There's something about Time In Gold I really like. This book features the major high end watch companies and of course Rolex is featured. I think this book gives a very good insight of Hans Wilsdorf and how he founded Montres Rolex S.A. This book is written by Gerald Viola & Gilbert L. Brunner. It is published by Schiffer Publishing. Speaking of Schiffer, any watch books published by them are worth getting. Click here for their website.
Other books worth considering are the Vintage American & European Wrist Watch Price Guide Book 2. The second edition has an 86 page section on Rolex. It is your usual price guide book and is very handy for Rolex reference and serial numbers, bracelets, dials and bezels. Forget about the prices, they are well out of date. This book is written by Sherry & Roy Ehrhardt and Joe DeMesey. Published by Heart of America Press in 1988. Their latest edition is Book 7 which came out in 1997. The Rolex Wrist Watch Price Guide was a 50 page pocket sized booklet which came out in 1991. The other publication by HOAP worth mentioning is the 1992 Rolex Identification & Price Guide. It was issued in colour or in black and white and were spirally bound. Both Rolex guides are long out of print. The other major price guide which has a reasonable section on Rolex is Complete Price Guide To Watches by Cooksey Shugart, Tom Engle and Richard E. Gilbert.
Another good reference and learning source are catalogues from the major auction houses. Publications like The Art of Rolex are invaluable. Although not as large at its cousin, The Art of Patek Philippe, this catalogue is a must in any Rolex library. This is a hard cover book with 108 pages. It features many rare Rolex watches which were up for auction in Vicenza on 18th January 1992. With text in English and Italian, this catalogue is very similar to Orologi Da Polso - Rolex by Osvaldo Patrizzi for obvious reasons. Auction catalogues are indicators of what are flavours of the month and sometimes unfairly, the market guide.
