the first passenger airplane flew in 1908. 100 years is a long time.
PART 1 of 4: The $20 Million Rolex Book
The book itself is unusual for a coffee-table sized book in the sense it has a leather-like cover which makes the book extremely comfortable to handle. Since there is no paper cover the book does not slip and you don't have to worry about damaging the slip cover. The 100 Superlative Rolex watches showcased in the book have a current market value of approximately $20 Million in U.S. currency.
John Goldberger is pictured below and is one of the greatest watch connoisseur's on earth. He has a collection of Patek Phillipe, Rolex, Cartier, Omega and Longines watches. He already authored two books on Omega and one on Longines–both of which are available for purchase along with his new Rolex book at the end of this article.
Italian Rolex Renaissance
John was born and resides in Italy today. He is 50 years old and started collecting vintage watches 30 years ago when he was 20 years old. It appears as if the Italian marketplace was the first to really start collecting vintage Rolex watches, and drove the significant price increases starting in the mid 1980s.
The book begins with a great four page Rolex watch chronology from 1905 to date and it makes it really easy to understand the evolution of the brand. The chronology begins in 1905 because Hans Wilsdorf created his company named Wilsdorf & Davis in 1905 in London, England and brilliantly changed its name to Rolex in 1908.
This book has a superb and consistent layout and there are a total of 700 images in the book and photos of approximately 280 different Rolex watches. John had to choose 100 Rolex watches to showcase and the following four photos bellow illustrate how the 100 he chose are intelligently laid out.
On the left side page for every showcase watch there are four smaller images that show detail and different perspectives. The right page always has a very large and detailed portrait of the watch.
The four images on the left pages have all the historical data on the watch including the reference number, caliber number and year of manufacture.
John has photos of 180 other Rolex highly collectable Rolex watches that are not part of the 100 and he illustrates them as seen on the two pages below.
John Goldberger donates 100% of the profit he makes on the books to charity, which means he made the book to share these stunning Rolex watches with the collectable Rolex community out of the kindness of his heart.
Page 5 Rolex Zerograph [Reference 3346] Circa 1935
Despite the fact the watch above was made in 1935, it is remarkable how modern it looks. There are only 3 known examples of this watch in private collections.
Page 23 Rolex Oyster Star Indices. [Reference 6098] Circa 1952
his watch was made around the same time as the Reference 6062 Star indices Moonphase watch. There is another version with a black dial which can be seen 7 watches down in this article.
PART 2 of 4: The Rolex–Panerai Connection
Rolex made all the original Panerai watches for the Royal Italian Navy from in 1936 to 1956.
Page 24 Rolex Oyster in Stainless [Reference 2081] Circa 1928-1930
This watch above is amazing because it seems to be the watch the later Rolex made Panerai watches were based upon. The watch above is smaller at around 30mm than the 47mm Panerai's (as seen below) but the design language is clearly derivative and almost identical.
Page 27 Radiomor Paneria [Reference 6154] Circa 1956
This is the last Panerai Rolex made (pictured above). It was made for the Egyptian Army. This watch has a current value of $120,00 and is the second rarest collectable Panerai. According to the Author, only 30 of this Reference 6154 were ever made. The most collectable and valuable would be the one existing example of the first Panerai Reference 2533 prototype.
The Rolex diving watch pictured in the illustration above is not in the book. The illustration is from a rare 1935 Rolex brochure and the watch was a honking 47mm. This is the Rolex model Panerai used to make its first Rolex made Panerai (as seen below).
The illustration above appears courtesy of John Goldberger and according to John, he has never seen an actual example of the Rolex Reference number 2533 because it is so rare. I imagine since it was 47mm it probably did not sell very well, so maybe Rolex simply swapped out the dials, and movements and sold the resulting watches with no name on the dials to Panerai. This may explain why there are no known examples of the watch that appear in the 1935 Rolex catalog.
I was doing some follow up research to best understand the genesis of this first Panerai model made by Rolex and I found a Timezone.com vintage Rolex thread where James Dowling said "My research on Panerai leads me to think Panerai essentially took an existing Rolex model and had Rolex adapt it to their specific requirements. Amongst them was this reference 2533, which is essentially the Mk1 Panerai. But then, of course, Rolex already had the basis of this watch in their catalogue, in the form of the Rolex Oyster Pocket watch."
So there you have it! Apparently Rolex experimented with putting wire lugs on their 47mm Oyster pocket watch and created the Rolex Reference 2533, and this went on to become the basis of the Panerai diving watch.
After finally figuring out and understanding this design evolution I decided to create the following graphic to illustrate step by step how the 47mm Rolex Oyster pocket-watch evolved into the original 47mm Panerai.
And the evolution of Rolex Oyster Pocket-Watch into Panerai Diving Watch begins:
One of the obvious questions is "how did you attach and remove the leather band on these early wire lug Panerai watches if the wire lugs were soldered to the watch?" You guessed it!!! You had to sew the leather band onto the lugs. Panerai makes a very similar 45mm version of this watch today known as the Panerai Radiomir with the vintage wire lugs but they are no longer soldered on, but can removed with two very small screws in the watch body.
Page 27 Radiomor Panerai [Reference 2533] Circa 1936
This first Rolex Made Panerai, picture above is and Ultra-rare prototype of which there is only 1 known example on earth. Yes, you read that right–there is only one know example and you are looking at it picture above.
Page 31 Panerai [Reference 3646] Circa 1941
Rolex began making Panerai watches for the Italian Royal Navy in 1936 and the watch above is from 1941. It has Roman numerals and Arabic numerals on its dial with no Panerai designation. Its current market value is $80,000, and according to John Goldberger only 600 of the Reference 3646 were ever made.
The next three photos are of the Panerai Reference 6152 made by Rolex. In this first image you see the Rolex designation on the watch movement as well as on the back of the screw on back.
Page 32 Panerai Movement Photo [Reference 6152] Circa 1950
This next image is of the same watch pictured above and below. You can see the Rolex Brevet designation and Rolex crown logo on the winding crown. Brevet means patented in French.
Page 32 Panerai Brevet Winding Crown Side View with Rolex Crown Logo [Reference 6152] Circa 1950
Page 33 Panerai Radiomir [Reference 6152] Circa 1950
This Radiomir Paneria diving watch (pictured above) is 47mm and has a light brown dial. This watch has a current market value of $100,000 and according to John Goldberger only 300 of the Reference 6152 were manufactured.
The Wikipedia article seems to suggest that from 1936 to 1956 Panerai only produced a total of 300 watches. This did not make sense, John Goldberger said that this was not true and that they made many more. Here are the numbers John said were from a good Panerai source on the number of Rolex made Panerai watches:
1935 [Reference 2533] 1 Prototype
1938 [Reference 3646] 600 Watches
1943 [Reference 6152] 300 Watches
1943 [Reference 6152/1] 600 Watches
1954 [Reference 6154] 30 Watches
After 1954, Panerai kept producing their watches but Rolex no longer made them. Apparently Panerai stopped making watches for the Italian Militare in 1993 because it was not longer cost effective, and Panerai decided to focus on producing watches for the general public.
The watches were not very successful until 1995 when Sylvester Stallone noticed them in a Roman jewelry store and decided to wear the Panerai during shooting of the film Daylight. Stallone was so impressed that he ordered a bunch of watches with his Slytech signature on the verso (case back). Stallone gave them to friends as a gift, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and from that point the Panerai brand took off and became very popular.
It is interesting to note that prior to wearing Panerai watches, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger wore Rolex watches. Sly wore a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date and a Rolex Submariner, and Arnold wore a yellow gold Rolex GMT Master with a matching Jubilee bracelet.
Part 3 & 4 in next posts ----->>>>>>>>>>>>
