Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1535713
Y ou won't be able to get your hands on a vintage Rolex with a Stella purple lacquer dial, but you can acquire the new edition of the gorgeous book Vintage Rolex New Edition: The Largest Collection in the World by David Silver (Pavilion, 2025), which shows on the cover one of only two purple Stellas that have passed through The Vintage Watch Company's hands. That alone shows the scarcity of a purple Stella, because in its 30 years in business at London's historic Burlington Arcade, The Vintage Watch Company — founded in 1995 by John Silver and now run by his children, Sara and David — has amassed the largest, rarest, and finest collection of vintage Rolexes in the world, with Silver the go-to for unparalleled Rolex scholarship. That's no small feat — Rolex was founded 120 years ago and has become the most coveted and collected watch brand in the world. Lucky for us vintage watch enthusiasts, the Silver family, devoted to their obsession-turned-profession, had the prescience to professionally photograph each Rolex model that passed through their hands. The book itself is collectible: a substantial 9 x 12 size with chic black paper edges. In addition to the purple Stella, Rolex also released even rarer lilac-, mint-green-, and blue-dial editions (the original edition in 2020 was yellow). More than 2,000 color photographs on 432 pages serve as a pictorial history of Rolex, broken down by model, from the earliest pocket watches converted into wristwatches at the turn of the prior century, to a gobsmacking tutti-frutti collection of 15 Stella models, each with a different colored dial, as well as important sport watches including GMTs and Daytonas. Two highly collectible watches are the rare tropical models transformed into one-of-a-kind watches by solar and extreme weather exposure and the exclusive co-branded Tiffany & Co. and Rolex collection. "For two huge, luxury brands Horological Custodians of the Coveted Vintage Rolex By Anne Lee Phillips 40 Vintage Rolex Stella and Stone collection